AMT Lab @ CMU: This week, AMT Lab has been investigating what lessons arts organizations can learn from sports as they seek to provide engaging digital experiences for audiences. The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the most prestigious and well-known basketball league in the world, making it imperative that they continue to engage their fans during the pandemic while securing revenue from broadcasts. They found solutions that would permit fans, specifically younger generations, to continue to interact with each other during the games—something that arts organizations could apply to their virtual performances.
7 comments:
This article’s title is a bit misleading. Ninety percent of the article is just an explanation of what the NBA is and how it make money, with two sentences at the end describing how “hey maybe arts can do these things.” It asks a lot of the reader in terms of figuring how to implement any of these strategies for live art events, while offering no strategies or comparisons. I will say the digital strategies centered around social media channels like TikTok are things that any brand/organization in 2020 should be incorporating if they want to reach as much of “Gen Z” as they can. However, there is a danger of coming off as condescending and demeaning to younger audience if the strategy is just, “Hey cool kids how bout them TikTok dances am I right? Anyway, buy my product.” The Wendy’s twitter offers a masterclass in how to do brand social media correctly. As for the other strategies like screens with audiences or twitter-based monitors that show fan engagement, those are terrible for a play. I struggle watching a 100-minute movie without looking at my phone, and don’t want a live feed of reactions when I’m seeing Hamilton or Chekov.
I understand the sentiment of this article, and the ingenuity behind what the NBA has been doing during the pandemic in very impressive, but I don't see how any of these methods can be transferred to theatre. The reactions of people to moments in plays are powerful and definitely add to the experience, but they aren't distracting, which a live feed of people's reactions would be. Sports are a very different type of entertainment. It isn't formal, it's mostly visual, and it benefits from an arena of screaming fans. Plays, especially quieter, more somber ones, are meant to suck you into a different environment and fully immerse your senses. That is why the majority of shows dim the lights, so you cannot see the theater itself, only what is on-stage. Next, while TikTok challenges may create a community for sports fans and could even work for a musical like Mean Girls, more emotional, hard-hitting plays could be cheapened by these types of challenges. It's probably best to leave ambitious virtual activities to sports and just stream plays like you would movies.
This article was interesting as it outlined the NBA’s plans to cultivate fan engagement while maintaining social distancing and safety, but I think that it is hard to say that the arts should follow in their footsteps. The engagement of fans with their NBA team is inherently different than an audience for a piece of art (whether that be visual art, music, theater, dance, etc.). I think that audience engagement with art is piece specific, and depends on the artist and what the interaction can be. For a play, maybe it is getting the chance to do a Q&A with the design team. Or perhaps an artist creates a VR piece that people can interact with from their homes. This is very different from the virtual audience and TikTok challenges of the NBA, and while those things work well for sports, I think that the discussion of how to involve the audience in the arts during this pandemic is much more nuanced than this article implies.
I see what is being said in the comments above and it might be that I have talked with the author of this article about these things and see what she means by what theatre can learn. Also even if I hadn’t talked with Brett I’m pretty sure I agree with the point. Yes it isn't cut and paste across industries but it is also never cut and paste across theatre or at least it shouldn't be. I disagree with the three comments above about how theater and sports are uberly different. I think this where theatre companies and the industry go wrong. If theatres were able to cultivate the fan base and be able to have 95% sold houses, that would be incredible. If theatres were able to attract patrons who didn’t feel they needed to label themselves theatre people than that would be amazing. I don’t identify as a sports fan but I am certainly happy and usually more willing to go to a sports game. Though I don’t think people feel the need to identify as sportspeople to go to sports games in the same way that people outside theatre feel the need to be in the know. I think sports audiences and theatre audiences are lot more similar that anyone of the commenters above admitted. The what they are watching and how loudly they are reacting might be a little different but really is it? I think the idea of pretending that theatre can't learn from other industries is what keeps the arts elitist and very niche. There are much more financially stable industries than theatre and if theatres don't pivot or look to other industries they will fail. COVID isn't going away anytime soon and neither is digital consumption of theatre. I think yes virtual and in-person theatre is different but studies are showing that people won't go back to the same in person theatre consumption that they did before.
This article feels like it was written by someone who love sports and does not mind watching theatre. The NBA is absolutely an impressive organization, and the way that they have pivoted to continue their season is wonderful. They are also, obviously, a formidable group when it comes to financial success, broadcasting, audience outreach, and social media. Theatre is different, and I don’t think this article really addressed strategies for adapting this all to theatre or the challenges associated with theatre. Additionally, creating these bubbles, having months of rehearsal, and creating a movie (?) adaptation of a live play is not the same as theatre. In fact, it misses the point entirely. The financial barriers associated with creating these experiences would also be astronomical, and, therefore, would be out of reach for most, if not all, theatres. Also, the whole TikTok thing is kind of out of touch with how TikTok works. Theatre doesn’t have in-venue screens and a time where it would be to appropriate to start streaming TikToks.
While I understand the sentiments and intention of this article, I think that comparing the NBA to theater and comparing what the NBA can do might not be the best for theater. While the article has a lot of good ideas, these "digital strategies" also more than likely have a high start up cost which the arts might not be able to afford. While I can see the multiple camera angles might be good for theater in the round, I'm not sure how plausible that would be for any other type of show. I don't think screens would be the best audience members, especially if they are muted. The NBA also is a lot more accessible to a large amount of people, as opposed to theater, so they are more likely to have a large amount of audience members willing to participate in their new dynamics, as opposed to audiences of theater, who might not be as willing to partake in these digital ideas.
In relation to theater, there is a huge similarity between how sports and theater is perceived by the public: entertainment. It is interesting to see how the NBA is able to reform to this digital age and to accommodate themselves in the time of a pandemic, but I must disagree on how theater could learn from this. There are plenty of recordings of live productions, and pre-covid I had even gone to a movie theater to watch a recording of Newsies. However, there is definitely a huge component that missing from theater in this digital matter: live. The theater is about people coming together and experiencing the action in person and at that moment. There is no time to pause or be distracted, while when sports are broadcasted online there are plenty of ad breaks and distractions from the game itself at the stadium. To be completely blunt, there are more people willing to buy subscriptions and keep up with teams for sports than theater. Though I am in theater, I do not think I would buy a subscription to keep watching different shows. Also, unlike basketball, theater isn't a game. There are no competitions or other teams to play against. Usually, once someone watches a show, they will not go back to follow up the next night as it will be the same production. Though this article may be useful for art outside of theater, it just does not resonate the same way with theater.
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