Michael Pedersen, Chief Commercial Officer at Livespins, says that consumers are seeking social entertainment experiences and online casinos must find ways of offering this.
If you look at the most popular entertainment options, social interaction is now a core part of the experience. From social media to streaming, mobile gaming to listening to music, the providers of these services have put social functionality and features front and centre.
Streaming providers now allow users to create watch parties where they can virtually sit down with their friends to watch a movie, even though they might be based not only in different living rooms but different countries.
Mobile games have built-in chat features and social functions such as leaderboards while music streaming services allow users to create shared playlists and recommend songs to friends and family.
Humans are tribal and instinctively social, so it should come as no surprise that when we engage in an entertainment activity, we want to share that experience with others. The pandemic was a further catalyst for this and has forever changed consumer desire for interacting with others.
Operators are undoubtedly aware of this but to date, very few have been able to bring social engagement into the user experience in a meaningful way. There are a few standouts, in particular, Dabble, whose entire UX is based around interaction, but the majority have yet to crack the code.
This is understandable to some extent. Online casino in particular is a solitary activity – players set their bets and then fire up the reels on slots where their only real involvement in the process is hitting the spin button.
Table games are no different. Again, the player places their bet followed by limited participation (hit, split or stand in blackjack, select their numbers in roulette, etc.) and the random number generator then takes care of the rest.
Live dealer is the exception to this, with players able to chat with the dealer and each other. And this is a major part of why live casino has become so popular in recent years as it does offer some degree of social interaction for the player.
But this still falls short of what most players expect, especially Millennials and Gen Z. These audiences have instead turned to casino and slot streaming, which provides social engagement in spades and as such, has been on a meteoric rise over the past two years.
Last year, there were more than 420 million hours of casino and slot streaming consumed on Twitch alone, up from 380 million hours the year before.
Online casino brands have tried to tap into the streaming phenomenon but with limited success.
Many crypto casinos used this medium as their playground for brand building, customer acquisition and retention, but due to how they went about this a number of them have now been blacklisted by Twitch.
This has rightly made licensed online casino brands active in regulated markets nervous about using streaming as a tool for engaging and entertaining players. But this means they are missing out on an opportunity to not only acquire Millennial and Gen Z players but to keep all players connected with their brand in a world of increasing distractions.
Even those who have embraced streaming have found it challenging to find success from the channel, with many casino brands simply entering into expensive marketing deals with streamers to use their casino sites in their broadcasts to players.
While players do enjoy watching streamers unbox the latest slots and go on the hunt for the bonus features and big wins games contain, it remains a relatively passive experience. Sure, the player can chat with the streamer but that’s about it.
At Livespins, we have always believed that players want more and that’s what led us to develop our game and the innovative bet behind system that allows players to get directly involved in the action taking place across the reels.
This creates a group bet and a shared player experience but with each player able to select their own bet and number of spins. The social engagement doesn’t stop there, either – players can drop reactions, emojis and even gifs as they play.
This brings a whole other dimension to playing at an online casino. It’s fun, engaging and socially charged to the extent that it surpasses the experience offered by other entertainment options – another challenge operators face with consumers spoilt for choice when it comes to where they spend their free hours and dollars.
Of course, operators still have concerns about the Wild West nature of casino streaming, especially those with licences to protect. That’s why Livespins sits within the casino lobby so that players are afforded the same protections as when playing any other game in the lobby.
This gives operators the confidence to offer social streaming experiences to their players, knowing that it is being done in a way that is responsible and compliant.
By taking control of their streaming activity and having it take place within the lobby with players able to bet with streamers opens up a new revenue channel for operators – so instead of streaming being a marketing expense, it’s a revenue generator.
Throw in the possibility for an operator’s brand ambassador to play Livespins and it’s easy to see why it’s such a big opportunity for online casinos to explore.
Of course, at its core, casino streaming is all about social interaction and for online casino operators, delivering this to players in a meaningful way is now mission-critical. Not just to stand out from their rivals but also the other entertainment options operators are competing with.
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