From Stage to Screen: How Entertainment Changed After the Pandemic
Written by: Ashley Budiman

The Covid-19 pandemic has made a great impact on many industries. Due to its sensitive-to-environment nature, the entertainment industry does not avoid these changes that came with the pandemic.  

 

As a result of people staying at home and isolating themselves during the Covid-19 outbreak, there was a significant increase in the use of OTT media platforms. Today, various streaming platforms, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney, and others, provide services to consumers after the number of subscribers skyrocketed as people transitioned from TV to OTT platforms.

 

Esports is a sport that is played and can be watched on virtual platforms. During the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, this particular sport experienced significant viewership growth due to unprecedented social isolation. Some sports fans also turned to esports as an alternative after live sports were canceled during the pandemic. Twitch is one of the leading online gaming platforms that experienced a large growth after the pandemic. The platform allows social interactions to happen within the gaming community which many had craved during the pandemic. Research shows that esports viewership during the pandemic and post-pandemic, are much higher than before the pandemic. 

 

If we enjoyed live concerts before the pandemic stripped them away from our lives, we love them even more today. This can be seen from the results of post-pandemic concerts such as the 2022 BTS concert which sold out within minutes, or the 2023 Taylor Swift eras tour that everyone and everybody has been dying to go to. 

 

However not only did the increase of our love for concerts come from the pandemic, but virtual concerts rose as well. Games such as Fortnite and Roblox started holding concerts in the metaverse, with famous stars such as Chainsmokers, David Guetta, and Blackpink performing on the digital stages. There were many controversies on this topic, such as the recent Vtuber Dacapo’s performance during a festival in Thailand, where he sang the Japanese song ‘Shinunoga E-Wa’. 

 

There’s no denying that the entertainment industry has undergone many changes after the pandemic, but it seems that many new, and some old, trends are thriving in this post-pandemic era.