The Future of Virtual Magic Shows (For Virtual Magicians)

Virtual magic shows have been around for a while, but they've really taken off in recent years, due in part to the Coronavirus and the shift toward work-at-home. Thanks to advances in technology, virtual magicians are able to perform their tricks for larger audiences than ever before. For the last year we have had an amazing run of articles on virtual magic in The Linking Ring (and my blog), and now we’ve arrived at this final installment. For this special piece I’ve interviewed some top magicians who were seriously killing it in online magic shows during the height of the virtual magic era, and asked them for some data on what percentage of their performances are still virtual versus in-person events.

We’ve also discussed what they think about the future of the virtual magic industry. So now that we have some data, what does the future hold for virtual magic shows? Here are a few predictions:

1. More virtual magicians will perform for corporate events and less for personal parties

As virtual technology gets more sophisticated, businesses are starting to recognize the potential of using virtual magic shows for corporate events. After all, virtual magicians can reach a global audience – and that means more clients and customers for businesses. Virtual magic is the future of corporate entertainment. More virtual magicians will start to perform for corporate holiday events, company happy hours, and other private business parties. This is because virtual magic allows for a more personal experience that can be tailored to the client's needs when working from home.

Additionally, virtual magic shows can be performed from anywhere in the world, which makes them more convenient and affordable for both the performer and the client. While many events, including weddings, baby showers, and birthdays are back to being done primarily in-person, more and more companies are moving to a permanent work-from-home and hybrid environments for their employees. A whopping 20% of information workers, 19.7% of those being finance and insurance and 17.6% of those being in professional and technical services worked from home last month according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Because of this shift in the type of virtual events the primary “season” for virtual magicians will be the holiday months of October and December when many companies have holiday parties. Accordingly, the data we collected clearly demonstrates virtual show requests increase to up to four times the normal amount for most performers during the holiday season.

“I invested a lot of time and effort into creating an original high-production value virtual magic show, under the assumption that the virtual medium was here to stay. While I obviously didn’t expect demands to remain at 2020/2021 levels, I did (and still do believe) that there is a market for virtual performances, especially within the corporate market. With so many organizations having 100% virtual workforces, I believe that there will be a continued demand for virtual programs that connect team members with each other despite the geographic distances. That said, this is merely a hope and an assumption on my part. Only time will tell if this is true.” -Trigg Watson (Los Angeles, California)

“Virtual shows are now a normal part of life. For organizations that are remote company cultures it is an easy fit to add a virtual show to their weekly meetings. For groups that are immunocompromised they are grateful that virtual shows are a shared experience they can have together that is so accessible. Many fortune 500 corporations now see the benefit of having hybrid events where people who can’t be on site can still participate in the conferences and a key to that is to provide virtual only content. Virtual shows are here to stay.” -Paul Draper (Las Vegas, Nevada)

2. Virtual magic shows will become more creative and interactive, and virtual magicians will start to experiment with new platforms and hybrid events.

One of the great things about virtual magic shows is that they can be made more interactive than traditional live shows. This means that audiences can get involved in more tricks and even help to create them in a variety of new ways. As virtual technology evolves, virtual magicians will have even more scope to be creative with their shows. We'll see new and innovative tricks that simply wouldn't be possible with traditional live magic shows.

At the moment, virtual magic shows are mostly being performed on video-sharing platforms like Zoom and WebEx. But as virtual technology evolves, virtual magicians will begin experimenting with new platforms and hybrid events. For example, we might start to see virtual magic shows being performed in virtual reality (VR) environments. Penn and Teller have already developed a virtual reality game. Many larger companies are also shifting to hybrid style shows where a magician is in person performing for a live audience but also projected onto a zoom or other virtual platform for others all over the world to see.

“I think that hybrid shows will have more place in the future for multi national companies. I also think that some shows/lectures/seminars will come back to virtual again when the economy will drop down and companies will try to save again on big events.” -Lior Manor (Tel Aviv, Israel)

“The age of virtual shows falling in your lap are over. The people who want to continue doing them will now need to put together an actual business plan and seek out the people who need their services. Fully remote teams at major international corporations still exist and likely will be the biggest market for virtual going forward. I also see a future in platforms like Airbnb experiences” -Zachary Gartrell (New York, New York)

“I’m personally not doing virtual shows at the moment but I’m constantly getting requests. What is most interesting to me is the hybrid model that keeps popping up.” -Carisa Hendrix

3. There will be higher demand for virtual magic shows with fewer virtual magicians

There's no doubt that virtual magic shows have passed their height of popularity – at least in this moment in time – but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still needed. With more and more people working from home, there's a growing demand for entertainment that can be enjoyed from the comfort of one's own work space. And what could be more entertaining for a company team than a virtual magic show?

However, even as corporate virtual magic shows become more broadly popular, there are fewer virtual magicians to meet the demand. That's because becoming a virtual magician takes a lot of time, effort, and specific practice. The marketing, PR, and SEO needs for virtual shows are also entirely different then other events. It's not something that just anyone can jump into doing. Many magicians never even started doing virtual magic during the lockdown at all. A large group of performers who prefer live shows and direct contact with their audience simply choose to “wait it out” or take a break and not do any shows at all during those one to two years. Another group of magicians hopped on the virtual wagon in March 2020 but immediately stopped performing virtual shows in 2021-22 and haven’t done a single one since their city reopened after lockdowns. Mainly, because they were busy with live shows again.

It is a much smaller group of virtual magicians who have chosen to make it their niche and continue to thrive exclusively on virtual shows. Those are the magicians that will be ready to meet the increasing corporate demand.

“Virtual magic is taking a more “casual” seat in the world of entertainment. More formal events are going to be done in person.” -Chris Michael (Richmond, Virginia)

“99% of my shows are virtual. I don’t really know what December will look like but hopefully it will be great. Zoom entertainment is an uncharted territory full of untapped markets and unique opportunities. it remains 100% of my focus” -Harrison Kramer (New York, New York)

“I’d say the requests for virtual shows have dropped down tremendously in the past few months.

As a result we’ve shifted our marketing to attract more in person- and our shows reflect that.” -Benzi Train (Toronto, Canada)

“ McBride Magic and Mystery school has been streaming online doing weekly shows and classes for 11 years! Zoom is an incredible medium…Zoom is here to stay.” -Jeff McBride (Las Vegas, Nevada)

So there you have it, three analyses and predictions for the future of virtual magic shows, as well as some interesting insights from some of the virtual magic industry’s top minds. While it seems as though the heyday of virtual has passed there are still plenty of virtual opportunities available to those of us willing to try and focus on the virtual magician path. If you’re willing to put in the work and target a specific clientele anything is possible. Are you excited for the future of this burgeoning and technology driven industry?