Right now, modern entertainment is cheaper than, perhaps, it has ever been. Anyone can quickly connect to a platform of thousands of TV shows, movies, and more for a mere £10 per month.
Satellite TV doesn’t come with as much of a catalogue to view – although it does have live and broadcast time viewing – and still costs a good £45 per month.
Streaming has changed what it should cost to be entertained, as have the free social media platforms. You’ll see many people sitting with their smartphones scrolling through the likes of Instagram and TikTok for hours. It offers little doses of entertainment for free, and viewers lap it up. Knowing that competing with this isn’t possible, some of the most storied entertainment industries have instead turned to a premium offering.
Premium entertainment enhances the luxury
Most forms of entertainment have an option where you’ll pay and then get to enjoy the product indefinitely. Think of Blu-rays and the resurgent vinyl records. One which is a constant premium, however, is casino gaming. You pay every time that you play to have fun with a wide variety of games. So, you’d think that the online casino at Paddy’s wouldn’t necessarily be one of the places where there would be a luxury option. However, to appeal to seekers of an enhanced luxury experience even when playing classic casino games online, there’s the Premium Casino. On this tab, there are the likes of Premium European Roulette, Azteca: Cash Collect, and Live Quantum Roulette. These premium games get their own section to make it easier for luxury-seekers to get into the best games that the industry has to offer.
Of course, the online world has a much larger reach than any given venue. It’s an angle that streaming services are working: being accessible and having a tremendous amount of content. So, an addition of a premium section isn’t too taxing on the provider and increases its appeal to those who only want the best of the best.
Competing on the experience over the price
Cinemas have been hit the hardest by the rise of streaming. Not helped by a decline in the quality of once-bankable movie series from major Hollywood studios, cinemas struggle to sell tickets when anyone can access hundreds of movies at home for double the price and can switch them off without much of a hit to their time or money. So, many cinemas have pivoted to offer unique and luxury experiences that make the trip worthwhile.
This doesn’t go for all cinemas, though the VIP lounge experience at Cineworld’s venues has been discontinued as of 8 May this year. Still, they’ve pivoted from these extensive lounges to more affordable luxury, adding more recliner seats for regular ticket holders. Others thrive on offering a luxury experience, with the prime examples being Everyman cinema with its absurdly comfy seats, waiters, wine coolers, and more.
Odeon’s luxury instalments have been quite stark. Odeon Luxe offers full-reclining, extra-wide seats with lots of legroom and pillow-like head and footrests. This can even be expanded to the Luxe and Dine experience, which has a waiter serve you from a restaurant-style menu. The big addition now found at six locations in the UK is the VIP Beds on the front row of their best screens.
With the bar for entry being set so low by streaming, brands have seen the special, premium, luxury experience as almost a niche to go all-in on to win over customers.