Metaverse Adverse?

In 2021 when Mark Zuckerberg flipped Facebook into Meta, we thought it might be a good time to start paying attention to this thing called the metaverse. More pointedly, was the metaverse the second coming of the internet and therefore a vast, open space for video production and advertising. Would it be untapped and ripe for brands to reach new audiences in new spaces. We weren’t in love with the idea of a Ready Player One world dominating the new media landscape, but we had to consider the potential for video creation and sound design in these new worlds. 

 

Like most of the nonOculus wearing populace (nonOculace?), we had and have a million questions and hypotheses about the metaverse. But our base question still remains. This is a litmus Postmodern Company uses in a lot of our video development work, but has never been more literal and virtual than here and now – “Is There a There, there?”

 

Put even more pointedly – is there an audience and, therefore, demand for marketing and advertising in these spaces? As of April twenty twenty three – no there is not. The metaverse is still a destination built without a swell of desire from potential inhabitants to visit, let alone stay. In the house of the online experience, the metaverse is the messy unfinished basement where your strange cousin Kenny stays while he claims to be looking for work.

 

2022 was the year of the bright, shiny, sparkly promotion of the metaverse. 2023 the year of, perhaps, the reality for meta. It’s dropping out and down due to lack of interest, divestment and to make way for perhaps the metaverse smarter, younger brother – AI. 

 

At this point, we find ourselves very adverse to the metaverse with respect to a new horizon line for video content and video production opportunities. Fundamentally, we like the idea that people might just want to step back from more tech and lean into real, live experiences and to watching content the “old fashioned” way; phone, tablet, tv and the theater i.e. There Is No There, there.

 

But that may not last long. According to a lengthy June 2022 McKinsey metaverse value assessment:

“…our bottom-up view of consumer and enterprise use cases suggests it may generate up to $5 trillion in impact by 2030 – equivalent to the size of the world’s third-largest economy today, Japan. It is shaping up to be the biggest new growth opportunity for several industries in the coming decade, given its potential to enable new business models, products, and services, and act as an engagement channel for both business-to-consumer and business-to-business purposes.” – McKinsey

 

That’s a lot Vbucks and a lot of untapped attention to grab. We’re looking beyond modern to build video content platforms that will play nicely in these new worlds. We could say more, but we have to get on our headsets and get to work!