How Entertainment Startups Are Reinventing Online Engagement

How we interact with online platforms has shifted significantly since the internet was first widely adopted. We now expect far more from websites, apps, and software. These expectations have changed how businesses deliver their online services to their customers. In the entertainment industry, this has largely included crafting opportunities for active engagement and leveraging AI to personalize experiences. 

As online entertainment organizations have thrived and new startups are continuously emerging, online engagement is constantly being reinvented to capture our attention in a saturated landscape of entertainment options. Below, we’ll explore modern online engagement and how startups are evolving from these methods and techniques to create new ways of engaging with online entertainment, ranging from watching videos to gaming.

The New Era of Online Engagement

Accessing content and information online used to be a passive experience. People had little interaction with sites and little personalization or ability to shape their own experiences except to load videos and pull up content on demand. However, that’s no longer the case.

Today, entertainment platforms blend elements of social media interaction with gamified elements and personalization. These allow for more enriching gaming experiences by enabling people to connect with others while they play and interact with an article or video. They also make the platform more enticing and engaging by rewarding people for logging in and doing things like watching videos, sending messages, and beating levels in a game. 

These features, known as gamification, are expanding beyond entertainment, such as education and fitness. Take, for instance, apps like Duolingo, which rewards learners for showing up and doing a lesson, or MyFitnessPal, which encourages people to log in each day by giving them streaks. Even in more traditional education settings, online quizzes, interactive graphics, and digital content enable more flexible, adaptive learning tailored to different learning styles. 

Then, there’s also the growing ability to shape narratives and make decisions across different platforms that enable people to shape their experiences. This is incredibly common in video games, where players have the freedom to make decisions and interact with a virtual world. It has also been seen on streaming platforms like Netflix, particularly its interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.

Startups are embracing this shift from passive to interactive engagement. They are expanding on it to create even more immersive and entertaining apps, especially aided by advances in AI.

Tapping Into the Attention Economy While Delivering Value

With so many engaging platforms and entertainment options, people’s attention is harder to capture and retain than ever before. This scarcity of attention and the drive of businesses to obtain it are often referred to as “the attention economy.” The desire to gain attention has led to the development of techniques that capture and retain attention, like active engagement options. This is evident in AI-driven personalization algorithms used by social media and streaming services. 

These methods of obtaining and holding attention rely on dopamine-driven engagement, and the most successful pair them with value for their users. This value could be prioritizing a high-quality gaming experience with little lag time, stunning graphics, and a free-play option that’s ad-supported. Or it could be access to quality original TV shows and old favorites through a subscription service. This value provides long-term enjoyment and user satisfaction, while immediate dopamine-driven engagement helps us associate positive feelings to start and continue using a platform and subscription service.

While we think of examples of these for established companies like Prime Video, we see this value paired with dopamine-driven engagement in startups like Tappity. Tappity offers a game-like platform but delves into educational content, focusing on STEM-related subjects for children. The engaging platform style captures the attention of children and invites them not only to sit down to play and learn but also to want to use it again and again. Apps like this leverage our natural reward systems, keeping us coming back. In other words, they capture and hold our attention.

Another increasingly used method of capturing attention and offering value is AI-personalized immersive narratives, such as NarrativeCraft and Glade. Both are game developers shaping engaging video games through their unique responses to each player’s gaming choices, which create a unique and personalized gaming experience for each player. Like the dopamine delivery from reward systems, strong narratives activate another hormone in our brains, oxytocin. 

Oxytocin plays a key role in our social bonding and ability to connect with others, making well-crafted storylines powerful ways to draw us in emotionally. Stories shape a more memorable and engaging gaming experience and allow us to connect more deeply with our gaming community. These qualities make players more likely to remember and revisit the experience, particularly since they’re playing an active role in shaping the story and game outcome and aren’t following a preset storyline.

Trusted Platforms Leading the Charge in Immersive Gameplay

The game industry has built engagement in many ways explored here so far, but it’s also addressing another growing desire among online gamers: trust and security. Trusted platforms for thrilling gameplay that gamers can feel confident and secure in using are paving the way to new online experiences that keep gamers engaged. Whether it’s live dealer casino games, the latest slots titles, or online video games, players expect straightforward and secure access.

Streamline Gaming is a startup that has earned a reputation for delivering low-latency gameplay through its innovative cloud gaming model. Players don’t need expensive hardware but can still enjoy a high-end, 4K gaming experience that’s so reliable that even action-packed moments that require more processing aren’t interrupted or reduced in quality. Organizations like this are not only earning gamers’ trust; they’re also making gaming more accessible.

Meanwhile, startups like Dapper Labs are leveraging blockchain both for gameplay and decentralized access to software and digital assets. Blockchain technology is widely recognized for its security, giving it many uses, including protecting personal financial information and other data. Startups leveraging this technology are crafting engaging experiences that are also secure. This provides gamers with more confidence in using platforms as they can feel more secure that their personal information is protected.

The Future of Entertainment Startups

As online experiences are becoming more actively engaging and immersive, they’re shifting consumer expectations, making it an expected norm rather than just a novelty. Startups and established companies must navigate these evolving demands to find and maintain their place in the market—while adding their unique and innovative twist to them.