The main trends in entertainment and communication industries we wait for in 2025.

The main trends in entertainment and communication industries we wait for in 2025. How will embeded AI move further? What should we do with live-video streaming? What is with tokenization, gamification, and mysterious hyber localization that became 

Six Trends of 2025 We Can’t Miss

We studied many reports on 2024 and predictions about the following year made by the most influencing research companies, media, and technological giants, and grabbed the most interesting trends, the significant quotations, and the bravest predictions for the future of communication and entertainment—just for you and for us to build the most exciting, ambitious, and actual roadmap.We studied numerous reports in 2024 and examined predictions for the following year from the most influential research companies, media outlets, and technological giants. From these analyses, we selected the most intriguing trends, significant quotes, and boldest forecasts for the future of communication and entertainment. We’ve gathered insights to craft the most exciting, ambitious, and relevant roadmap for both you and us.<h2>Mainstream Adoption of Live Streaming</h2>Trend: Live streaming continues to dominate, with users focusing on interactive, real-time experiences.We wrote it not once: live-streaming has been one of the most notable vague in the entertainment industry for the last few years. Users get used to streaming, watching other users’ streaming; everything can be streamed, and everything can be sold during the stream. Twitch and YouTube created this trend, but it doesn't mean that other services can use it for their own interaction with the audience.<blockquote>“Live-streaming viewership is up 12% from Q3 2023 to 8.5B hours watched, indicating renewed interest in the industry following the post-pandemic dip. Kick solidified its position in the live-streaming space, now holding the #3 spot with 534M hours watched after growing it (together with Twitch and YouTube; the fourth place goes to Facebook Video). This resurgence has been fueled by a wider variety of platforms, like Kick which has doubled in viewership compared to Q3 last year.” Stream Hatchet; Q3 2024 Report</blockquote><blockquote>“As live-streaming commerce grows, it’s&nbsp;clear that e-commerce will need to evolve or risk being overshadowed by this inherently dynamic approach. Through advanced personalization, moderation and real-time analytics, content will be tailored to real-time preferences based on input and reactions." <a href="https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesbusinesscouncil/people/luxnarayan/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">Lux Narayan</a> for Forbes, October 2024</blockquote><img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/d79539d2-8bef-4b9c-b6ae-4dd9bfc7e684.jpeg"><blockquote>“We now expect to see a new era of streaming, one that prioritizes user experience and innovation. The future of AI-powered streaming lies in platforms that can anticipate individual preferences, deliver tailored content, and blur the lines between traditional viewing and interactive experiences.” Kevin Westcott, Deloitte Global Telecommunications, November 2024</blockquote><blockquote>“60% of those respondents who budget for influencer marketing intend to increase their influencer marketing budget over next year.” Influencer Marketing Hub</blockquote><h2>Consolidation of Embedded AI</h2>Trend: AI integration becomes a demanded part of functionality for enhancing UX through personalization, chat assistance, and predictive analytics.The growth of embedded AI happened fast and users adopted it really fast as well. Now, companies and services should not fall behind and give users what they expect to see: convenient tools for interacting with AI or services improved with AI for better personalisation.<blockquote>“...companies hope to create an all-in-one app, where users can act on what they have learned and never have to leave. 73% of consumers believe customer service quality will improve with the&nbsp;use of AI and expect more interactions with it in their everyday lives.” CX Trend 2024; Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity</blockquote><blockquote>“If you think about the world’s data, the majority of it is sitting in cold tiers and archives. Enterprises are now using that data to feed AI models and realize the full value of the data." Arthur Lewis, <a href="https://www.barrons.com/market-data/stocks/dell?mod=article_chiclet" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">Dell Technologies</a>’ infrastructure solutions group; Barron’s, November 2024</blockquote><blockquote>“In 2025, this democratization of AI usage is accelerating, promising to reshape industries and revolutionize decision-making processes across every sector of the economy.” Forbes, November, 2024</blockquote><h2>Surge in Gamification</h2>Trend: Gamification elements, like achievements, leaderboards, and streaks, are key to driving engagementGamification is not a new trend; it has been evolving over the last decade or so. As more users develop habits of playing games and video games, they increasingly tend to respond to achievements and expect to receive them for their behaviour. If platforms want to retain users and build loyalty, achievements are becoming a necessary element of this.