#spectator-event

#spectator-event

"We want to make the Graham Norton of video games," says Kirsty Rigden, the chief executive of Brighton-based FuturLab, which makes PowerWash Simulator. Aspiring to emulate a talkshow host who has a reputation for being affable rather than for setting pulses racing is perhaps an unusual ambition for a gaming studio.

"We never quite figured out how to make Rec Room a sustainably profitable business, and our costs always ended up overwhelming the revenue we brought in."

With brands increasingly looking to mixed reality (AR, VR, contextual) technology to create engaging event experiences, the inaugural ExM Live Forum brings together industry thought-leaders to share insights in an events sector ripe for digital transformation.

Leigh Steinberg has worked for five decades as a sports agent, particularly in the NFL and most notably with franchise quarterbacks. He doesn't need to do celebrity name-dropping; the evidence is all around him. On his shelf is a picture of him with Barack Obama. There's one of him with Julia Roberts on the set of Ocean's Eleven.

A circular concrete ring forms a defined boundary, incorporating a landing and three steps that lead into a contained field of refined sand. At the center of this ring rises a tall cone clad in polished mirrored steel. The composition establishes a clear geometric contrast between the horizontal plane of sand and the vertical reflective surface.

In a full house at the 1,025-seat Toni Rembe Theater, there was an eruption of gasps and shrieks. The grown man to my right reflexively gripped the arm of my seat, sheepishly muttering an apology. In a distant aisle, I spotted one person get up and run out of the theater, their friend trailing closely behind.

We decided this could be an opportunity to design something specifically for those theatergoers, and maybe many others who may have been reluctant to attend on their own. This is not 'singles night.' If a meaningful connection happens, that's a bonus. But at the end of the day, it's really about being comfortable going solo to a show and enjoying it with people who have that same experience.

At some point, the industry stopped arguing about whether content drives commerce and started living in the reality where the two are indistinguishable. "Content, commerce and technology are really coming forward in a special way and recognition that there aren't disparate separate systems any longer," says Cara Pratt, president of global retail and media at Circana. "There really is one connected, cohesive, intelligent ecosystem that is fueling discovery, fueling conversion and purchase."

Personalization is a tried-and-tested way to boost engagement while gathering valuable information about existing audiences - and is proving to be a key driver for the sports industry, says Rawnet's Harry Daniel. For brands looking to score with digital marketing, personalization is a winning long-term business strategy. Personalizing the user experience (UX) via websites and apps keeps fans engaged and enhances brand loyalty. It can help brands to grow, by extending their reach to new users and unleashing untouched opportunities for victory.

Dubbed as "The Game at Radio City", the WNBA hosted an exhibition game between the U.S. Olympic team and a group of WNBA stars. Some of the biggest names in the history of the sport, like Lisa Leslie, Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird took the court in one of the most iconic entertainment venues ever. The game was set up as a way to excite fans for the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Athens.

So another word about tickets. They did finally announce single-game tickets were going on sale, but only for games though June. It's not enough to keep season plans limited to those requiring fans to buy more tickets than they can use, feeding the secondary markets which the Mets also get a cut of, but "make-your-own-plan" fans like me who've reliably occupied seats for decades,

"We found that in China, three out of four Gen Z said 'I'm not disconnected and actually if I was disconnected, I might as well have disappeared'. That's how important and real digital life is. This struck us is quite a profound insight, because our digital connection has basically been asynchronous, for the entirety of human existence so far. Suddenly we're hitting this point, which is now synchronous, so it's happening at the same speed as real life,"

As the market grows increasingly saturated with traditional digital content, brands are exploring new ways to stand out by engaging more than just sight and sound. Advances in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), spatial audio and other immersive technologies are opening the door to richer, more memorable brand experiences that feel interactive rather than interruptive. The challenge is knowing how to experiment thoughtfully and how to use these tools to deepen connection without novelty overshadowing their purpose.