19 Ways Covid-19 Is Changing Audiences & Makers
“When Will Life Return to Normal?,” reads the headline from a Visual Capitalist article, which provides a fascinating infographic on the likelihood of individuals to return to past habits and practices from getting a haircut to attending a sporting event.
Unlike past disruptions of society that were short-lived and isolated to particular regions or industries, Covid-19 is pervasive in its reach, its depth, and its length. In short, there is no return to normal. Everything and everyone is changed.
Especially in entertainment.
Here are 19 ways Covid-19 has changed (and will change) audiences and makers:
- Audiences will widely adopt the premium digital release of movies (PVOD) available for a higher price point to view at home on opening weekend.
- Many theaters will close and others will reconfigure their space into smaller private screening rooms.
- No more word-of-mouth screenings of movies prior to release.
- The occasional movie-goer (2-11 times a year) won’t come back to theaters.
- Small, niche, specialty movies will find a new way to reach audiences outside of theaters and large streamers.
- At least two studios will file Chapter 11.
- The custom home theater business will grow.
- Shopping malls, parks, and other large private & public spaces will begin to create outdoor amphitheaters for concerts and movies.
- Press junkets will go entirely online.
- Award shows will be smaller, less flashy, and less important.
- The “influencer” will prove to be an ineffective means to reach audiences and to generate sales.
- Book, movie, and music clubs will grow.
- Hollywood will take even fewer risks by relying on proven stories and built-in audiences.
- Several entertainment media outlets will fold.
- Movies and shows will have a political bent, some obvious others less so.
- Festivals will move online and lose influence as a means to sell a project or build an audience.
- Independent filmmaking will grow substantially as filmmakers find a new way to reach audiences and self-distribute.
- Producers and studios will repurpose and re-release old library content.
- Audiences will be more intentional with their entertainment choices — to connect with others, to find meaning and transcendence, and to escape hard realities.
(C) Aspiration Entertainment 2020