Art Auctions Have Benefited and Evolved from the Rise of Live-Streaming and Immersive Technologies

In June 2020, Sotheby’s live-streamed its first real-time global art auction that simultaneously connected buyers from New York to London to Hong Kong. The very next month, Christie’s organized a global live-streamed event as well, transforming their auction rooms into TV studios and reaching a far-flung audience.

As the global COVID-19 pandemic was met with social distancing measures across the art world and beyond in 2020, live-streamed auctions emerged as a force, reshaping the conventional boundaries of exclusive, in-person auction events and taking online bidding to unprecedented levels. Now that we’ve entered 2024 and pandemic-induced social curbs have largely dissipated, let’s examine the impact that live-streamed auctions and immersive technologies have had on the art auction market to date, and what they portend for its future.

Sustained Momentum

Since venturing into live-streamed auctions in 2020, the biggest auction houses, namely Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips, have stepped up their game. All three have hired technical experts, producers, and show directors to prepare their salesrooms and strategically transform their events into captivating, televised spectacles. This diversification is a smart way to engage younger buyers accustomed to spending their time watching social videos on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, and has brought high-profile and previously exclusive auctions into the streaming world of entertainment.

Smaller auction houses and art galleries have also followed suit and invested in the power of live-streamed events. For instance, Park West Gallery in Michigan promotes live-streamed events every weekend, Tokyo-based SBI Art Auctions streamed several auctions in 2023 and have live-streamed events scheduled into 2024, and Hampel Fine Art Auctions in Munich have had a series of events live-streamed year-round.

Measuring The Effects on Auction Sales

In pivoting so quickly to digital solutions in the wake of the pandemic, the premier auction houses succeeded in maintaining their position within the industry. By 2022, the top-tier auction houses had seen a significant increase in sales revenue. After dipping nearly 30% in 2020, sales increased by almost 70% in 2021, with a further rise of 11% year-on-year in 2022. The impressive auction sales recovery in 2021 reflected in part the strength of online auction sales which spiked in 2021, driven by both online auction platforms and live-streamed auction events. This finding bolsters the case for the live-streamed auction format as an alternative way to not only reach wider audiences but also elevate online auction sales, since global audiences tuning into live-streamed auctions primarily place their bids online. It is remarkable to witness just how far online bidding has come in a relatively short span of time: according to most recent Art Basel and UBS Art Market report, “considering all sales, live and online, online bidding has evolved from a minority alternative to the dominant method of accessing sales, accounting for 91% of bids at Sotheby’s and 75% at Christie’s in 2022.”

Despite the rise of online bidding in the art auction market, two negative trends were perceptible in 2023 related to online sales. The first was that in the first five months of 2023, there was a decline in revenue from online-only sales at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Phillips, Bonhams, and Artnet Auctions. The second, according to the Artnet Intelligence Report, was that with the revival of physical auctions in 2023, the average price of artworks sold online has declined. So, although collectors have become quite comfortable bidding and transacting online, the price point for those transactions has trended lower.

Expanded Audience Reach, Improved Transparency & Security

Live-streamed auctions are a fabulous way for auction houses to attract new buyers and entice millions of viewers. According to the NY Times, between May 2022 and May 2023, “views of Christie’s auctions rose 25%, from 3.7 million to 4.6 million“. Sotheby’s recognized their digital channels as critical factors in attracting new buyers, with 40% of bidders being new customers in 2022. The majority (68%) of these new bidders were from Asia, who spent 20% more than collectors from elsewhere, as well as bidding 40% more than the average.

While both Sotheby’s and Christie’s admit that fewer big collectors have been coming to their live auction sales in the live-streaming era, preferring instead to view the highlights online from the comforts of home, and while most online spectators are unlikely to spend in the millions, there are residual benefits. Many subsequently find their way to Sotheby’s and Christie’s websites where they may encounter lower priced items like watches or handbags. As Bonnie Brenna, president of Christie’s Americas put it, “We see luxury items as a gateway to art… It’s about the democratization of access.’’

Beyond transcending geographical boundaries and attracting millions of eyeballs, live-streamed auctions offer superior transparency about the items available for sale, including detailed listings with photos, videos, certificates, and transparent price reporting.

The live-streamed format also allows buyers to participate via custom built websites or mobile apps, ensuring a seamless bidding experience. Thus, Phillips auction house launched an online and mobile live-bidding platform with a digital salesroom where clients could view livestreams and place bids from anywhere in the world via WebRTC technology, allowing viewers to see the real-time media communications directly between them and the auctioneers, enabling live interactions. Christie’s also launched their Christie’s LIVE™ app back in 2020, allowing users to perform online bidding in real time.

Advancements in digital payment technology and cybersecurity have significantly improved the safety of online bidding and transacting. The pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital practices, making remote work and e-commerce a new norm. With heightened consumer trust and confidence in online transactions, online auction sales have become a secure and powerful channel for buyers and sellers in an evolving market.

From Streaming to Richer Experiences with Immersive Technologies

Investment in live-streamed auctions has demonstrated the power of technology to bring a glamorous auction room experience to a global audience and to encourage more people to bid online at significantly higher price points. Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s said sophisticated technology had given buyers the confidence to acquire artworks without viewing them in person, furthering the appeal of innovative technologies to expand online art sales and appeal to broader audiences.

Virtual Reality (VR) is one such technology, and may be used, by way of example, to vividly illustrate to potential bidders what a living room would look like with a particular work of art hanging over the fireplace or in the entrance hall, simulating the experience of seeing an artwork in one’s home.

Another visually enhancing technology being used by auction houses to entice buyers is Augmented Reality (AR). In 2020, Christie’s used AR to afford distant buyers with a way to see how a painting might look on their wall or sit alongside other works they own. They have also leveraged a cutting-edge technology known as “super zoom” to allow viewers to inspect the intricate details of fine art from afar.

Holographic technology is also being used today to enhance and enrich the auction experience, from the perspective of the auctioneer as well as the collector. In 2022 for example, Christie’s used a hologram to replicate and showcase an object in three dimensions. During the sale of the Degas “Little Dancer” sculpture from the estate of the philanthropist Anne Bass, the work was too delicate to travel, so experts showed it virtually. It was sold for $41.6 million. This exciting technology also offers the potential to conduct simultaneous auction sales around the globe, allows visitors to get up close to a hologram to examine it, and provides collectors with a more interactive, immersive, richer viewing experience than is possible using a two-dimensional, flat-screen format.

Conclusion

The success of the live-streamed auction format since 2020 has manifested itself in several ways, from capturing and telegraphing the excitement and energy in the auction room at a given moment, to attracting new collectors and reaching much wider audiences, to inspiring auction houses to expand their digital offerings and think more innovatively about the art business. It represents a fascinating case study in how a venerated and traditionally minded business — the buying and selling of art at auction — can rapidly respond to sudden economic downturns and adapt to the needs of a rapidly changing world given the right vision, innovation and investment in digital solutions.

In the fast-paced, digital world we now inhabit, a key insight from the pandemic-driven, live-streamed auction trend is that the art auction market will, inevitably, continue to face new challenges and disruptions, even as physical gatherings and in-person events have returned to the art world in force. Just as live-streamed auctions and the use of holograms to display art were not in many people’s forecasts prior to 2020, we should expect more surprises, innovative breakthroughs and new technology trends for the auction industry in the coming years.

Author: Doron Fagelson,
Vice President of Media and Entertainment Practice at DataArt
Originally published on https://www.dataart.com/blog/