Live entertainment business leaders say they must do more than persuade cautious audiences that it’s safe to go out in a crowd: With or without a mask, they say the long pandemic – and its trailing economic woes – has fueled a trend among younger audiences to crave experiences over things.
That means even though there’s a pent-up desire to get out there, the live entertainment business has to raise the quality of the experience, both to meet audience expectations and compete with streaming, which also raised the bar during the pandemic.
Live entertainment purveyors are observing that the next generation of consumers “will live in their parents’ basement so they can use their money for experiences,” Jamie Weston, EVP and chief marketing officer for On Location said in a panel at TheGrill presented by Imax and Gerber Kawasaki.