10 Ways NFTs Will Evolve Live Events

Fans are demanding much more from the experiences they attend, especially as ticket prices rise, but the background stays the same.

Event creators have been yearning for ways to modernize their tickets & ticket distribution platforms. Only recently has the web ecosystem evolved enough for a new technology to emerge: NFT Ticketing. Fueling the ticket revolution, NFTs are powering unique benefits and capabilities beyond the ticket stub.

Here are ten real-life use cases for NFT Ticketing and the changes it will bring to the live events industry.

1) Phygital Memorabilia

With the increase in Metaverse and other virtual world adoption amongst event creators and fans alike, so does the need for phygital memorabilia. Phygital combines the IRL aspect of an experience with the complimenting digital one, providing a 360 approach to how event creators engage with fans.

This connection can be synced bi-directionally. Fans can go to a Snoop Dogg concert and, in return, get access to a Metaverse concert with new music accessible only to fans with the NFT ticket associated with that benefit. Vice versa, fans can go to a Snoop Dogg concert in the Metaverse and receive merch exclusive for NFT ticket holders right before the show.

A fundamental concept, but the capabilities phygital items can bring to the ecosystem are vast and will empower event creators to do more.

2) Increase Gamification & Loyalty

Fans want as immersive of an experience as possible, and with modern technologies, event creators can now provide experiences unlike ever before. In-experience gamification and ongoing loyalty programs are crucial in ensuring fans keep returning for more.

Leveraging tech like the Metaverse, Virtual Reality, and 3D Mapping, companies like our partners NonFun.Live provides gamification solutions perfect for keeping your fans engaged. Imagine your festival goers are rewarded for visiting exhibitor stalls with a free ticket for the next year or various levels of ticket holders gaining exclusive access to areas. These interactions bring your experience to life and entice fans to return.

3) Continue Fan Engagement

Outside of providing a fantastic day-of experience, fans want to be chased and swooned long after the event concludes to know that you, as the event creator, haven’t forgotten about them. Traditional methods lag between email and social media, trying to reach users at the right time so that your communications reach as many people as possible.

What if you could instantly airdrop rewards to your audience or upload new benefits or event NFTs directly to their wallets? Could you easily send merch to each ticket holder with a QR code that unlocks unique benefits to those who scan? This and so much more are made possible by NFT tickets. Not to mention that these can be cost-conscious opportunities for new event creators. Fans don’t necessarily need hundreds of dollars worth of products sent to them. Still, even something as simple as a clip from experience every week for five weeks after the event provides a lifelong memory and extra touch that most event creators don’t focus on.

4) Encourage Mass Adoption

As with most new technologies, it takes a lot of work to drive instant mass adoption outside of your early adopters ready to work through their infant stages. The event industry is poised in a unique position to drive high volumes of mass adoption and, in turn, increase the world’s education that surrounds Web3 technologies and NFT ticketing. By implementing these new technologies, event creators are encouraging fans to try new things that ultimately bring massive returns to them.

The beauty of this, however, is in the customer journey and the experience itself. If events have NFT tickets, fans are likelier to go the extra step. A few changes need to be implemented, such as digitized wallet creation. By simplifying this process, we encourage using the new technology without harming the buyer.

5) Enhance Fan Monetization Opportunities

With a traditional ticket, it’s tough to monetize the piece of paper - aka the ticket stub. The evolution of NFT Ticketing has paved the way for event creators and fans alike to increase their monetization opportunities.

For fans, marketplaces such as INSID3RS.io can easily loan, sell or rent out their tickets to recoup any losses they may have incurred. For example, an emergency arises, and you can’t see Harry Styles live at SoFi Stadium. Simply put your ticket up for sale or rent on the marketplace and watch as fans worldwide bid for your access.

6) Increase Sponsor & Partner ROI

An ongoing issue as an event creator is the ability to drive immense value for your exhibitors and sponsors. The last thing you want is for the event to flourish but for your supporters to feel they didn’t receive what they have paid for.

