AUGMENTED REALITY AND 5G ARE HERE

REPORTING FROM BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. — Technology is everywhere and simply ignoring new technology is not an option in the venue industry in 2017.
“Every panel, roundtable and keynote will talk about how technology has changed and impacted our business,” declared MichAl Lorenc, head of industry, ticketing and Live Events, Google, who moderated the Tech Trends panel at here VenuesNow.
“There’s no question that technology has changed everything from talent discovery to marketing to payments to distribution systems to security to in-venue experiences to out-of-venue experiences,” he said.
Eric Johnson, CEO, LaneOne, said his company is going after the premium tier at live events. “We marry technology and services,” he said. The company is a joint venture between Live Nation/Ticketmaster and Azoff MSG and will launch in the fall.
Christos Karmis, president, Mobilitie, said, “It’s a lot of work as people use their cellphones more and more each day. Making sure the networks operate 24/7 is a big task.”
John Paul, CEO, VenueNext, said his company’s goal is to integrate all the systems in a venue and present them to the fan through their mobile device. He hopes to improve the fan experience and, at the same time, dramatically improve the business at the venue through cost reduction.
“In the long run it’s all about the data we can provide that shows who is coming into the venue,” he said.
“It’s all about knowing who is in your venue,” said Paul. “The ticket is a great anonymizer. I could hand my ticket to someone else and every system in the venue will think it’s me. Getting that ticket on a mobile device, and making sure you know who has that device, is most important.”
The ability to understand what people are doing in the venue and what they’re doing when they go home helps us build that database and tells us who our customer is,” said Paul.
“Mobile is huge and keeping up with demand is tough,” said Karmis. “The reality is that people are consuming large amounts of data. We’re constantly upgrading networks.” Karmis is already looking at changes that will have to be made for 5G.
“We’re trying to get ahead of it,” he said, predicting 2020 as the 5G revolution touchpoint.
Johnson talked about dynamic pricing. Having access to the data shows us what the market looks like and we can then sell at a fair price. It all goes back to mobile, he said. “What we’ll see in data in the next 10 years will be driven by having identification with mobile devices.”
Lorenc said that the cost of data needs to come down. “It’s hard for small to medium-sized venues to get this technology on a budget they can afford.”
Karmis said that a capital investment in Mobilitie could run anywhere from $7-$10 million. “And you’re not done when you finish,” he said. “You have to continually upgrade your systems.”
Paul said that network coverage is a requirement in a venue and he’s looking at ways to monetize it by selling the data he collects. “The key is making the value exchange fair,” said Karmis. “People need to feel like they are getting something along with giving you all their information.”
Deepen Parikh, partner, Courtside Ventures, said the eSports offer a great opportunity to collect data. “So much is done online and leaves a footprint,” he said. “The eSports world is very busy building customer profiles.”
With data comes security concerns. “We all talk about solutions but with every solution comes a new problem,” said Karmis. “Public WiFi networks are distressing. There’s only so much we can control. Spoof networks are hard to detect.”
“Technology is new for a lot of venues,” he said. “It’s hard for a venue to hire the best and brightest to run their networks.” He said that expertise needs to be shared across venues.
Johnson said investment is easier to get on the sports side. “Teams see the investment pay off,” he said. “It’s more problematic in a one-off concert.” Johnson believes OVG’s Arena Alliance model will help. “The payoff will be easier to see when many venues are doing the same things.”
Parikh has had less success getting sports teams to invest in technology, “unless it’s directly relevant to the bottom line. If it doesn’t equate to dollars very quickly, you are not going to get them to pay for it.” He also said some of the leagues are “doing a great job and get that the fan experience is on the line if they don’t keep up with the latest technology trends.”
Paul said the 49ers are in the upper echelon for the amount of energy they put into content and distribution. “They want the fans to see their content and they keep finding creative ways to get in front of them.”
“We should be using technology to relieve some of the friction in going to a live event,” said Paul. “Let’s make it easier to park; easier to get in; easier to find your way around; easier to eat. Let’s use technology to shave off the tough parts.”
Paul also believes that Augmented Reality (AR) is going to have a much bigger impact than Virtual Reality (VR), especially in venues. “AR will really aid in the better enjoyment of a venue,” he said, using wayfinding as a good example of how AR will work inside a venue. “Today we give you step-by-step directions but you are never really sure what way you should be looking at the map. With AR the app will flash an arrow showing you exactly where to go. Or it can find a friend sitting in a whole different section.”
Paul said that teams could use AR to get fans engaged with players on the field. “You hold up your phone, it recognizes the player, gives you the history of that player, stats, and even clips of that player in past games.”
With Google and Apple both highly investing in the AR space, Paul thinks that in the next couple of years there will be tens of hundreds of phones that will have AR capabilities. “It will become much more automatic and seamless,” he said. “It requires location services to be smart, but everyone is moving to indoor mapping techniques that don’t even require beacons anymore. With AR we just put things on top of things in the right location because we know where you are and where you are looking.”
Paul also said that the cost of AR will be minimal. Most of the data is already out there, he said, and he expects that the leagues and teams will pick up the cost to get fans engaged with the players.
AR will make the user interfaces much easier and more intuitive. “Hold your phone up and point and if we can figure out what it is, we’ll tell you.” He likened it to a Shazam for the real world.