<blockquote>“Gamification is about motivating people through data-driven experiences that tap into the core of what makes us human—our need to learn, grow, and be rewarded.” Gabe Zichermann, Onward, October 2024</blockquote><blockquote>“The gamification market size has grown exponentially , and it is expected to grow with GAGR in 24.4%. The growth in the historic period can be attributed at increased use of gamification in gaming industry and rise of mobile games.” Global Gamification Market Growth Drivers 2024/ Report</blockquote><h2>Hyper-Localization</h2>Trend: Platforms are demanding tailored experiences to specific geographies, languages, and cultural contexts.<blockquote>Personalization is no longer a luxury; it’s an expectation. Players want experiences that resonate with their individual preferences.” Yogonet iGaming news, October 2024</blockquote>This trend is closely tied to the development of embedded AI and the full adoption of big data, and interestingly, it intersects with both globalization and anti-globalization movements. Some platforms aim to protect their content, while others focus on offering users the freedom to move seamlessly across borders without losing their connection to the platform.Users demand a close, personalised connection with their favourite services, whether they are at home or abroad. Personalisation is a king, detailed localisation is a necessity.&nbsp;<blockquote>“The drivers for local differentiation include: Businesses in highly regulated industries must adhere to national or regional regulations and ensure that regulators’ systems can connect with their own. Data privacy and security laws, such as the European Union’s GDPR and China’s Data Security Law, apply to all industries and may include <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/risk-and-resilience/our-insights/localization-of-data-privacy-regulations-creates-competitive-opportunities" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">requirements affecting local infrastructure</a>, such as cloud providers, and mechanisms to control data flows, such as isolated access controls. The user experience may need to be tailored to reflect local&nbsp; communication preferences.”McKinsey and Company</blockquote><h2>Blockchain and Tokenized Incentives and Crypto Growth</h2>Trend: Blockchain and tokenized economics are gaining traction for easiness and transparency processing and unique rewardsIf your platform operates globally and involves financial transactions—whether users trade stocks, buy or sell goods, pay for services, or place bets—they need a secure and seamless way to manage their money. To avoid complications with various currencies, some platforms have adopted crypto operations. While this trend may not exhibit the fastest growth, it remains strong and steadily gaining confidence.<blockquote>“Tech-savvy players who value anonymity and fast transactions are particularly drawn to crypto-friendly platforms. Additionally, the rise of PayPal casinos is also notable, as many players prefer the security and ease of transactions that the platform offers. As global regulations around cryptocurrency and digital payment methods continue to evolve, their roles in the gambling industry will only grow stronger.” Yogonet Gaming news, October 2024</blockquote><blockquote>“Tokenized financial assets are moving from pilot to at-scale deployment. Adoption is not yet widespread, but financial institutions with blockchain capabilities in&nbsp;place will have a strategic advantage. For instance, we believe tokenization feasibility is highest for asset classes with lower technical complexities and regulatory considerations.” McKinsey &amp; Company, 2024</blockquote><h2>Community-building</h2>Trend: The social part of user experience now is a necessity.If two years ago, developing social tools was really important for entertainment businesses: users got used to social media, and social networks stole retention and attention from platforms, channels, and services. It was essential, but now it is required. All users of all platforms need to share their opinions: your users can watch movies or sports, study analytical reports, share their ideas about the best cookie recipes, bet on hockey or buy tickets to the theatre: all of them need to receive advice or give them. ﻿﻿﻿﻿<img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/93c2e6ff-df46-4428-ad0b-4a3af6e20b3b.jpeg">All of them were really into these activities, and they had to create WhatsApp or Facebook groups for such discussions, but now platforms see these needs and add this functionality on the platforms. Interesting that it doesn't matter if the platform is big or small; community chat, comment section, and in-app live-video streaming can be added on any platform where there is a topic to discuss and users who are actually interested in such discussions.&nbsp;<blockquote>“Engaging with your audience shows you value their input and are willing to evolve based on their needs.” <a href="https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbescommunicationscouncil/2024/10/01/the-power-of-community-how-fashion-brands-are-building-loyalty-among-gen-z/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">Forbes, October 2024</a></blockquote>

