Will viewers cross over to immersive content?

Entertainment media has been a relative laggard in engaging viewers through the metaverse. But that’s primed to change, contends Vera Chien, executive director, corporate research, data and insights, Warner Bros. Discovery, who leads research on digital platforms such as HBO Max, as well as corporate strategy initiatives including non-fungible tokens (NFTs). She sees audiences are more than ready for interactive and viewer-driven content.

Kate MacArthur: What potential do you see for the metaverse for TV, film and streaming audiences?

Vera Chien: We've been thinking about content like film, like shows, and looking at the metaverse in a couple of different ways, thinking about it as a low-hanging fruit, first to help us engage our fans or to market and/or advertise our properties and brands.

MacArthur: What are some examples of that?

Chien: Using platforms like Fortnite or Decentraland or Roblox to really help engage fans of our properties, whether they are “Wonder Woman” or “Batman” or “Game of Thrones.” We've also been dabbling in it to distribute content like our movies.

MacArthur: How does that change the relationship with the audience, as opposed to passive watching?

Chien: There’s an amazing spectrum that resides between video games and lean-back content, where you’re starting to get choose-your-own-adventure content. There are story-based games from the now-defunct Telltale Studios. I'm fascinated by exploring that white space in the middle. The viewer is going to be brought in more and more into the storytelling process, into the decision-making process. And the worlds of gaming and interactivity and lean-back content are going to just mung in the middle.

MacArthur: How soon might we see that?

Chien: You've already seen some very successful shows like “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” that are creeping toward the middle, coming from the game side. I view it as being in the next three to five years out. This is something that audiences are craving. We are looking at Millennials, Gen Zers and Gen Alphas, and these are the types of experiences they've largely grown up with. If we think about fast-forwarding three, five, 10 years out, one can only imagine the levels of interaction and interactivity they'll crave from content.

MacArthur: Is there a way to engage older viewers?

Chien: There is a portion of older audiences, at least in my previous research, that are also interested in interactivity and more immersive types of content. It is going to be a combination of creating compelling types of interactive content that resonate with perhaps older audiences. Let's say Gen Z and older. It's just cracking that nut for them. We also know at the same time, life stage cuts across tastes and preferences when it comes to entertainment. It will be interesting to see Gen Zers who are entering the workforce, get older and cross other stages in their life, how interactive content will fit in their lives.

MacArthur: We’re still seeing very cartoon-y experiences, versus full animation and high-quality visuals in the metaverse. That feels like a long way off for broader entertainment media applications, right?

Chien: That's a big barrier. Right now, latency and processing power and computing power are still limitations for us. To generate and rig an animated character — especially a more blocky, animated character — in some cases is much simpler than rigging a lifelike rendering of a human. That said, I don't necessarily want to suggest that a photoreal representation of a human is what everybody wants. Younger audiences sometimes want a more simplified version of their favorite influencer, actor, actress, singer.

MacArthur: What are the biggest obstacles or hurdles to get people into that more mass audience?

Chien: Price and business model. There will be types of content that will attract people to go over some of those hurdles. It's really become a chicken-and-egg, and I really do think content is a big part of what will attract people to these different kinds of software or hardware platforms.

MacArthur: Thinking of the retail possibilities for brands in the metaverse, my personal fantasy is that you could either click onto the content or click into an app from a show, say, “And Just Like That,” where you can buy that Peloton.

Chien: That's something we've been exploring, too. What about opening Carrie's closet and looking through it, and then clicking and buying? I think that would be an amazing, incredible experience, and it would feel so organic to that property. And I think it would be very effective. We’re still a ways to go from doing that.