Fane launches first app, Fane TV

Fane has launched its first app, Fane TV, in response to growing customer demand and to enhance its offering for hybrid events.

The move comes a year on from the company’s pivot to online events, which occured last September. In that time, 234,998 tickets have been sold to its digital events, of which 51% included a book in the price of the ticket. Some of those events were hybrid, featuring in-person elements. Fane said the popularity of its hybrid offer, which has enabled audiences from more than 146 countries to view events, has informed its decision to offer all future in-person events in a hybrid format. Back in May, most publicists told The Bookseller they would continue with hybrid events going forward after lockdown.

The new Fane TV app follows "growing customer appetite for on-demand access to its programme, as well as a vehicle to further refine its existing hybrid offer", Fane said.

It will be available to download for free on Apple TV, Android mobile and TV, Amazon Firestick and iOS. It can also be viewed on a browser and, like the existing digital offering, the new app can host up to 100,000 people at any one time and can be watched globally.

It is also available in 4K with SLIDO technology (a web-based audience interaction tool), and enables viewers to take part in Q&As and polls during live events, as well as the opportunity to stream an event on-demand in the seven days post-event. Content from the app can also be downloaded and watched offline. Customers will be able to continue to book tickets to online events through the Fane website, or they can purchase in the app.

Alex Fane, m.d., said: "In response to world events over the last 18 months and changing consumer habits when choosing their entertainment, we are extremely proud to be releasing Fane TV, giving everyone, regardless of their location, a chance to watch our events”.

To celebrate the launch, six events will be made available to watch on-demand for free, including an in-conversation event with Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, which took place in March 2021.