The New Era for Story, Space, and Spectacle
The immersive industry is past its nascent stage and has entered, as Evolving Immersive: The 2025 Immersive Industry Report refers to it, the “awkward teenage years.” As the industry matures and its audiences become more discerning patrons, the current zeitgeist and demonstrable market growth of interactive formats underscores the encouraging glimmer of hope that immersive represents to live and in-person experiences.
While Passive Forms of Experience Decline, Immersive & Interactive Grow
Recent data and research around changes in media and entertainment revenue show that traditional, passive forms of media and live performance are largely stagnant or declining. In contrast, location-based performance, video games, and other forms of experience that center participant engagement and interactivity continue to grow — in some cases almost doubling — even amidst the larger decline in their respective industries.
Despite growing pains, immersive creators are making more strategic work, approaching business more creatively. Organizations, developers, and cultural venues are adapting to find new ways to invite people to participate, and are testing for resiliency, with methods of filling spaces with attractive experiential and interactive work that brings in new audiences and can’t-miss destinations. Audiences, sensitive to marketing and sophisticated critics of the tools leveraged for engagement, find meaning and belonging through these experiences at the deepest level, and entertainment at the most straightforward.
A Blueprint for the Path Forward
Evolving Immersive: The 2025 Immersive Industry Report is the first Immersive Industry Report published by the Immersive Experience Institute since the pandemic lockdowns, a transformative moment that radically reshaped entertainment, consumer behaviors, and real estate markets. It is thus fitting that this report also marks the inaugural co-publication of this report by Gensler and the Immersive Experience Institute, a collaborative effort that we hope is an embodiment of a shared path forward amongst immersive practitioners, creators, enthusiasts, designers, real estate developers, investors, and owner-operators in the commercial market.
The 2025 Immersive Industry Report is a blueprint, a dissection, and an industry benchmarking. It surveys where we have been, where we are, and where we must go if we are to grow resiliently and sustainably.
Relevant to seasoned veterans, brand new creators, real estate developers and investors, patrons and audience members, designers of experiences, and all “immersive curious” looking to understand an industry at its critical inflection point, the text leaves no stone unturned in its examination of the state of immersive today.
Surveyed audience members who said that they traveled at least 5 times a year to see immersive experiences had an increased willingness to pay for experiences, ranging from 30 minutes to multi-day in length, compared to the group as a whole.
Key Data Findings and Methodology
To compose The 2025 Immersive Industry Report, the research and writing team studied existing research and reporting, sourced audience reviews and commentary, conducted fourteen expert interviews with some of the most lauded founders and creatives in the industry from across the field, as well as real estate developers and business partners, and conducted three surveys to gather our own data from audiences, practitioners, and immersive curious organizations.
A section of this report spanning nearly 40 pages is dedicated to unpacking these survey results, covering each of these demographics and their responses in great detail.
Perhaps the most encouraging statistics from this report are that most audience members say they were eager to attend more immersive experiences and a whopping 73% were willing to travel to experiences that piqued their interest; those who traveled frequently also reported a willingness to pay more for immersive experiences, presuming they are high quality.
The Immersive Experience Institute exists to create a sustainable future for immersive and experiential arts and artists worldwide. With a focus on creators, we provide resources, platforms, and education to inspire and empower artists while reflecting our community’s values and practices. Leveraging industry gatherings, live programming, and our media portfolio, we light the way towards a healthy, inclusive, and innovative field that is home to a broad, diverse audience.
Download the full Evolving Immersive: The 2025 Immersive Industry Report to understand the factors shaping the immersive industry at its critical inflection point across live and in-person experiences.