Jan 28, 2019
Digital Events — Play it live on the Insider.in app!
A few years ago, the idea of thousands of people watching a stand up comic or an indie musician perform live was unthinkable, and now it’s routine. Insider has been at the forefront of this change, and today we’re proud to announce our latest innovation on the Insider.in platform - “Digital events”.
Digital events is an interactive video format where organisers can create new formats that can combine real-time audience reactions, adaptive content, sponsor messaging, commerce and rewards. Digital events can offer a similar transformational experience as physical events, by allowing fans to engage with each other and the artists, all from the comforts of their living rooms.
Download the app here: iOS | Android
Why digital events?
In the last 18 months, Insider.in has grown from a music and comedy focused ticketing platform to one that spans events across cricket, football, music, comedy, food festivals, treks, amusement parks, flea markets and workshops. During this period, we have seen an 8X growth in the number of events published and over 5X growth in the number of tickets across 70 cities in India. Insider.in today not only helps organisers market and sell tickets for their events, but also help them find sponsors, build fan clubs and curate the right artists to feature.
As the event ecosystem continues to mature, we see immediate opportunities where Insider.in can make significant contributions. The key areas being:
1) Sponsorship: Event sponsorship continues to be one of the most important channels for revenue. However, most ticketing companies don’t have features that allow organisers to build sponsor-centric audience engagement.
2) Seasonality: Typically organisers focus on connecting with their audience only 3-4 months prior to the event. The dormancy during the rest of the year affects the brand overall recall.
3) Format innovation: We foresee that format innovation will not only augment current events, but also give rise to a whole new segment of events that can build on the real-time and participatory nature of the internet.
To enable the above, we need a platform that allows events to achieve the following:
i) Build digital manifestations of their current events
ii) Allow year-round engagement with their fans
iii) Create new monetisation models
iv) Enable organisers to create and own custom event formats
So today, we are happy to announce our first steps towards building a platform for digital events with the “Play it live” feature on the Insider.in app that includes the following:
i) An integrated live stream on the Insider.in platform
ii) Real-time audience engagement features that include a live message stream and audience reactions
iii) Ability to run real-time contests and polls, view results in real time, and adapt content accordingly
iii) Integrated reward systems that allow organisers to reward participants with merchandise, tickets or Insider.in credit
iv) Options to integrate sponsors natively via in-video and engagement features
vi) Ability to integrate commerce (both tickets and tipping)
Our first digital event kickstarts on January 31, 2019 at 1:30pm, and here’s what the calendar is looking like for this week.
Hit or Miss — The Open Mic Show
Hosted by Kaneez Surka
January 31, 1:30pm
Everything you can expect on an open mic show. Live performances by new comics, streamed straight to your mobile with the added advantage of you being able to give feedback after each set and make your favourite artist win the open mic!
For Real — The Fake News Show
January 31, 10:00pm
Hosted by Ashish Shakya
How many fake news forwards have you read today? This quiz show is all about picking the real news from the fake. Winners who make it to the last round share a reward of upto Rs. 10,000 credit in their Insider wallet. Plus, we’re matching this amount in contribution to a fact-checking, fake news busting agency.
This Week in Movies — The Quiz Show
Hosted by Rohan Joshi
February 1, 1:30pm
Made for the ultimate movie buff. This week in movies is a fast paced quiz show, where an incorrectly answered question could eliminate you from the game. Winners split a shared reward of Rs. 10,000 credit in their Insider wallet.
As the platform matures, we will continue to innovate on the formats and work with organisers and creators to build digital events that help them reach larger audiences and tap new revenue streams.
