Wes Levitt, the head of the strategy at Theta Labs Inc. explains how ThetaDrop is the evolution to NFTs built for media and entertainment companies, Theta’s blockchain infrastructure, collaboration with American Idol’s 20th Season, Katy Perry, and NASA, and NFTs in media industry outlook.
NFTStudio24 host and American actor, Logan Crawford sat down with Wes Levitt, the head of the strategy at ThetaLabs to discuss Theta’s latest NFT marketplace, ThetaDrop.
Wes Levitt is the head of the strategy department at Theta Labs. He has been working at the company for 4 years leading the marketing and press relations, analytics, and token strategy. He is also a partner with Alpha Sigma Capital, a leading investment venture.
Here’s a detailed NFTStudio24 interview with Wes Levitt:
From Theta blockchain to ThetaDrop marketplace
Wes Levit explained the idea behind Theta blockchain as a decentralized video infrastructure that introduced the ThetaDrop marketplace after seeing the opportunities it gave to its media partners.
According to Wes, Theta was initially built for its own media platform that later expanded to other third-party media platforms to help media partners deliver video content more efficiently and economically in a way that gives far more back to their users.
Along the way, the Theta team recognized the opportunities of an NFT marketplace for various media partners and investors.
Since mainstream media fans have always been fans of collecting items of their favorite figures and tv shows, introducing an NFT marketplace felt like a good start for Theta to facilitate media companies on its blockchain.
“In 2020, a lot of them [media partners] explicitly came to us and said ‘why have you not built NFTs yet’ and ‘we would love to use it as a tool to start engaging our users more.
Wes explained
Since most seed investors for Theta blockchain are creative artists, they also showed much interest in NFTs in their content. They also pushed the Theta team to create an NFT marketplace. “If you build it, we will come.”
According to Wes, Theta already had a background experience working with media partners and by utilizing its technology, it could build a perfect platform that facilitates media partners with digital collectibles.
Thus, ThetaDrop was launched as a platform for media companies to connect with their users in the digital world.
“ThetaDrop is evolution to NFTs”
ThetaDrop NFT marketplace introduces a new utility to NFTs, never seen before.
When asked about how ThetaDrop is contributing to the future of NFTs, Wes explained that most of the trending NFTs are profile pictures or JPEG images one can hold in a wallet; it has no use to the owner. ThetaDrop takes a different approach from these marketplaces by making NFTs interactable.
ThetaDrop focuses on NFTs to have more usefulness, utility, or some other interactivity with a brand.
The marketplace is not trying to create something interesting to look at but utility such as unlocking a specific live stream that only holders can watch using Theta’s NFT DRM technology; this is what makes ThetaDrop stand out from other marketplaces.
“We’re looking beyond version 1 of NFTs,”
says Wes
American Idol’s 20th Season Exclusive NFTs
Recently, ThetaDrop partnered with American Idol to introduce exclusive NFTs for the first time. An NFT pack was launched which had the NFT card of each contestant included. As the show went by, if an individual held an NFT of successful content throughout various rounds and won at the end, the holder could win various prizes.
For Wes, this NFT collection was a perfect way for viewers and fans to interact with the show and be part of the thrilling rounds through the digital collectibles.
The American Idol cards were also tradable on the secondary market, which enabled users to trade their favorite contestants’ cards. Each contestant’s card worth on the marketplace would fluctuate based on the live happenings of the show.
Wes added that ThetaDrop would be adding more features and upgrades to future seasons to come so that viewers can experience the thrill of the show through the marketplace.
ThetaDrop collaborates with Katy Perry and NASA
Katy Perry, the phenomenal pop singer who has dominated the music industry for decades also marked the entrance to the digital NFT world by dropping exclusives on ThetaDrop. Similarly, the famous space agency, NASA released special digital collectibles on the marketplace for space fans to interact with various concepts.
Wes shared that the collaborations with Katy Perry and NASA represent ThetaDrop’s vision of providing a platform for various sectors to showcase their work through digital collectibles.
Wes also talked about ThetaDrop’s upcoming NFT collection on the platform including, Resort World Las Vegas, which launched this week on the platform. Sony’s Spatial Reality Display NFT is also coming up in the marketplace in which holders can have a 3D-360 experience with a hardware device.
Closing message for NFTStudio24 viewers
As an experienced professional in the NFT space and blockchain industry, Wes sees NFT as the future of the entertainment world. He believes that NFTs are slowly evolving to become a valuable and usable digital asset to own.
Wes ended the interview with a positive message to new and emerging Web3 developers by saying,
“Stay tuned and keep building because it’s going to be really exciting what you see, even in just six months or a year.”
For more information on ThetaDrop visit:
Website: thetadrop.com
Twitter: @ThetaDrop
Medium: medium.com/thetadrop
