The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on many aspects of the world economy, and one of the sectors that bears the heaviest impacts is the entertainment industry. This post would focus on examining the music and film sectors so as to gain an insight into the current situation.
In 2019, the value of the worldwide media and entertainment market was up to 2.1 trillion USD, which is the highest number in 9 years (Data from Statista). If not for the pandemic, all are expected to significantly increase in the next few years.
Let’s take the case of Korea as an example to see the benefit that the music sector could bring to the economy of one country. In Korea, the K-pop industry alone was reported to be worth 5 billion dollars in 2017. Not only does the money come from music, but the influence of K-pop also drags along commercial deals, merchandise, and promotes tourism. According to a research of the Korea Tourism Organization, 90% of the BTS boy band’s fans in 111 countries said that they want to visit Korea in the future. Moreover, because of the impression made from the entertainment industry, Korean products also win the hearts of foreign consumers, which helps boost the export of the country. After 20 years, because of all the investment in the entertainment industry, as reported by US News, Korea has become the eleventh biggest economy in the world.
Regarding the film industry, in 2019, the international box office revenue soared up to 31,1 billion USD (except for the North America region). This resulted in the contribution to 42,5 billion USD of the global revenue, which is the highest of the era. Let’s take Vietnam as an example to see the development of this industry before the pandemic. The average growth rate was reported to be significant, from 20% to 25%. Every year, it was estimated that more than 40 movies are produced. In terms of cinemas, the number of theaters has also increased dramatically in 10 recent years. In 2018, the number was 922, which was ten times more than that in 2009.
However, since the spread of the Coronavirus, activities of the entertainment industry have been severely restricted. In the music industry, according to the WWF, live events have had to suffer the most from the pandemic, as being unable to hold events for six months has caused a loss of more than 10 billion USD. As retail stores were closed because of the social distancing policy, the sales of physical albums and disks has also decreased by ⅓ compared to that in 2019. Alongside with that, the gain from digital music has also fallen by 11%. The film industry has also been devastating due to the pandemic. Cinemas were all closed, and the film-making process of many movies was delayed, or increased in cost for production. According to the data of the S&P Global Market Intelligence and OPUS, the box office revenue has plunged to 46,2%, compared to that in 2019. In China, more than 13,000 companies in film and television production and 10,000 cinemas have been closed down.
In spite of the crisis caused by this global pandemic, companies that keep innovating could still survive through this difficult time, recover, and even take new opportunities to develop in the future. As for the music industry, many have utilized or even made their own online platforms to hold online concerts. For example, the online concert of BTS in June sold 756,600 tickets and brought back 20 million USD. As for the film industry, movie websites such as Netflix, HBO, Disney +,... have prospered since the beginning of the pandemic, and played roles as the savior for movies that could not be released in cinemas.
In conclusion, damage of the COVID-19 pandemic to the entertainment industry was inevitable. After the pandemic, the world would have to encounter a period of recession that could decrease the demand for entertainment. Moreover, changes in forms of entertainment also pose a challenge for companies to catch up with the market. Therefore, in a time that nothing is thought to be certain, innovation would always be the path for the entertainment industry to take in the future.
References
Sài Gòn Đầu Tư (09/2020) - Công nghiệp giải trí thời Covid-19
Tuổi trẻ (03/2020) - Công nghiệp giải trí khủng hoảng vì Corona
VOV.vn (03/2020) - Ngành công nghiệp giải trí thế giới đang phải chịu ảnh hưởng nặng nề bởi Covid-19
Lam Nguyen (03/2020) - Covid-19 khiến ngành điện ảnh toàn cầu tổn thất 5 tỷ USD
Thai Binh (11/2019) - Âm Nhạc Hàn Quốc trở thành ngàn công nghiệp trị giá 5 tỷ USD
Vault.vn - Overall of media and entertainment
Amy Watson - Statista (10/2020) - Value of the global entertainment and media market
Thế Sang - (03/2020) Ngành công nghiệp phim ảnh điêu đứng vì Covid-19
Lan Huong (01/2019) - Đạt doanh thu 41,7 tỷ đô, ngành công nghiệp điện ảnh toàn cầu đã có một năm 2018 rực rỡ
N.Nguyen (08/2019) - Điện ảnh phát triển vượt kế hoạch dự kiến. Vừa mừng vừa lo
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