November 17, 2006

Exploring Internet Revenue Opportunities for Dance

How can dancers and dance companies generate revenue from the Internet now and over the coming years? In this post I pose questions about a number of possibilities:

- What is the best approach to increasing the sale of tickets online for upcoming dance performances? Should they be sold through dance company websites, presenter/performing art center websites or 3rd-party ticketing services or all of the above? What is best approach for each option?

- How do you sell banner ads and other forms of sponsorship for your website, email campaigns and blogs? Should dance companies use ad networks such as Google AdSense? Is it worth selling banner ads and other forms of sponsorship online? Or should dance companies focus their energies on enhancing online promotional opportunities for existing and new sponsors and funders?

- Does it make sense to sell video ads and sponsorship? Video ads and promotional segments could be free-standing, or could run before or at the end of dance videos (pre- and post-roll).

- Will dance be able to embrace the latest developments in product placement tools and technologies to generate revenue? In other words, can you buy the shirt off a dancer's back in a video? ClickZ has article, "Technology Enables Product Placement in CGM," that discusses "plinking" or product linking that enables video watchers to click on embedded links within videos to learn about and buy products.

- Is there a market for a fusion of "Retail Dancne" and Internet merchandizing? Last year I wrote about a "Retail Dance" program that consisted of multiple dance companies performing in different retail stores in San Francisco over a few day period. This always struck me as a good idea - especially if it was combined with an online component to extend the impact of this type of promotional campaign.

- What is the feasibility of creating a web-based online TV network devoted exclusively to dance? What revenue model would support such a TV outlet? Take a look at LX TV - Life/Style Television for a possible model. (Via Random Culture)

As I was finishing-up this post, I came across an intriguing website "Dance Channel TV," that is a type of online dance video channel that also distributes its video through Brightcove (see next item right below).

- How would dancers and dance companies go about creating a distributed model for dance videos? Visit Brightcove for an example of a company that provides the infrastructure for enabling organizations to distribute and monetize video. (Via Mashable)

- What approaches to online fundraising will bear the most fruit for dance companies, studios and others involved in dance? Read "First-of-its-kind" for a range of possible strategies. (via NetSquared)

- Can dance videos be successfully sold online - performance, education and dance-on-camera? Will a pay-per-view model work? Or, alternatively will a subscription model work? What are the best e-commerce applications for selling dance videos online?

- What opportunities are there for selling/distributing dance videos to handheld devices? Will this just work for promotional purposes or is there also revenue to be made in terms of sponsorship and/or video sales?

- Overall, what types of dance videos will generate the most revenue - performances, instructional, dance-on-camera, documentaries or other formats?

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