How Publishers Are Blending In-Person and Virtual Events

If you want to know how something works, first you have to take it apart. And for the events industry, the pandemic did just that. For more than two years, publishers undertook a real-time process of trial and error as they sought to translate their portfolio of events into digitally native enterprises. Now, as health protocols allow for the resumption of physical gatherings, publishers are faced with a welcome, if mildly ironic challenge: integrating their virtual offerings back into the landscape of in-person events. The emergence of virtual events has raised expectations for in-person gatherings, forcing them to sharpen their value propositions. But key strategic elements, such as distribution strategies and pricing for virtual tickets, remain open questions. “People have fundamentally recalculated why they attend events,” said Dan Macsai, executive editor of Time. “The standards have gotten higher.” Time Debuts an Expanded Events Slate With Its Second Time100 Summit Existential reckoning for experiential offerings The overnight adoption of virtual events provided publishers a stopgap source of sponsorship revenue, but it also introduced a new class of product that forced the events industry to redefine its value to consumers. With virtual events, publishers could reach larger audiences more quickly for a fraction of the cost. To attract paying attendees, physical gatherings need to emphasize all the elements they offer that can't be replicated online, said Candace Montgomery, senior vice president and general manager of AtlanticLive, the events arm of The Atlantic. “There needs to be a crystal clear communication of the value proposition. There are now two different kinds of events,” Montgomery said, referring to in-person and virtual. “Any publisher trying to pull off a hybrid experience has to be smart about not conflating the two.” Using feedback tools like attendee polls and surveys, publishers have tried to understand on a more granular level what brings someone to an event. One throughline punctuates the data: a heightened interest in networking. Respondents to an American Express survey said that 81% of events have to have an in-person element, and according to data from events company Bizzaboo, 78% of people said they would prefer to do their networking in person. The appetite for networking highlights the opportunity to turn the limitations of in-person events into selling points that justify the price of admission. “We’ve all been away for two years, so there is more respect for what it means to be in person,” said Stephen Colvin, global chief commercial officer for Bloomberg Media. Sponsorship is booming, but ticketing remains in flux As publishers’ events departments experimented during the pandemic, demand for virtual sponsorship remained consistent, multiple sources told Adweek. Many publishers sold these digital placements as part of a larger advertising package, which helped buoy demand. Now that in-person gatherings have returned, brand investment in event sponsorship has nearly reached pre-pandemic levels, said Brian Quinn, editorial director of events for travel news platform Skift. But publishers have yet to resolve all of the financial issues related to virtual events, particularly in the realm of ticket revenue. Two years of virtual events, which charged a discounted price or were free, have softened consumer demand, Quinn said. The pandemic also conditioned consumers to wait until the last minute to buy tickets. “Ticket sales used to double in the last two weeks before an event, but that timeline has been compressed,” Quinn said. “You have to overindex on the value and the marketing to make sure your audience sees your event as the must-attend.” The future of virtual is video At the onset of the pandemic, critics blasted virtual events as dull imitations of their real-life counterparts. Now, with improved technology, experts believe online gatherings will supplement, not supplant, in-person functions. A number of publishers say that by treating virtual events like digital video, they can vastly increase their commercial potential. Time bulked up its video production team so it could turn in-person events like the Time 100 Summit into a multicamera, premium television production, Macsai said. The same goes for Bloomberg Media, which has used its preexisting video production expertise to inform its virtual events programming. As publishers continue to delve more deeply into video, many could find it a natural evolution to turn virtual events into more sophisticated video content, evolving the genre beyond talking heads into packages designed for TikTok, YouTube or connected TV. In time, the line between digital events and digital video could blur even further, said Amanda Smith, president of fashion news publisher Fairchild Media. “Historically, when we thought about virtual programming, we thought about the storytelling behind how your experience would unfold,” Smith said. “Now we are thinking about how we can present, cut or distribute that video.” Bloomberg Media Hires NYT Vet to Oversee Combined Events Business

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A Blended Portfolio: How Publishers Are Integrating Their In-Person and Virtual Events

Conferences and other physical gatherings are back, but they'll never be the same

Mark Stenberg

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Mark Stenberg