You decided to add in-app chat and live-streaming. Now your turn to decide will you build or buy it?

Discover the pros and cons of building in-house vs. leveraging B2B SaaS platforms for features like chats, copy-betting, and in-app live streaming. Explore insights on resource optimization, strategic alignment, cost predictability, and timelines to 

Accumulated experience or lessons from mistakes: Buy or build social features for your platform?

Many companies face a critical dilemma when implementing new functionalities, such as chats, copy-betting, and in-app live streaming, alongside their core product. Should they build the solution in-house with their own team or leverage a specialized B2B SaaS platform?<img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/1e3c48cf-0e60-4e96-a8d4-25a412ca96b7.jpg">There can be many potential advantages and disadvantages for both answers, and we discuss these two variants with many potential clients, so we decided to talk about this in more detail and offer guidance on making the right choice.<h2>Building a feature in-house</h2>Companies that lean towards building in-house see the following reasons.<ul><li>Resource optimisation</li></ul>Companies may believe they can distribute costs across existing team members without significantly increasing overhead.<ul><li>Strategic alignment</li></ul>Building in-house ensures the solution aligns closely with the company’s vision and strategy, avoiding “not quite right” products from the market. People who build in-house perfectly know and understand the needs and peculiarities of the company and can build something unique and fit for their specific product.<ul><li>Developing internal expertise</li></ul>Creating the product internally can gradually build valuable expertise within the team, so its members can support and maintain this service, not only building it but keeping it in its initial state.<ul><li>Control</li></ul>Relying on in-house resources eliminates external risks like vendor market exit, ownership changes, or pricing shifts. Also, they know everything happening with the feature perfectly: all crushes and all good feedback. Complete control is usually the main reason (perhaps after finances) for building the solution in-house.<img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/9eec4e31-c250-4285-8b3a-5434f3bf3c45.jpg"><h3>Reality check✅</h3>While the idea of the building seems appealing for control and alignment, the reality often unveils hidden challenges.Despite these arguments, building in-house comes with significant challenges.Specific expertise cannot be replacedWithout a dedicated team, the product often remains at the MVP stage and fails to deliver meaningful results.Risk of dilutionFocusing on secondary products can detract from the core offering, stretching resources thin or the opposite—your team always have more prior tasks, and the feature will be underdeveloped.Unpredictable outcomesExperimenting with new features involves a lengthy trial-and-error process, which consumes time and budget without guaranteeing success. Because this feature is new to you, you will face many unexpected problems.Escalating costsInitial development costs can balloon as the product requires continuous improvements to stay relevant.Delayed ROIEven in an optimistic scenario, a functional MVP takes more than half a year to complete, and tangible results may only appear after extensive testing and iteration, which often lasts well over a year.<h2>Buying SaaS</h2>Using a specialized B2B SaaS platform offers a range of benefits.<img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/3243cdff-cb4f-4e8f-b5dc-a545a9a3bcaf.jpg">Access to the most relevant teamSaaS solutions are built and maintained by dedicated teams with deep expertise, often at a cost lower than assembling an in-house team.Leveraging сollective wisdomSaaS platforms incorporate feedback and best practices from numerous clients, ensuring a more refined and effective product from the start. So, you don’t need to learn from your mistakes: use accumulated experience.Cost PredictabilitySaaS comes with clear, manageable pricing structures, reducing financial uncertainty.Faster ResultsWith no lengthy development phase, SaaS users can implement a new feature in days and see measurable outcomes within weeks, not months or years.Flexibility to transitionIt’s possible to start with SaaS to test the waters and later switch to building in-house if the solution makes sense for your business.<h3>Reality check✅</h3>Different SaaS companies offer various business models and communication schemes. Thus, disadvantages can vary, from implementation difficulties to a lack of flexibility: not all details and wishes can be released, and not all improvements appear as soon as desired.<h2>As a result</h2>The choice between building in-house or buying a SaaS solution depends on your company’s priorities, resources, and timeline. Building offers control and alignment but often at the cost of time, focus, and escalating expenses. SaaS, on the other hand, provides a faster, more efficient path to results with access to expert insights and proven solutions. For most companies, starting with SaaS is a pragmatic approach, enabling rapid implementation and cost-effective scaling while leaving the door open for future in-house development if needed. However, you need to have a checklist with questions and choose a SaaS company that meets your needs perfectly and offers you the solution and features that you and your end-users will be happy to try.

