What is a Fan Engagement Token: The Emergence of Fan Engagement Tokens in the Entertainment Industry with Blockchain
From digital identity to decentralized finance, nearly every industry has explored the many possibilities of blockchain. The entertainment industry is no exception. Filmmakers, video game designers, and augmented reality developers are always looking for the next big invention, especially to enhance the fan experience. The more satisfied the fan, the more the fan will engage with a platform and spend on a product.
How can fan engagement tokens on the blockchain drive engagement, and in turn, further drive distribution in the entertainment industry? That is the million-satoshi question.
Here is an introduction on fan engagement tokens, including:
- What are fan engagement tokens?
- Why is fan engagement so important?
- Which companies offer fan engagement tokens?
What are Fan Engagement Tokens?
One of the most exciting innovations to have developed at the intersection between entertainment and technology is the emergence of fan engagement tokens. Fan tokens represent a new way for the entertainment industry to engage with fans and a new way for fans to take their entertainment experience to the next level.
A fan engagement token is a utility token that serves as a fan’s access pass to a new type of engagement with their favorite sports team or movie studio. A fan token gives fans access and influence on certain decisions made by the team or the studio, such as which players take the field, and what jerseys they wear, or which movies get made and what the character’s costumes look like.
Fan tokens also give fans the opportunity to compete for, and win, exciting exclusive rewards, and get special VIP access and treatment to a variety of events. This could include a meet-and-greet with a fan’s favourite player or actor, or even luxury box-seats at a game or VIP red-carpet access to a film’s premiere.
Another advantage to fan tokens is that it gives fans the opportunity to increase their rewards and influence by increasing the number of fan tokens they have. Many fan tokens offer a variety of exclusive tiered-rewards for fans holding a higher number of tokens. So the more fan tokens that a fan owns, the better the fan’s chances of getting more exclusive rewards and the greater the amount of clout the fan has regarding various fan-led decisions. Fans can continue to accumulate fan tokens until they attain the coveted level of access and influence that they are trying to achieve.
In addition to all of these functional benefits of ownership, there is another distinct advantage to owning fan tokens: the fan engagement tokens give access to exclusive memorabilia that may increase in value over time. As is the case with many collectible items in the real world, fan engagement tokens give fans exclusive access to rare and one-of-a-kind items that can be the envy of collectors and fans everywhere. Through fan engagement tokens, fans can exchange their tokens for memorabilia and experiences that would otherwise be very difficult to get.
Why Fan Engagement is so important
Fans make the entertainment industry. From sports to movies and everything in between. Fans fill seats, fans create buzz, and fans build communities. They buy the limited edition items from the set. They buy the game-used jerseys. Fans spawn entire subcultures around the things that they love, which is why fan engagement is so critical to the success of any fan-driven industry. Fans are the lifeblood of any type of channel within the entertainment industry. They are the consumers of any entertainment product, and they play a vital role in the success of that product.
With the movie industry, like we’ve seen with Deadpool, fans can also make or break the success of a franchise!
Any sports team or movie studio can attest to the fact that fan engagement has evolved significantly over the past decade. Part of that is the correlation that has been found between fan engagement and fan consumption. Now, more and more entertainment organizations are taking note of this evolution and looking for more innovative ways to engage with their fans, driven by increased demand from fans for inclusion, influence and interaction.
Fan Engagement Tokens in the Film Industry
A number of companies have seized the opportunity to create fan engagement tokens in order to capitalize on the unique type of fan engagement that this technology offers. In the world of movies, companies like Mogul are offering fan engagement tokens that give them creative influence on films and insider access to the film industry.
Mogul is a decentralized film financing platform that offers exclusive rewards that are unique to the film industry. Mogul’s fan engagement token is aptly called the STARS token. Throughout the entirety of Mogul’s community-building process, film fans are rewarded for their involvement in giving films the greenlight and supporting films from the script to the screen. The STARS token powers the Mogul platform, and gives both fans and screenwriters complete insider access to Hollywood and the world of filmmaking.
Mogul’s STARS tokens are redeemable for incredible bespoke rewards that most film fans would never have access to. These rewards include a number of things such as limited-edition or one-of-a-kind movie posters, rare NFTs, and actual props and set-used memorabilia from a film. With more STARS tokens come even more rewards, such as voting on which films get made, getting an “executive producer” credit on a film, and even dinner with a famous director.
Fan Tokens for Sports
In the world of sports, companies like Chiliz and Socios have created fan tokens around European football clubs like FC Barcelona and Juventus, and MMA leagues like the UFC. Chiliz, the cryptocurrency and blockchain which powers the Socios platform, is looking to offer fan engagement tokens focused on sports and esports, such as soccer and video games. Socios can give fans the ability to vote on various aspects of a football club’s governance. This can include decisions such as who the football club plays during “friendlies” and which players the football club should look to sign.
By offering these unique fan-engagement experiences, rewards and discounts through fan engagement tokens, companies like Mogul and Chiliz are hoping to increase both fan engagement and revenues. On top of that, it will allow fans to feel as though they are an important part of the team or studio, even if they can’t physically attend games or go to movie theaters.
Conclusion
We are still in the early days of blockchain technology, and this is currently the dawn of fan tokens. The use case is strong, and the reception to fan engagement tokens has been greeted warmly by fans looking to take their interest and engagement to the next level. Fan tokens offer entertainment companies like sports teams and film studios a unique way to increase fan engagement in the off-season and between films and give these organizations the potential to increase both their fan base and their revenues.
