{"id":16201,"date":"2016-11-17T18:45:52","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T23:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/picasso-or-netflix-how-the-met-is-vying-for-your-attention-in-a-digital-world\/"},"modified":"2016-11-17T18:45:52","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T23:45:52","slug":"picasso-or-house-of-cards-how-the-met-is-vying-for-your-attention-in-a-digital-world","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/picasso-or-house-of-cards-how-the-met-is-vying-for-your-attention-in-a-digital-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Picasso or House of Cards? How the Met is Vying for Your Attention in a Digital World"},"content":{"rendered":"

Companies are fighting for our attention and our eyeballs as we spend more time in the digital world. We are busy uploading pictures on Instagram, sending snaps on Snapchat and surfing posts on Facebook. The way we consume media, culture and content is rapidly changing and becoming more digital. Where does this leave museums like the Met, the original content curators before the tech media giants showed up[1]? The digital revolution has forced the Met to radically rethink how people should experience culture and art. As their former Chief Digital Officer Sree Sreenivasan puts it, \u201cour competition is Netflix and Candy Crush,\u201d not other museums[2]. The Met has the largest collection of art in the Western Hemisphere with over 2 million objects[3]. It is also the largest tourist attraction in New York with over 6.7 million visitors this past fiscal year[4]. The Met has plenty of content to share with its large audience but how<\/em><\/strong> it shares it will determine its success.<\/p>\n

From Museum to Media Company: A Business Model Shift<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Met\u2019s business model was rooted in providing a cultural experience for friends and families to enjoy curated art exhibits. Exhibits have been wide ranging from Max Beckman in New York<\/em> to Native American Masterpieces<\/em>[5]. Visitors entered the museum, walked around (sometimes with a tour guide), observed art and then left.<\/p>\n

To stay relevant to customers, the Met has decided to embrace technology instead of fight it. It wants to fit in with social media and content creators like Snapchat and Facebook. In 2011, the Met began this digital reinvention[2]. It started by re-positioning its business model not as a museum but as a media company that delivers value to customers by creating, curating and distributing content. Digital would serve as an (1) origination channel to bring in new consumers into physical locations, (2) an engagement tool to enrich the in-person museum experience, and (3) a retention tool to increase engagement post-visit.<\/p>\n

Selfies, Virtual Reality and Khan Academy: A New Type of Operating Model for the Digital Age<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As part of its commitment to transform its business model into a media company, the Met made critical changes to its operating model:<\/p>\n