Covid-19 Impact on Entertainment Industry
What could be the reasons for loneliness and depression during a lockdown?
Ever imagined being stuck alone at home and you have no source of entertainment. Ever thought of those housewives and old aged people (who regularly watched television serials for their entertainment). What about those professionals and children whose most of the time was spent at places outside their homes? What are the indoor recreational activities left for us? Watching TV, playing indoor games, exploring youtube channels, tik tok videos, blog writing, reading novels, etc.
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The most important source of entertainment comes out to be Television. Most people have the habits of watching series (whether on T.V. or OTT). All of which have come to a halt. This stoppage of Entertainment, a threat to humans, or to the entertainment industry? It is a loss to both the humans and the industry. Humans as told earlier are suffering from loneliness, depression, anxiety attacks, panic attacks, etc. Though the entertainment industry may not be the sole reason for it, it is definitely an important reason which can’t be ignored.
What about the Entertainment Industry? It is facing the worst phase of the decade. Can you imagine the net worth of the world’s entertainment industry when the worth of the Indian Entertainment Industry alone is more than Rs. 180 crores.
Here is the COVID-19 impact on the major sectors of the Entertainment Industry:
- Losses due to the postponement of movie releases: The top movies where the fans and audience were waiting for the release were delayed because of the COVID 19 situation. These films impacted the film industry a lot as they had lead actors like Kumars, Khans, and Kapoors. Some movies that were about to release were the extended part of previously hit movies like Singham, Singham Returns, and Simmba, where all these movies united with one actor Akshay Kumar as Sooryavanshi.
- Impact on the television industry: In the TV industry, where the channels got exhausted with their new episodes leading to repeat telecasts and thus fall in the TRP. But few channels like DD Networks took this as an opportunity and re-telecasted the most loved shows of all the Indians like Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana, Mahabharat, Shree Krishna, Byomkesh Bakshi, etc. DD reported a growth of 650 percent viewership in just a week. This trend of showing old famous shows was further adapted by many other channels by Colors (showing Balika Vadhu, Jai Shree Krishna), Star Plus (Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, Mahabharat), etc.
- Impact on movie theatre business: All the multiplex players such as PVR and INOX have been shut down since lockdown. The losses suffered by them are huge. These businesses have to pay the rent to the malls regardless of their shut down. The multiplexes which have already taken the right for premiers of the ‘to be released’ movies are facing losses. After lockdown also it won’t be able to cover much of its losses as they will have to maintain all the social distancing, sanitization, etc. guidelines.
- Daily wage workers of the entertainment industry affected: The daily wage workers of the industry are going to face huge repercussions if work doesn’t resume soon. Even after lockdown how are we going to convince people to come to work. Many huge celebrities are asked to make donations for the help of daily wage workers.
- Impact on other film industries: Not only the Indian film industry is affected due to lockdown but we also see the postponement in the release of Hollywood movies like Mulan, Black Widow, Soul, etc. Many production companies are thinking about releasing the movies on the OTT platform. In the Indian entertainment industry, we can see many regional movies whose release has been postponed. The Telugu film industry faced a 25 percent loss and also there won’t be any theatrical release of small budget films for a long period of time.
COVID-19 positive impact (OTT gets boosted) on Entertainment Industry:
At the time when all the cinemas and film industry was shut, a small yet large industry that was working at a normal pace boosted itself up in this situation. This industry consists of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Alt Balaji, MX Player, and several others. These platforms stated providing their content for free. People started watching movies and series here. The study shows there was a 50 percent increase in sales of premium account of these apps and a 60 to 80 percent increase in TRP of these online shows. This increase in such platforms proved to be beneficial for those struggling actors who had switched their industry from film to series, because of which they are now getting fame and respect which they truly deserved.
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CONCLUSION
This COVID 19 situation consists of many ups and downs for the entertainment industry where film releases get postponed and on the other hand, the TV industry was somewhat stable yet affected by different measures.
The REEL life heroes and even the villains turn out to be REAL Heroes for Migrant Labourers and other Indians. Some celebrities with fear of not getting new roles started their own YouTube channels and Tik Tok videos to get their career on tracks.
Author- Disha Agrawal
About the author: Disha Agrawal is an Economics graduate and presently pursuing an MBA with a specialization in Financial Administration from the Prestige Institute of Management and Research, Indore. She is a keen learner and is intrigued by financial markets. She is committed to her work and strives for continuous improvement.
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