When it comes to investment, everyone wants to be early. You’d be sitting pretty right now if you got in on the ground floor of the dot com boom or had taken a chance on Bitcoin when it first dropped. Ditto for if you spent most of your time hanging with Bezos or Jobs in the garage days.
But, getting in on the ground floor of something involves a bit of luck. Some say luck is preparation meeting opportunity. Actually, one guy named Seneca said that a really long time ago. Since then, luck has changed. There’s knowledge involved. You need to know about the opportunities worth jumping on before you jump on them. And by then, everyone’s clamoring for a piece of the pie.
Luckily, when it comes to NFTs, knowledge is everywhere. NFT (or something related to the industry) frequently trends on Twitter. They’re in the news with increasing regularity. Everyone and their mother knows about NFTs. And though mom may not know what they are, she’s definitely heard of them.
All of this makes it feel like it’s too late to jump in early. But the fact of the matter is, NFTs have not reached their true potential. And when they do, they may not net you a cool $500 million, but they could help in other, more sustainable ways.
NFTs are more than a get-rich-quick scheme. They’re changing the way certain industries do business. One industry that’s beginning to adopt NFTs and showcasing their true potential is the entertainment industry.
The entertainment industry has turned digital. Major blockbusters released straight to customers’ living rooms. Companies arming themselves with content for a long, arduous, and (at least for audiences) entertaining streaming war. With so much content floating around, it may seem hard for smaller entertainment properties, and traditionally live forms of entertainment, to compete with the big boys.
This is where NFTs come into play.
NFTs have the ability to service niche fandoms. Sites like Third Act, theatre’s first NFT marketplace, focus on delivering fans assets from large and small shows. The latter may benefit more by offering NFT drops to their audiences, using them as marketing tools and a steady source of revenue.
NFTs are associated with million-dollar sales from artists like Beeple. But the true potential of NFTs is using NFT drops to service niche fandoms. For instance, bringing fans of a small theatre production together, for instance, under the umbrella of an NFT marketplace where they can build a collection and connect with other users is a sustainable use case.
That’s why it’s not too late to be early to the NFT party. Imagine you’re in a casino. There’s a table filled with high rollers. Some dressed like Frank Sinatra, smoking cigars, others wearing sunglasses inside. They’re playing high-stakes poker. Millions of dollars on the line. The average person probably isn’t going to confidently take a seat at that table, and rightfully so (a guy’s wearing sunglasses inside after all). The same thing applies to NFTs. The average person shouldn’t be expected to dive in headfirst and throw thousands of dollars around.
But at the other end of the casino is a friendly group of people there for a fan convention. They’re not there to win big, but to share in a common interest. That’s what the true potential of NFTs is. Bringing people together and having them take part in creating an active collection within a vibrant community.
And while enthusiasts will see a benefit from NFTs in the form of a new and exciting way to show off fandom, other benefits exist as well, ones that don’t involve simply accruing a digital collection.
There are creative ways that speak to the sustainability and utility of NFTs. Offering fans physical benefits alongside NFT drops is a recipe to keep this new digital commodity useful. Offering access to ticket pre-sales, exclusive fan experiences, and merchandise alongside NFT ownership is a way that shows can not only bring audiences into the theatre but keep their attention when the lights go down.
In a world where consumer attention is at a premium, building excitement for a product is more than half the battle. And building excitement for a show, whether it be through the enticement of exclusivity or offering awesome benefits, is a great way to draw theatre fan’s attention.
Third Act focuses on partnering with shows big and small, to give them a fighting chance against more traditional forms of entertainment (i.e. movies and television). On Third Act, fans will find digital assets that can slake any theatre nerd’s thirst, and productions can leverage the platform’s user-friendly design to bring their shows to the digital stage.
The NFT bubble is being blown up with a lot of hot air. Unnecessarily complicated terms and explanations thrown around. Uber-rare million-dollar deals used as case studies. It can make one feel like the time to get in on the action is slipping by or already gone. But the truth of the matter is that NFTs have not reached their full potential yet, one that is accessible, sustainable, and perhaps most importantly, fun.