In the age of technology, it’s inevitable that the world of live entertainment will be transformed in the years to come. But, what technologies are disrupting and revolutionizing the industry? Let’s take a look.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
Put simply, OCR technology has the ability to capture an image of a document, and translate the text and characters into a machine readable format. Whilst typically used mainly in business settings to digitize HR, finance, and organizational data, OCR can also be employed during real time events, as evidenced in the entertainment industry. Just take something like online casinos, for example. When card enthusiasts play real money blackjack games online, these are typically live games that are streamed by a real dealer around a physical card table. As they are streamed in real time, this makes the game more authentic and immersive.
However, if a player were to miss a result, as the game is live, they can’t rewind the video. That’s where OCR comes in. OCR can be used to capture the results of a card game, and display the results on the screen for players who may have missed it. This also allows the platform to automatically collect data insights on the frequency of results, which helps them to ensure that the gameplay remains as random and fair as possible. In addition, OCR can be used to translate subtitles into a player’s preferred language during a live stream event, which is particularly helpful for those who are hard of hearing.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is the ultimate buzzword of the moment, infiltrating many different industries with the ability to automate complex and time consuming tasks. In the world of live entertainment, perhaps the most complex thing logistically is the need for someone to host the stream. This person needs to be able to take regular breaks, eat, go to the bathroom, and so on. But, something that doesn’t need to eat, drink, or sleep is AI.
AI live stream hosts are already popular within the e-commerce industry, as it allows brands to stream live product demonstrations and ‘shopping channel’ style videos live 24/7 using either a chatbot or human-live avatar AI host. In China, these AI hosts are beginning to migrate into hosting live TV shows. Elsewhere, AI hosts are beginning to host live radio shows modeled on the regular human host when they are away on vacation. If these are to take off in the future, this could revolutionize the world of live entertainment.
Virtual Reality (VR)
Live streaming entertainment allows people to experience things that they may not normally be able to do, bringing a live feed of the experience into the audience’s home. That said, a live stream of a show or concert might feel quite two dimensional compared to an in person experience. However, thanks to VR technology, this may not be the case for long.
VR concerts are the latest hype to come out of the VR world, with big players like Wave, Meta, and Amaze VR all looking into how they can make VR concerts more hyper realistic. Looking to the future, as more and more people invest in VR headsets and their associated technologies, this could allow musicians to provide immersive, authentic, and interactive virtual concert experiences.
And there you have it – just a few technologies that are transforming the way that we consume, engage with, and interact with live entertainment. All that’s left to do is see what the future holds.
