Assessing the addressable market for an Out-of-Home Entertainment product

Out-of-home Entertainment: The importance of assessing the addressable market when choosing a location

Out-of-home entertainment (OOH) is thriving, drawing record numbers of visitors across markets. Whether it’s a permanent theme park or a new touring immersive experience, people are actively seeking local activities that enable them to create memories and engage socially outside of their homes. When deciding on their next experiences, consumers prioritize concepts that align with their interests, fit their budget, and are easily accessible. Producers and operators must take these factors into account when selecting a location, ensuring that the target audience aligns with the concept and its business model.

Understanding the addressable market is crucial to assess the product/market fit of an OOH entertainment concept.

Habo developed a methodology to assess the total addressable market and evaluate the local serviceable obtainable market (SOM) for any potential location. The size of the SOM is driven by the proximity of entertainment consumers and their interest in the concept as a whole, which includes their perception of the chosen location.

Let’s take The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience, an immersive event based on the Netflix series, as an example to understand how to assess the local serviceable obtainable market.

Created in 2022 by Fever, in partnership with Netflix and Shondaland, this experience offers a complete immersion into the world of the Bridgerton series.

Participants, dressed in costumes from the high society of 19th-century Britain, attended a dancing musical ball while enjoying themed cocktails. Interaction with characters from the series and the opportunity to take photos within recreated sets allowed audiences to relive the beloved setting of their favorite show.

This 90-minute experience toured in 10 cities in North America but is currently not available.

When comparing the experience’s addressable markets in Toronto and in San Francisco, two areas with similar populations, a contrast emerges in the local serviceable obtainable market. Despite the comparable overall population, each location’s unique dynamics shape the audience interested in The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience. In this context, the immersive event demonstrates a notably better product/market fit in San Francisco.

Beyond assessing the serviceable obtainable market, four main factors will strongly impact the conversion rate of an experience in a given location.

Within various feasibility studies, Habo has conducted over 1,000 market assessments to understand the addressable and serviceable obtainable markets of out-of-home entertainment products in different geographies. Beyond confirming the commercial potential of an OOH concept, such feasibility studies can inform the creative process, lead to concept optimization recommendations and review whether the business model can support the ambitions and offer adequate returns.