The Audience Experience and the 'Experience Economy'

What is meant by ‘the audience experience’? Do we mean the collective benefits of shared presence at the same event; or the event-goer’s individual and particular pleasure from being a member of that audience? The paper seeks to bring clarity by making reference to the German language, in which Erfahrung and Erlebnis are two separate words for collective and individual experience. The implications for the use of the term 'experience economy', and for the promotional technique that focuses on product benefits rather than product features - 'experiential marketing' - are considered.