Number of messages, new regions, and exciting features: here are the highlights of 2024.

Discover the highlights of 2024: innovative live-streaming tools, enhanced APIs, an upgraded admin panel, advanced AI moderation, and increased user engagement. Learn how we empower platforms to build thriving communities.

Swift look at 2024

<h2>Product updates</h2>Exciting Opportunities for Live-StreamingWe’ve launched advanced in-app tools for live streaming to help our partners significantly boost engagement and attract new audiences.While live-streaming is a growing trend, platforms can harness this new user behaviour to build communities and grow businesses. Our tools empower platform owners to host exclusive in-app live streams. Imagine a popular influencer hosting a stream on your platform, and the audience engages in dynamic conversations, exchanges stickers, and shares emotions—all within your service.<img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/3bb61c91-a6bc-46ef-a31d-69d16f7454b3.gif">This doesn’t just enhance business metrics but also adds unique content to your platform and elevates the overall user experience.Another approach is reusing content from other platforms. Our tools for embedding external players in chats let you seamlessly embed Twitch, YouTube, Kick, or Facebook players to keep your users entertained.<h4>A Plethora of Powerful APIs</h4>We’ve developed a comprehensive set of APIs to enable platform owners to easily connect chats with their platforms and manage them conveniently. These APIs include tools for managing badges, marketing offers, audio streams, and AI bots that can be added to community chats to create the most engaging and useful spaces for users.Highly Developed Back OfficeWe’ve significantly enhanced the admin panel with various instruments and tools for settings, customisation, localisation, and analytics. All data can be gathered and reviewed in one place. Everything you need is accessible and downloadable directly from the admin panel. No extra kits or tools are required, and our solution ensures a safe and secure experience thanks to this streamlined approach. BadgesWe’ve expanded opportunities for badge awards. Platform owners can now create intricate and dynamic badge structures, assign different badges to users, or transfer them via API. Users who receive badges are notified with a congratulatory message, while others can learn how to earn the same badges through additional alerts.New Marketing Widgets and Pop-upsIn addition to marketing messages, we now offer marketing popups, powerful tools for promoting internal or external products and services. These popups directly engage users, prompting them to take specific actions. They can be personalised, manually configured, or automated via API.<img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/783aed4c-437d-40a9-8af2-4399bed1338d.jpg">New level of AI moderationWe’ve integrated a new AI model into our moderation system, creating a trifecta of systems working together to provide the most secure environment possible. Additional tools include masking sensitive details like crypto wallets and phone numbers, expanded options for user bans of varying durations, and more.These are just the main tools—we continuously develop updates to ensure a highly efficient, convenient, and feature-rich chat experience. This allows platform owners to improve business metrics while giving end-users an engaging, trustworthy space to connect with like-minded individuals.<h2>New Clients</h2>This year, we’ve established partnerships with companies from diverse regions. We now provide our services to platforms operating in Iceland, New Zealand, Taiwan, South Korea, and Poland while continuing to strengthen our presence in other regions in which we have already worked.<h2>Events, Expos, and Prizes</h2>We participated in numerous industry events and expos, competing with promising startups, pitching at ICE London and showcasing at Web Summit Lisbon.Here are the highlights of three key events.<ul><li>SIGMA</li></ul>We pitched at two SIGMA World events and won both! Our first victory was in Brazil at SIGMA Americas, followed by another win in Hungary at SIGMA East Europe. Additionally, our CPO, Adel Gaisin, spoke on a panel at SIGMA Malta, sharing insights on how this winning spirit propels our growth.﻿﻿﻿<img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/2bfde487-14b3-4009-8430-3751a42fad06.png"><ul><li>South Summit</li></ul>At South Summit in Madrid, we pitched in the Digital Culture section, connecting with leading experts and companies across various industries. Digital culture at its finest!<ul><li>SBC</li></ul>We were nominated as a Rising Star in Service Provision at SBC, one of the largest and most impactful iGaming expos worldwide.<h2>Google for Startups Growth Academy</h2><img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/6dbb139c-9113-4c18-ba7e-a28d212cd5cf.jpeg">We were selected for the Google Growth Academy alongside 14 other high-potential UK companies. The programme is designed for AI-powered startups, and we are proud to be one of them.We use AI for multilingual content moderation, real-time translation, semantic analysis, and actionable insights derived from community chats. With 90% of AI startups built on GCP, now we are one of them.<h2>Main (and Huge) Numbers</h2>6,544,472 unique users entered our chats30,728,928 messages sent*We look forward to an even more exciting 2025, with plans to expand further and continue helping content platforms worldwide build thriving communities. Our next event is ICE Barcelona—come visit our stand. See you there!

