Are NFTs Entertainment’s New Fan Engagement Tool?

An engaged fan base almost always equates to more revenue. Think everything from the early fan clubs for boy bands to the streaming parties run by groups of fans online today. This type of effort often leads to greater visibility for the project or artist in question and ultimately more sales.

As such, entertainment companies have worked for decades to engage fans, whether through contests, giveaways, limited edition products, and so on. As we enter the web3 era, NFTs are quickly becoming the new way businesses create fan engagement.

Why NFTs?

With all the different mediums that can be used to ensure fan engagement, why are NFTs in demand these days? Firstly, they are very popular among young people. While virtually any age group can be fans of a project or entertainer, young people have historically been the most passionate fan bases. As such, it makes sense to leverage a digital tool that they are the biggest consumers of.

After all, a 20-year-old is more likely to buy an NFT collectible than a 50-year-old. Then there is easy distribution among fans. Previously, fans had to buy limited edition items, for example from a physical store or have them delivered to their home. For entertainers or projects with fans in different parts of the world, this can create some logistical challenges.

With NFTs, such challenges are largely eliminated. Because they exist in the virtual internet space, anyone from anywhere in the world can easily buy them. Easier purchases equal more money. Needless to say, these have helped make NFTs some of the best fan engagement tools on the planet.

It is also more relevant as consumers develop their identities on digital platforms and need account security and ownership.

“Using Gated or Access NFTs, we can provide certificates of authenticity in Metaverse-enhancing utility functionality, such as access to an event or verification of ownership of an item, which in combination with Digital Identity and innovative inventory management in the platform can create interoperability and still allow transferability like all other NFTs,” said David Lucatch, CEO of Liquid Avatar Technologies and CEO of Aftermath Islands Metaverse.

Managing, controlling and creating ownership of digital identity and personal data together with open standards is the future of interoperability. Products like Liquid Avatar Technologies’ Meta Park Pass empower users to take control of personal identity and data to support interoperability between Metaverse players while advancing privacy and data protection rules.

NFT engagement on the rise

So, are NFTs the new darling of the entertainment world? Well, so far their involvement can be classified into; collectibles and distribution of benefits. When it comes to collectibles, NFTs are often used as a tie-in for the launch of new projects to get fans excited and to reward them for engagement.

For example, DC Comics created collectible NFTs of all the iconic Batman capes to tie in with the release of The Batman earlier this year. These collectibles not only rewarded fans for being loyal to the franchise, but helped build more buzz around the newest film. NFTs have also been used as scavenger hunts for fans. Ahead of the final season of Stranger Things, a scavenger hunt-type website was created that teased fans with riddles and riddles that hinted at the new season as well as NFTs.

Another NetflixNFLX
show, Love, Death and Robots, even place clues in scenes that can be scanned as QR codes and used to redeem NFTs. With all these, it is fair to say that the NFT craze has hit the entertainment industry full force and is fueling fan engagement to a whole new level.

In terms of benefit distribution, NFTs were leveraged by Coachella this year to sell passes to specific events and experiences during the festival. Those who bought them could do this by scanning QR codes,

As NFTs are also used to deliver rewards to customers, more market options are emerging to take care of the backend. After all, not every company can set up a department to figure out the logistics and coding needed to launch an NFT collection that offers benefits.

This is where projects like Polarys come in. Polarys offers NFTs-as-a-service, a rapidly growing niche that allows companies to have end-to-end support for their NFT projects. Through a single platform that requires no coding experience, businesses can easily create their NFT campaigns from concept to execution. The nature of NFTs matters: by focusing on utility-based NFTs, Polarys wants to offer the opportunity for their holders to reap tangible rewards. These include airdropping assets to fans and creating Discord channels that only owners of the assets have access to.

The marketplace aspect of the project also means that sales and invoicing can be accessed from a single dashboard. For the consumer, this means that they can easily get the benefits and rewards as cashback from their favorite brands. This has huge implications for indie projects and smaller publications that want to foster fan engagement but may not have the resources of DC Comics or Coachella.”

More than feelings

But while there are plenty of options in the market for users to engage with their favorite franchises with NFTs, there are also many NFT collections that offer more than just nostalgia and an emotional connection to the media.

The Bandit Project is a 3,000-asset NFT pool that gives its holders a chance to profit from their purchases. Based on the Binance Smart Chain, each NFT given to a buyer is randomly selected while the ecosystem revolves around the native

$BANDIT token. Those who hold the token can earn a passive income from it by minting NFT. When a person first creates an NFT from the Bandit Project, their capital is locked in a sense. From the day the NFT is minted, they will receive 1% ROI daily until all 3000 assets are sold (depending on the rarity of their NFT, this could even be more).

Projects like Alóki push the boundaries for those who want to enjoy benefits outside the virtual world as well. As one of the first Play-to-Own blockchain projects, Alóki allows users to play a blockchain-based game where virtual sustainable actions are mirrored in the real world. For example, if a tree is planted in the game, a real one can be planted on a real plot of land in Costa Rica, adding to the 11,000 trees already planted.

The company aims to recreate a real community village in a physical jungle with houses and social spaces that can host users who have earned rewards for all-expenses-paid retreats. Award-winning sustainability architect Benjamin Saxe will help Alóki bring this vision to life.

With 750 acres of land attached to the project, players have the chance to visit and even own a part of it through NFTs attached to real tools.

NFTs: The Future of Entertainment?

With all the applications of NFTs taking root in the entertainment industry, it’s safe to say that they should become a mainstay of the industry over time. From sentimental collectibles for fans to practical tools for giving out perks and access to the public, NFTs have found their place in entertainment.

Moreover, new projects are pushing the boundaries of what can be done with NFTs and creating even more tangible value for consumers. With all of these in mind, NFTs only scratch the surface of what they can do.