Virtual intellectual property, including all entertainment and character IPs, will be the future of the billion-dollar industry, said Kevin Lee Ka-tsun, founder and CEO of Redspots Creative — a leading Hong Kong entertainment technology company.

Having been in the digital entertainment and media technology field for more than 15 years, Lee said the emergence and trend of social media, 5G and the application of augmented reality and virtual reality have brought the IP industry to a new era in the virtual world.

The trend doesn't only include virtual idols and virtual influencers, which have become popular in the past two to three years, it covers all entertainment and character IPs, including those big global IPs in comics, animation and movies, he said.

In the digital age, with the latest technologies-applied virtual production solutions, IP creators and owners can create content easily and frequently in a more efficient and cost-effective manner, said Lee.

Fueled by social media, content can be distributed directly to audiences or fans in the form of short animation clips, while data, such as the demography of fans, can be collected timely to help create better tailor-made content, which traditional models cannot do, he added.

"So the virtual IP would be a new form of business model for the whole IP industry, and we're talking about a $128.3 billion business here," Lee said.

According to the Global Licensing Industry Survey 2020 by Licensing International, the global revenue from licensing hit $292.8 billion last year, and entertainment and character IP was the dominant category that accounted for 44 percent of the revenue.

Boom amid COVID-19

Lee pointed out that people's awareness of online businesses and the necessity of digital transformation of traditional business models have been highly raised amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

A lot of companies are looking for new solutions through AR and VR, Lee said. His company has got more clients for digital solutions and services on a longer term basis instead of a project basis.

Redspots has recorded a seven-digit scale of revenue from new clients in the Hong Kong market this year. The areas include online marketing, e-commerce and livestreaming platforms. Live commerce has become very popular in the past 18 months as live interaction is a key element for live online selling in the new economy, he said.

With the development of AR and VR technologies, Lee thinks the industry is creating a bigger pie in the market than ever, which can further promote the development of digital entertainment.

With the development of the 5G mobile network, the power and influences of these technologies will be raised quickly in the next one to two years — no less than the emergence of smartphones a decade ago, he said.

Lee co-founded the Hong Kong Extended Reality Association this year, gathering major industry players like Microsoft, AWS, HTC, as well as local enterprises like HKT, Mad Gaze and VAR Live, to exchange ideas and facilitate development of the industry.