Article actual date: Mar 25, 2021

Money Talks

The commercialisation of events has been going on for decades. Take the sports industry as an example. Ever since the dawn of the 21st century, market forces have aggressively infiltrated the spectacle of sport, saturating it with “corporate values and a logic of profit maximisation” [1]. Sporting events are no longer etched in the memories of fans only because of what happens on the field, but also everything else around it — through banners, billboards and branding.

The astronomical figures surrounding the Super Bowl, the annual championship game of the National Football League and one of the world’s most-watched sporting events, emphasises the immense gravity of event monetisation. In the year 2000, the average cost per 30-seconds of a single commercial was about $2 million. Ten year laters, this figure rose to almost $3 million and in 2020, it broke $5 million [2]. Will this number eventually stabilise or will it continue skyrocketing upwards? I would definitely think the latter, but only time will tell.

While the commercialisation of the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) industry has not reached such levels, monetisation and overall financial management nevertheless remain an integral part of the business-to-business (B2B) event portfolio. From public outdoor events to Augmented and Virtual Reality experiences, organisers are constantly on the lookout for revenue streaming opportunities.

‍

Virtual: A New Era for Monetisation?

As we know, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound economic impact on the events industry. It is therefore unsurprising that monetisation has been a hot topic in recent months. The PCMA Convene COVID-19 Recovery Dashboard found ‘Monetisation of Future Events’ to be one of the most essential skills to hone in the B2B events industry [3]. Kongres Magazine revealed the following [4]:

• Close to 60% of survey respondents believe that the coronavirus crisis has intensified the importance of event monetisation.
• More than 80% expressed huge concerns about the drastic drop in event sponsorships.
• Respondents cited more than 8 different sources of revenue, highlighting the complexity of event monetisation.

With the pivot to virtual and hybrid programmes, has traditional event monetisation turn obsolete? Certainly not, considering that a number of revenue-building strategies are still very much applicable in the digital space. Similar to how physical booths have gone virtual, monetisation has gone virtual too.

One prime example would be sponsorship branding. Once pasted on the walls of convention centres, sponsors are now posted on the pages of your event website. Monetisation has tagged along on this digital journey, with banner ads now finding their home on your computer screens.

Financial support and viability will always be key drivers of an event organisation’s business decisions. From leveraging mobile event applications to providing clients with robust ROI reports, the pandemic has opened doors to data-driven and tech-enabled monetisation — and organisers have rightly capitalised on these opportunities.

Sustainable Event Monetisation

The question then is — Should organisers be too concerned with this virtual monetisation ‘hype’?

With virtual events in vogue, organisers may be tempted to put all their eggs in one basket, or in other words go all in with their digital-focused monetisation efforts. The risk here is neglecting the fundamentals of event monetisation. Principal concepts such as leads generation, hosted buyers, partnerships and content value should remain the focal point of an organisation’s monetisation portfolio.

The world is currently on the path to immunity. According to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker, over 450 million doses have been administered in 121 countries. The continuity of events such as IDEX 2021 and Aero India 2021 indicate that slowly but surely, events will return live either fully or in hybrid formats. After all, the human desire for face-to-face interaction is far too strong. Virtual monetisation could possibly be less and less relevant as we enter this phase of recovery.

Let me end by proposing the notion of ‘Sustainable Event Monetisation’. This term expresses balance — not between the economy, environment and society but a balance between the past, present and the future. Since event monetisation will always be a constant, it is imperative that organisers remain astute in allocating their resources into revenue-building efforts.

Organisers who stay grounded in the basics of event monetisation while concurrently enhancing their strategies with key takeaways from today’s digital acceleration could potentially pave the way for a new era of monetisation, becoming the leaders of tomorrow.

Do you think the pandemic has revolutionised event monetisation? Or is it actually not as huge of a change as it is made out to be? Talk to us at info@jublia.com or reach out to anyone you know at Jublia!