Customisable live-streaming, more tools for security and user protection, and more languages available: see what we provided during our last releases in 2025.

Discover enhanced live streaming with customizable UI layouts, secure admin panel onboarding, expanded data export options, advanced AI moderation models, and new language localizations in Dutch and French. Elevate user safety, engagement, and access

Six times more: share improvements we made last month

More сustom UI for live streaming in a chatWe added different options for placing a video player while streaming on a chat. You can change the setting anytime and choose the best flow for every stream provided. Thus, you can place comments in a chat as a layout on the video players or place them in a more classical way below the player.More secure flow for new users of the admin panelAll users on the admin panel must add their email addresses to protect their accounts. Also, when platforms want to invite new users to the admin panel, it is now possible only through email. When a user receives their invitation, they have to create a nickname and password, fill in several needed fields, and then start to use the admin panel. It provides not only a secure flow but also allows the tracking of all actions made by admins and moderators on the admin panel.More types of data exportAdmins can export data about the bans that were made and about participants in a poll. The first part is crucial for users protection and support, the second part helps platform owners to engage users with activities such as quizzes and competitions.More protected dataUsers cannot send the number of their crypto wallets in a chat any more. Now, these numbers are masked as bank accounts and phone numbers.More AI moderation modelsWe added a new AI moderation model so all your messages can now be checked and verified by two AI models simultaneously—for the most trusted and secure space.More languages&nbsp;We’ve added localisation of the chat interface in Dutch and a pre-moderation system in Dutch and French.

Last month, we boosted opportunities for engagement, which you can get with our social platform at times, with two significant features.

Integrated in-app live streaming, AI bots and many other engaging tools for the content platforms...Learn more about Watchers SaaS product updates!

