Fields of Entertainment Raised During Quarantine

The Covid-19 pandemic is one great disaster the world will never forget. Everyone alive during this terrible period will live to tell the tales of how the pandemic ravaged the world. It was a time to forget for most businesses, even as juggernauts like America Airlines had to file bankruptcy.

Several companies had to close down due to the gory effects the lockdown had on the economy. Nevertheless, as many industries continued to count their losses even to this day, some industries have had the rare privilege of growing. While many have had to close down, some industries have continued to smile at the bank despite the challenges.

The entertainment industry is one of those industries that grew at an alarming rate during the lockdown period. While many industries had to reduce in size, the industry restructured and even added new sectors. In this article, we will look at some entertainment fields that were raised during the Quarantine period.

Video Gaming

Thanks to the lockdown, many people were at home with so much time and nothing to do. Many of these people had to turn to digital entertainment activities to fill the voids in their days. There was a creation of so many online casinos as we saw in line with CasinoHEX.in list. Although the video gaming sub-sector of the entertainment industry had been there for quite a while, it evolved during the lockdown period.

According to Deloitte, about 75% of consumers have subscribed for a cloud gaming service or played Esports during the lockdown. Several reports, especially from Verizon, further confirmed that game traffic hours peaked by 75% during the pandemic.

All these allowed the gaming industry to solidify its position and create more value chain branches. The industry was able to offer varying points of entry for its customers across several genres. Consumers have since seen video games as a source of entertainment similar to television, sports and movies.

Live Entertainment

Live entertainment moved online during the lockdown period. Many creatives took turns to create ideas that helped everyone connect back to the humanity we have lost. Sixty seconds videos became the new normal for social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and even YouTube. Even then, less popular platforms like TikTok came into the limelight. More people created accounts on TikTok during the lockdown than ever before. With the new creations on these platforms, content creators had the chance to express their creativity. The rise of the content creation economy was largely fulled of isolation and loneliness.

Notable names to remember during this period include Gary Light body, a member of the snow patrol. Gary was able to write a song once a week on Saturdays alongside his fans on Instagram. Also, there is Khaby Lame, a Senegalese who lost his job to the pandemic. However, with only TikTok, Khaby is now a millionaire with over 100 million followers on TikTok.

Online Fitness

Junk food can be tempting when there is nothing else to do. To reduce the possibility of obesity or excessive amount of body fat, people turned to online and TV fitness classes to keep their bodies healthy and fit. Those who already had fitness coaches had to continue their fitness classes online, while those who did not have any had to start new fitness classes as a form of entertainment. BBC News reported recently that Strava, an online fitness app had 2 million new subscribers this year. With the new subscribers, the app now has more than 73 million users across the globe. Another fitness app, Freeletics, which now has 2million users in the UK, saw about a 50% increase in its users between March and June 2020.

Movie streaming

Been indoors all day can be boring with cinemas closed. Unfortunately, most people's favourite shows were also forced to halt due to the prevailing pandemic. As a result, cable tv lost its value for most people, and many people had to turn to online streaming platforms for entertainment instead of cable tv. Many movies that were supposed to be seen in the cinemas have to be seen on streaming platforms. While it meant less income for the movie producers, it meant increased subscribers for the streaming platforms. For instance, Disney plus announced that they could grow their subscribers to about 54 million people during the pandemic period. Similarly, the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, said Apple Tv+ saw a massive increase in usage during the pandemic. Some other big names that saw increased subscription to their services include Peacock, HBO Max, etc.

Conclusion

In summary, the global pandemic has caused the entertainment industry to evolve. Many key industry players were forced to look inwards to see how they can make life easier for people during the pandemic. As they sort for better solutions to helping people get entertained, they also created new opportunities. Key players in the industry saw a need to compete with their peers in the industry and compete with other key players across other sectors. While we are not sure what the future holds post covid 19, a couple of things are sure.

First, we know live streaming and on-demand streaming is here to stay. By extension, we know live entertainment is going to continue to be relevant. The second thing is that we know is that the entertainment industry is still evolving. And so, we expect people to start adapting to the new content creation and consumption methods that will erupt from now on. Henceforth, we are likely to see a new normal rather than a return to the past ways of doing things.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or the management of EconoTimes