Artificial intelligence has transformed since it’s early days as a science fiction fantasy. As the technology has continued to evolve, so has it’s uses.
Today chatbots have become one of the most common everyday uses of AI.
In fact, 40% of millennials engage with chatbots on a daily basis and 80% of businesses are expected to integrate chatbot automation by 2020.
Chatbots originally were designed by companies as a basic means of communications with customers. Early adopters of the technology would mainly use it for retrieving phone numbers, storing email addresses, and addressing basic questions.
Nowadays the abilities of chatbots are virtually limitless as their use has expanded across verticals in nearly every field. The entertainment industry is no exception as leaders have become chatbot pioneers for using AI conversational technology.
Leveraging character personas, influencers/celebrities, musicians, TV show properties, films, sports teams, and more—entertainment brands can now see the value of a best-in-class, engaging experience for fans and audiences alike. By creating emotional and meaningful conversational connections, entertainment brands can create a sense of intimacy with users across multiple platforms.
In the entertainment world, chatbot technology has the potential to impact the industry in a number of ways including:
Enhancement of lead generation
Improved conversion for subscription services
Successful brand sponsor integration
Increased audience growth and engagement
The key is to develop an experience rooted in goals and leveraging a multi-platform strategy centered around engagement platforms such as messenger services, websites, voice assistants, SMS, MMS, and more.
Conversational understanding is the key to establishing trust between the bot and user especially when it comes to beloved character representations, artists/musicians, TV shows, movie franchises, and other forms of intellectual property.
Let’s dive deeper into some ways chatbots are changing the entertainment industry.
OTT Customer Acquisition and Retention
OTT’s (over-the-top) are streaming media services offered direct-to-consumer. Companies such as Netflix have placed OTT streaming at the epicenter of consumer entertainment.
In fact, 60% of Americans use streaming as their ideal method of entertainment consumption and this figure is increasing rapidly.
These types of companies are either subscription-based or ad-supported mediums that provide instantly streamed content at the touch of a button.
The number of OTT streaming services has increased immensely in recent years creating additional space for chatbot integration. The number of media options currently on the market or launching soon include:
Netflix
Disney+
Hulu
Spotify
NBC’s Peacock
CBS All-Access
Pandora
HBO Max
Amazon Prime Video
BET+
Apple+
EPIX NOW
PlutoTV and more
Although the number of media choices is continually growing, customers are beginning to experience signs of “subscription and service fatigue.” As such, they will continue to evaluate which services are worth keeping and which ones will be canceled.
To help improve customer retention rates, OTT’s have begun to search for impactful and efficient methods of retaining and increasing their subscriber and viewer base. Given current market saturation rates, people have begun searching for better access to immediate information as well as instant customer support.
Existing customers have stated chatbots are a preferred method of communication and issue resolution compared to alternatives such as emails and phone calls. Creating intelligently designed multi-platform chatbot solutions can help companies stand apart from competitors and help to increase business revenue as a byproduct.
Brand Sponsor Integration
Product placement has become king as entertainment companies are leveraging relationships with brands more than ever before.
According to recent research, 71.4% of product placements occurring on television are paid. Growth rates have doubled as it has become a multi-billion dollar industry designed to help increase brand recognition with specific target demographics.
Some of the entertainment conglomerates currently integrating brand sponsorship include:
TV networks
Sports teams
Film studios
Music labels
Social media influencers
Gaming publishers
eSports and more
Entertainment companies have developed sophisticated and impactful methods of integrating their brands in various content platforms that resonate with consumers better than traditional direct advertising. Think how the judges for The Voice all happen to have the same brand of drinking cup.
Entertainment content elicits emotional connections with audiences and brand partners want to maximize this relationship with consumers.
Chatbots and voicebots represent a tremendous opportunity to add value to brand sponsor integration. Chatbots have the ability to deliver a variety of multimedia assets including GIFs, images, HD quality video, audio files, custom emojis, and more.
These brands can choose to directly sponsor entertainment events or go the route of discrete product placement surfaced directly within the content as we discussed earlier.
Brands can even use specific messaging techniques through direct conversation flow i.e. texting a hamburger emoji to unlock a burger chain offer. The possibilities related to brand sponsor integration are virtually limitless.
Engagement Enhancement and Audience Development
The entertainment industry has always relied upon engaging content that resonates with audiences. From the early days of gladiatorial combat to the CG technology presented in theaters today, consumers have always used entertainment as a temporary escape from their daily lives.
New shows, films, music, video games, and sports all vie for competing attention on a daily basis.
What’s more, is that the attention span of people is diminishing at an all-time high rate.
As smartphones and social media platforms have invaded our daily lives attention spans have decreased. The average human has an 8-second attention span today compared to twelve seconds in the year 2000.
In order for entertainment content to stand apart, marketers need to innovate by creating personal conversations with fans to help drive product awareness while increasing engagement.
Fans seek instant gratification through entertainment specifically optimized for mobile platforms.
Social media, messaging platforms, text messaging, websites, and devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home all contain conversational interfaces for brands to leverage. New and innovative connections between fans and content can be developed within these conversational platforms.
Entertainment brands use beloved characters, stories, and worlds for fans to engage with. Conversational interfaces provide a massive opportunity for brands to interact with their patrons. The problem is the chatbot experience must come across as authentic, trustworthy, and engaging while retaining a sense of intimacy.
Chatbots have the unique ability to provide a new level of storytelling and immersion previously unseen with other forms of technology.
How Imperson Has Changed the Game
The success of AI chatbot technology can be measured in numerous ways. A few of the metrics Imperson has helped quantify include:
Unique users per platform (e.g. voice, messaging, websites, SMS, etc.)
Voting and polling performance for live events, reality shows and more
Overall bot engagement time
Number of messages exchanged
Content engagement (e.g. videos, pics, GIFs, audio/voice files, etc.)
Leads generated
Sentiment analysis and meaningful connections
Re-engagement rates
Awards won
Valuable data can be retrieved through the continual measurement and monitoring of bot performance. Developing a feedback loop based around performance and the ability to update your bot can help create an experience fans and audiences will enjoy alike.#bloggingtips #WixBlog