Live streaming and AI bots: share exciting new features we launched in October

Live Streaming ToolsEven a month ago, you could use video in our chat only by redirecting video streams from other platforms; now, you can provide a live stream directly into chats, directing RTMP stream through OBS. Their video stream will be transmitted to the chat on your platform. You won’t lose your audience on Twitch, Discord, or Facebook Video because everything they need will be gathered on your platform exclusively.﻿<img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/08a30051-9b58-4edf-a162-47856ad73e4c.png">However, redirecting video streams is also possible if you got used to having such events on Kick or Facebook; you can easily embed this video into your in-app chats and gather maximum engagement there.Easy AI bots integrationDo you have an AI bot, or are you developing one right now? You can add them to your community chats! It’s the best way to keep users busy and engaged and provide all the information they need. You can add any bots you wish via API and activate them at any time.&nbsp;Small adjustmentsThere are many more options for a period of a ban: there are 7 of them now!The user counter works more precisely than ever.If users share their bet with a violent comment, the moderation system hides only the text, but the bet stays in a chat.Nickname block list: You can add words and phrases you would like to restrict users from adding to nicknames. Users will be able to text these words in messages but not in their names.Masking crypto wallet numbers: We used to mask only regular bank accounts and phone numbers, now crypto wallets.

We participate in three huge industrial events during November: Web Summit, SIGMA Europe Summit, and Google Startup Academy. 

Community chat and live streaming provider Watchers participate in Web Summit, SIGMA Europe Summit, and Google Academy this year. Book a meeting to discuss the integration or book a free trial

London, Lisbon, and Valetta: Where do you plan to meet Watchers this November?

How do you plan to spend the end of the autumn? We've decided to make it as fruitful as possible. Watchers' team will actively participate in three industrial events during the month and be happy to meet and network there.Google for Startups Growth Academy (London, UK, since the end of October)We've been selected for the program as one of the most promising AI startups to accelerate growth and impact the industry. We’re proud to be recognised for our trail-blazing efforts in using AI to continue bringing socialisation to the platforms and making users' communication engaging and safe. Most offline events will be held in London.Web Summit (Lisbon, Portugal, 11-14 November)We are participating in the Web Summit for the third time in a row. This time, we are showcasing as a beta startup. Our showcase will take place on 14 November on Stage 13. We be happy to see you there! If you plan to attend the expo, visit our booth on November 13 (B311). By the way, we have a special offer for Web Summit attendees—an opportunity to book a 3-month free trial. So, hurry up and connect with us if you want to integrate community chats with widgets on your app or website, and have tickets to Websummit.&nbsp;SIGMA Europe Summit (Valetta, Malta, 11-14 November)This time, we won't just attend the biggest SIGMA event of the year; our CPO, Adel Gaisin, will also participate in a speaking panel, "Startups Stories: Following up with SiGMA and AIBC Startup Pitch Winners", and share our experience as a startup that won SIGMA Pitch twice during the year. Feel free to join the panel on 14 November at 13:15.&nbsp;You can always contact us to book a meeting.***If you don't plan to be in Lisbon, London, or Valetta during November but would like to talk to us, discuss the functionality, or have a demo call, contact us via email or fill out the form.

AI moderation for images, changelog, and marvellous iGaming stickers: what we added to the product last month.

Watchers' integrated chats now include AI moderation capabilities for checking images sent by users. Users can communicate in a habitual and convenient way without unpleasant content. That increases engagement and revenue on all type of platforms

AI moderation for images, changelog, and marvellous iGaming stickers: what we added to the product last month

