The entertainment industry is rapidly changing to adjust with the changes taking place in viewer demographics and shift to the digital sphere. These changes present difficulties as well as opportunities for investors and business people in the entertainment industry.
The current year has been a year of immense change and adaptations in every business, and the entertainment business is no different. The theaters have shut their entryways, film projects are getting endless deferrals, and lobbies and arenas remain abandoned. Hence, there is little doubt that the face of the entertainment industry is undergoing a massive change.
The comforting news, nonetheless, is that just as other businesses are finding ways of getting back or developing new ways to deal with the situation, the entertainment industry is doing the same. Here, in this article, we will explore how the entertainment industry is changing and adapting, switching big time to online content.
Online Streaming of Content
Numerous parts of media outlets depended on actual participation at occasions to prosper. This list of media outlets included cinemas and shows, which acquired the most measure of cash for entertainers and artists separately. Presently, those times have become hard to come due to the different restrictions on open get-togethers and restrictions on free movement from one place to another.
The method numerous players in the entertainment industry have resorted to is to concentrate on streaming. “Over the top” video content is fast emerging as the main form that individuals watch movies these days. OTT video income for media and entertainment companies such as HBO Go, Hulu, Netflix in the U.S. has breached the $20.1 billion mark in 2017, up 15.2 percent over the previous year.
PriceWaterhouseCooper predicts that growth rates in this segment will start to slow as the market matures, yet earnings in this space are going to reach $30.6 billion by the year 2022. Since the advent of Instagram Live shows, numerous artists are currently focusing on online shows to connect with their fans and get their income graph climbing up again. Indeed, even stand-up comedy, which is an entertainment form that is generally not performed without a live physical audience, is being performed through Zoom and other video-conferencing stages.
Online Gaming Industry
The online gaming industry has witnessed an upsurge in its popularity since the Covid 19 outbreak. The covid 19 restrictions and quarantine rules have led to most people being isolated at their homes. But, the choice of online games has certainly made up for that big time. This trend is going to continue in the near term, at least.
Online Porn Industry
The pornography business is going through new advances on the innovation and novelty front, and this can persuade more individuals to pay for the resulting higher quality content and experience.
Nowadays, free sex cam sites are drawing users even closer to online porn. You can find the list of the best free sex cam sites is here. As people spend more time indoors, porn is going to continue to remain a popular online entertainment means for adults.
Revenues growth among adult and explicit sites expanded at an annualized pace of only 0.3% to $3.3 billion over the five-year time frame finishing in 2015, as the business wrestles with high theft rates and the expansion of free destinations, for example, PornHub that offer handcrafted content with not many advertisements, as per IBISWorld Market Research.
The interest in virtual reality/augmented reality experience pornography comes off as things that signal a bright future for the online porn industry.
The Flattening World of Creativity
Across different ventures, there has been an attempt by members to democratize access to tools and means needed to showcase their talent and creativity. The entertainment industry is far ahead on that front, as witnessed in online platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc that enable entertainers, vocalists, and different performers to exhibit their talent while bypassing the conventional channels to fame and stardom.
Furthermore, many services have been set up to offer entertainers the chance to employ staff like makers, lyricists, and voiceover specialists for as little as possible, or to try and purchase items like ghost-produced songs that they can use with next to no limitations.
The manner in which music is made, created, and altered is turning into an undeniably commercialized process, and the result is that these days you can procure a tune and all of its rights with a single click. These developments are making it easier for individuals to be breakout stars even without the help of the conventional ecosystem of the Entertainment industry.
This change can likewise be seen in crowdfunding, with Kickstarter and other crowdfunding stages raising millions to help amusement projects (up to 20 percent of every one of their ventures). The sum raised by the greatest crowdfunded film (up until now), Veronica Mars, was $5.7 million.
The Age of Digital Dominance
There are many individuals who actually rely on their TVs for entertainment and try their best not to miss watching their favorite show on the TV. But, these days, such people are rare. The shift towards the digital format of entertainment has been going on for some time, yet the events of this current year have simply served to speed it up.
In 2018, the number of TV watchers fell substantially to under 300 million. Simultaneously, the number of OTT watchers shot up to 198 million. Similarly, the portion of media ad money that was going to TV fell 2%, to a great extent because of a switch by ad makers to digital modes of entertainment.
The shift to digital modes of entertainment is probably going to be fuelled at a significantly rapid pace, thanks to the increase in speed and scale of 5G deployment by companies across the world. The increased dependence on smartphones is another element that is probably going to have a similar impact.
In the year 2012, the average time spent on mobile surfing media was 1.6 hours daily. In 2018, that number had dramatically shot up to 3.3 hours daily. The combined effect of these technologies has made digital media consumption so convenient, customized and effortless that people are unlikely to revert to watching TV or listening to the radio at the same scale as earlier.
The production of digital media will follow this trend and dish out on-demand content that people are starting to fall in love with. So, all hail the online entertainment industry.