More than a million fans have seen the avatar-based live show Abba Voyage since May 2022, highlighting a swelling group of experience-hunting music lovers desiring tech-heightened IRL shows (see Key Stats). In 2024, expect these multidimensional live experiences to ignite uber-immersive concert venues, XR-enabled festivals and augmented-reality-(AR)-enhanced at-home broadcasts.

Fatigue with superficial short-form content, such as TikTok videos and Instagram Reels, is pushing audiences towards in-depth audio, video and written features that invite or demand more dwell time. With even TikTok pivoting to micro-TV-esque formats, newsletters imposing lengthier reading times and Twitter’s microblogging going macro, expect to see long-form content welcomed back in 2024.

A creative purple patch is awaiting brands embracing generative AI tools, with game-raising opportunities centring on features that enable and enhance the powerful idiosyncrasies of human direction. Key tools include those helping brands generate soundtracks, turning written ideas into virtual worlds, and easy-to-use generation tools for social media content, TV and film editing and visual effects (VFX).

The prevalence of algorithm-driven spam content on established social networks is pushing early adopters towards decentralised networks (ad-free platforms run independently rather than one corporate server). As some people build their own bespoke platforms, and others join alternatives like Bluesky and Mastodon, brands can learn from the championed functionalities to stay ahead of social media shifts in 2024 – such as social network hopping.

Tech-turbocharged sports spectatorship is set to boom in time for a stellar 2024, including the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the Euro 2024 (football). Initiatives like AR integrations enabling enhanced commentary and on-pitch immersion, and virtual reality sports venues creating new fan playgrounds, will long outlast the events, establishing new blueprints for audience engagement.

The future of music, movie, gaming and influencer fandoms will be about reciprocal connections and empowered individuals. Early to the table are P00Ls (US) and Pianity (France), companies enabling fans to become co-creators with their favourite artists or investors in their art, while American fan-knowledge site Fandom.com is providing fans with a route to earning as professional experts.

Gen Alphas are already illustrating generation-defining confidence in their approach to shaping gaming worlds, skilfully mastering editing tools and expecting to collaborate with peers in real time. For 2024, look to tools to help them edit, build and share creative interpretations – including the introduction of audio and DIY VFX – to satisfy (and scale) new heights of co-creative gaming.

Audiences in 2024 will favour TV and film characters who transcend good vs. evil paradigms, filling a superhero-shaped gap (see Key Stats on the waning appeal of Marvel’s heroes) with stories exploring moral complexity and somewhat messy self-actualisation. From absurdist series undercutting moral supremacy to surreal villains and divisive anti-heroes, we survey the new landscape.