08 Sep DEG Welcomes BIGtoken as a New Member: President George Stella Discusses the Perpetual Revenue Stream of NFTs
“As the [NFT buying] process simplifies, we’ll see tremendous take-off on products beyond those from Wimbledon, Warner Media, the NBA, etc.,” says Stella. “We see the need for NFT education as one of the most significant steps for brands to take to gain mass adoption.”
September 8, 2021 | DEG welcomes BIGtoken as a new member. BIGtoken is the first privacy focused, opt-in data marketplace where people can own and monetize their data. Participating consumers earn rewards, and advertisers and media companies get access to insights from compliant first-party data for marketing and media activation. One of the very interesting areas that they track is consumer sentiment and activity for non-fungible tokens, or NFTs.
DEG is looking forward to working with BIGtoken to provide DEG members with custom research and thought leadership around the revenue-generating opportunities for entertainment companies in these digital collectibles. We recently caught up with President George Stella, who shared how BIGtoken began tracking NFT sentiment and sales, and sketched the potential the technology holds for digital entertainment collectibles.
DEG: How did BIGtoken come to track consumer activity and sentiment around the still fledgling product category of NFTs?
GS: The estimated $370 billion global collectibles market is going digital. We’ve seen brands and organizations like the NBA, Coca-Cola, and renowned musicians such as the Kings of Leon launch into the space over the past year and of course, everyone took notice of the Beeple sale at Christie’s. NFT sales for the first half of 2021 were $2.5 billion, and we were just amazed at how little to no consumer sentiment research there was about this new and exciting growth area. It made sense for us to leverage our relationships with globally renowned brands and our proprietary platform of millions of panelists to quickly put out NFT data and insights to provide brands with the tools to take on this growing, fast-paced NFT market.
At BIGtoken, we create ethically-sourced, zero-party data by activating custom, opted-in research panels for various industries, topics, and interests. We’re staying ahead of the curve by cultivating direct relationships with millions of consumers all within a fair value exchange. The results are hyper-relevant, authentic human insights at a rapid pace. We can help understand not only who the people are that are willing to spend huge dollars on NFT collectibles, but more importantly we think, who are the consumers that will create a huge market for the NFT collectibles en masse for $5.
DEG: In your opinion, what is the biggest potential for digital entertainment companies in NFTs?
GS: Currently, if a brand sells a collectible or piece of memorabilia, it’s a one-time transaction; there are no future revenues for brands; and no ongoing relationship with high-value consumers. Now, with smart contracts built into blockchain technology, brands can not only receive revenue for an NFT when it’s bought, but they can also dictate future revenue if it’s later sold again.
We’ve seen baseball cards and art trade hands often with big dollar signs attached, and now with NFTs, the opportunity for brands to essentially create perpetual revenue streams exists. Smart contracts have the ability to be written where brands can continue to create revenue when an NFT trades hands. MGM and Paramount have massive releases coming out this fall with James Bond and Top Gun, respectively. Not only would movie-based NFTs create initial revenue, but both studios could see millions of dollars down the road with little to no effort based on smart contracts.
DEG: Have you personally purchased NFTs, and if so, what was the experience like?
GS: Yes, but I would make the following comments about the process. The majority of sites currently make you pay with a cryptocurrency like ETH, and setting up an account to buy ETH with MetaMask is not fun. Then you have to factor in transaction fees (a.k.a. gas fees). This process could be frustrating for less tech-savvy people, but many exchanges are working to make this easier. As the process simplifies, we’ll see tremendous take-off on products beyond those from Wimbledon, Warner Media, the NBA, etc. We see the need for NFT education as one of the most significant steps for brands to take to gain mass adoption.
For more information, email George@bigtoken.com.
In coming Wednesday issues of the DEN, BIGtoken will provide custom research to help DEG members better understand the potential for entertainment properties as NFTs. Additionally, if you’d like to participate in a presentation with BIGtoken to understand what the opportunity is for these digital collectibles and discuss the potential for NFT research to be an ongoing initiative within DEG, please email Shannon@degonline.org.