<h3>Features</h3>Influencers’ stream recordingIf you provide audio streams on your platform and your users share their screens with some visual materials, voice can be recorded and re-used to attract more users and even for your promotion on social media or other platforms to attract more people to use your service.AI moderation of imagesWe provide users with the opportunity to send pictures and allow them to communicate in a completely trusted and healthy space with AI moderation tools. You can activate the AI moderation tool, which will block all inappropriate messages with images automatically. Alternatively, you can activate manual pre-moderation and check all messages before they get into the chat.However, manual moderation is available for both options: if you find the image AI allowed for sending inappropriate, you can hide it afterwards.ChangelogIntroduces a changelog to track platform updates and modifications. Partners can subscribe to all updates through the admin panel and receive a letter with product news after every release.<h3>Improvements</h3>Text Input for Bet/Win Sharing&nbsp;Users can add some additional text while sharing their bets or winnings.Chat Disable Management&nbsp;Any partner can pause or turn off a chat on their side directly on the admin panel and add an announcement for users as to why the chat is unavailable and when it will be open again.Toggle for threads and automatic banning&nbsp;You can turn threads functionality on and off anytime, as well as the opportunity to ban users automatically based on other users’ claims. You can activate and deactivate these features at any moment.Asian localisationWe’ve added Korean and Japanese pre-moderation tools and localised the chat interface.Custom sticker settings and a new iGaming sticker packPartners can add as many sticker packs as they wish, activate several at a time, and assign an emoji to each sticker. When users type this emoji into a chat, the assigned sticker will be proposed for sending despite an emoji.<img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/af2dd38c-5ca4-4ec8-8736-4465e5846733.png">We’ve also added a default sticker pack for iGaming, which a marvellous Brazilian illustrator created especially for us.

How to use interactive consumption content pattern to boost the platform usage?

Boost content engagement with integrated community chats and interactive tools. Audiences of all ages now seek interaction through mobile devices, gaming, and second-screen strategies. Increase retention with live chats and gamification features.