One way NFT Ticketing provides additional benefits for sponsors is the ability to airdrop rewards to the community in real-time as they engage with the IRL experience. These rewards can be free merch, tokens, exclusive content, and free tickets - whatever the sponsor wants to provide. Ticket holders then must take a series of actions or meet a list of set criteria to receive the benefit from the sponsor. This is the storytelling aspect of the fan journey.

Sponsors can send fans on a journey through their brand identity, immersing them in interactive components that leave the ticket holder begging for more. As they learn about the brand, ticket holders accumulate points that can be redeemed for items at each sponsor's booth. This way, the event creator ensures attendees are visiting premium booths along their journey while driving increased exposure for the brands.

7) Improve Ticket Security

Improved ticket security is being demanded by the event industry, with ticket fraud cases rising to above pre-pandemic levels. Ticket fraud costs event creators hundreds of millions a year, while ticket scalping drives ticket prices to levels as high as 7,000% over the original price!

With NFT ticketing platforms, the wallet ID associated with each person is linked to that individual's mobile device. During check-in, security or your event staff can scan the rotating QR code associated with the ticket and ensure that the person there is, in fact, the ticket owner. Due to the 1:1 wallet ID & KYC process, this nearly eliminates ticket fraud from happening.

8) Drive Community

NFTs are not just ticket stubs or QR codes with fabulous art but also ways in which communities come together and speak their languages. They generate a collective culture transcending racial, religious, or political identifiers and unifying individuals with a common purpose and voice. Take the Bored Ape Yacht Club brand, one of the most successful NFT launches on the market. Their Discord titles flow between ranks and species of ape. Members will greet each other with ape sounds.?

But this has created an environment where everyone is one community, no matter who you are or what you believe when you’re together with fellow apes.?

9) Royalties Across Transactions

Traditional ticket platforms have cultivated a shady ecosystem with zero support for the event creators, artists, talent, etc., that have created the experience for the fans. Look at the secondary market.

Tickets resold through sites such as Stubhub or Ticketmaster have no limitations or rules around additional fees or markups added to the ticket price by the owner. Ticket resellers can increase the ticket price to astronomical heights, pricing most individuals out of enjoying the experience. This, in turn, has made the live events industry more of a luxury for the wealthy vs. a competitive landscape that still enables the masses to enjoy.

Now with the power of NFT ticketing, event creators are not only able to limit the fees and markups, but they can also directly embed into each NFTs smart contract a percentage of royalties that are automatically paid back to the experience owner. For example, if Adele was on tour and fans were purchasing verified tickets on the NFT secondary market, she would be paid a percentage of each transaction in addition to the original ticket transaction.

10) Verified Data Generation

One of the most exciting and dynamic opportunities with NFT tickets is the generation of verifiable data. Not just basic demographic information but engagement information across all tickets in their wallet. Platforms can track wallet IDs and see how they engage with the world around them to understand their audience personas better.

Why?

It’s all about providing the most personalized immersive experience possible. If an event creator can identify how a fan engages with some aspects of events, they can tailor their experience to something that makes them more likely to return year after year. With the enhanced security features NFT ticketing and Web3 natively brings to the ecosystem, fans' data is protected and hidden behind their public wallet ID, so you don’t even need to know their name.

NFT ticketing is still in its infancy, awaiting the continued evolution of Web3 technologies to bring increased benefits to the event industry. However, there are several ways in which platforms like INSID3RS.io empower the events industry to do more. From phygital memorabilia to encouraging mass adoption to verifiable data generation, the native capabilities of NFT tickets can already enhance the experience for event creators and fans alike.

While Web3 events are beginning to adopt the NFT ticketing solutions today, Web2 companies - concerts, theme parks, festivals - need to educate themselves to reap the benefits.

To learn more about NFT Ticketing and how it can support your experience’s growth needs & challenges, reach out to the INSID3RS.io team here.