Identifying and monetising your digital assets and IP

25 years ago museums and performing arts organisations received 90% of their funding from the government. Nobody needed to look elsewhere.

That has all changed. Not only are publicly funded organisations subject to year on year cuts but there is now a requirement from the Arts Council for all fundees to have a “digital strategy”. Regardless of your artform, you need to have a digital strategy to get public funding and you need to demonstrate that you are thinking about how to connect with audiences in new and different ways.

Today’s organisations need to be entrepreneurial, innovative and able to make connections and partnerships across different media and markets.

Knowing who you are is important but who you are will change over time. You need to be able to look at what you’ve got already, identify assets that you might not know you have, and work out new ways to use them.

Case Study #1
Met Opera - Innovation
In 2006 the Met Opera hired a new General Manager, Peter Gelb, who came from Sony Classical Records. Peter Gelb capitalised on new digital media to broadcast the Met to a wider audience globally.

The Met was the first to film its operas in high definition and broadcast into cinemas. It created a whole new audience for multiplex cinemas. The broadcasts were then offered through PBS and TV and made available on DVD.

Peter Gelb also developed a partnership with SiriusXM, which launched Metropolitan Opera Radio. They broadcast live performances each week as well as archive performances.

In 2006 when he started, you could not get opera on TV. Nobody wanted to commission or pay or even take this content for free. Peter knew there was an audience out there for opera content and so by creating his own digital channels he found them.

Key takeaways

• Innovation - nobody had done this before in quite this way.
• Partnerships - Peter Gelb reached out to various partners that hadn't connected with The Met before, including cinemas, different radio, and big screens in public spaces.
• Collaboration - collaboration plays a big part in monetising assets; it enables you to see your organisation through the eyes of another and it's interesting and helpful to see how you are viewed.

Think about it...

• What have you got that is unique?
• What is your organisation good at?
• How do you add value to your market?

Download the full guide to read on:
Identifying and monetising your digital assets and IP (PDF)