​​​​Who enjoys the interaction while consuming content? Spoiler: Not just Gen Z

Who enjoys the interaction while consuming content? Who finds classical TV broadcasting a bit outdated and struggling for interaction while watching news, shows, and sports, applying to their smartphones and other mobile devices? Who adores interacting with a gamer before gaming themselves? The popular answer to this question is Gen Z, but this answer looks a bit outdated.&nbsp;Patterns with high levels of engagement and interactions appeared when Gen Zers became a goal of entertaining companies. However, patterns quickly spread around users and viewers of different ages and generations. As discussed during the ‘The Future of Content Viewing’ talk at the IBC summit this year in Amsterdam, it is a mistake to talk about YouTube users as only young people. That’s just a cliche; if you use it, you just avoid statistics and big data provided quite widely.Yet, if the cause differs, conclusions stay the same and even become more critical. Suppose such a pattern is widespread and applied by various people. In that case, services and brands must meet these needs through communication strategies and product development.Let’s see some various use cases for such content viewing to realise how platforms can use this new habit for the greater good of both the business and the users.<img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/630c8706-b4ea-4e73-a10c-70a0aa14614b.png"><h3>Boost games with social interaction</h3>There are different ways for games: from video games to iGaming, from single-player games to group and public ones. All of them can be enhanced with a high level of interaction while gaming if we are talking about group games and observing other players’ games or between games considering single-player games. This player can comment on their actions with audio or video, while other users comment on a chat with text, stickers, emojis, and gifs. Twitch, it seems like a video stream with commenting actions is a more customary and convenient approach, but we can argue that audio is much simpler. Streamers don’t need to prepare much for the technical part or, for example, their appearance; if the game is simple, they can play and comment from any place they locate in a moment. Also, their audio won’t distract users from the game when the video stream is too complete content itself and sometimes can be very distracting from the main content we want users to pay attention to. At the same time, they can like, share, comment and respond to the streamer and the game process; this is engaging and sticky: users share their emotions here and are more likely to come back to your platform/app as they used to come back to Twitch and Youtube.&nbsp;How to do itYou can add audio or video streams with a chat to your platform with any type of game. Your gamers will provide streams to their gaming process, which will accumulate more users. Particular gamers can gather communities with the habit of consuming gaming content on your platform.<h3>Enhance watching of sports with dynamic interactivity and after-messengers habit</h3>Mobile-first and mobile-only audiences are growing, at the same time the same audience watches programmes on TV because of traditions, habits, collective watching, and coverage: for example, some significant sports games and popular reality shows are broadcasted exclusively on TV. Such viewers lack attention to the TV screen and consume mobile content while watching TV. So, the goal for such an audience is to ‘keep their attention to the main content. It can be achieved with several tools. The first and primary is a second-screen approach: if viewers want to use their mobile phones while watching TV, you can provide them with this opportunity with a link to the main content. They can chat and discuss what’s going on in the main content; in this case, the second screen will be used as a community-building tool. Also, the second-screen approach helps to provide additional content for viewers, such as polls, quizzes, trivia, and bots that enhance the watching experience and focus the viewers’ attention on the content even when they would love to be distracted by their phones.How to do itThere are simple and more complicated ways. The easiest one is to connect a big screen to a mobile phone by scanning a QR code. So, users can scan QR on a TV screen and get into the chat as a specific mobile page or into your main app with additional features, polls, and tools for communications. The next level is to connect these devices in both directions: when users get into mobile by scanning something on the big screen, then they can send something to this screen: it can be some moderated messages, stickers, or emojis, which will be shown as a feed, or poll results.<h3>Grow retention with specific tournaments and rewards</h3>When users play on your platform, watch something, or use your app in any other ways but regularly, spending much time there, they wish to be noticed, and they wish to be entertained. Such a desire is also connected with gaming as it is: people get used to getting rewards even for the activities they like. Because of that, you can use gamification mechanics for users by assigning them different badges and achievements. But what is the meaning of it if they can not show off with their rewards? It returns us to the talk about the community. Even achievements work better and give more joy to their owners if other users can see them and comment. Also, users value specific and exclusive things like special stickers, emojis, or new opportunities with the usage of tools unavailable for most other community members. Users become sticky to the service if they get something there—you don’t want to throw away something you achieve.How to do itYou can add an opportunity for users to communicate in community chat and show their achievements there, as well as reward them with specific communication tools, such as stickers. When you award users with badges, it is necessary to show the losers how to get such a badge and stimulate them to take target actions.*Actually, there are many opportunities to give users tools and ways to communicate how they got used to doing so. Variants depend on the type of content on your platform and the results you want to achieve. However, you should remember that retention is a crucial metric for almost all platforms, and successfully integrated community-building solutions grow it in any case.

Watchers triumphed at the SiGMA East Europe Startup Pitch Competition, clinching the top prize with our innovative SaaS solution.

SaaS Watchers which integrates community chats to content platforms triumphed at the SiGMA East Europe Startup Pitch Competition, clinching the top prize with an  innovative solution.

Watchers Wins Top Prize at SiGMA East Europe Startup Pitch Competition in Budapest

Chosen from numerous industry startups, we had the opportunity to showcase our solution in Budapest and connect with investors, experts, and leading industry players among the six finalists.<img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/3971a760-f354-4ac7-b058-30bb451376ac.png">On September 3rd, Alina Kuzo, Head of Content at Watchers, presented our company. The judging panel, consisting of Robert Duboff (Director at Velo Partners), Marianna Tavella (Chief Legal Officer at SiGMA Group), Harmen Brenninkmeijer (Managing Partner at NYCE International), Mariusz Gąsiewski (CEE Mobile Gaming &amp; Apps Lead at Google), Vinicius Moraes De Carvalho (Investment Partner at Ikigai Ventures), Vladimir Malakchi (CEO &amp; Managing Partner at Xanada Investments), and Jarek Bialek (CEO of Revenue Capital), selectedour pitch and solution as the best.<img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/dd6701bb-baac-41ac-8ff2-7c03c4bc18a2.png">The SiGMA East Europe Summit (September 2-4) brought together a vibrant community of providers, experts, operators, and investors. It is a significant platform for market leaders to network and explore the latest trends and technologies.

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