The Entertainment Industry Likely Bounce Back Quickly from the Economic Hit of Coronavirus

Early analysis from Asia suggests a strong economic recovery for movie theaters and live concert venues.

Los Angeles, CA, 2021-Feb-17 — /EPR Network/ — The entertainment industry has been hit worse more than almost any other during the year of the pandemic. However, early analysis suggests that this hit may only be temporary. In Asia, where the pandemic is largely under control and economies reopening for business as usual, the recovery of the entertainment industry has been strong.

The Asia-Pacific movie industry accounted for 51% of the global box office decline, which amounted to a 70% fall in 2020. That’s a staggering decrease of 12.4 billion USD. However, theaters in this region of the world re-opened in August 2020. During this time, 78% of movie theater sales occurred in Asia-Pacific countries.

Despite the pandemic, 2020 was the year that China became the biggest movie market for the first time, while Japan saw record movie sales. This shows the resilience of the entertainment industry to succeed even in the most difficult circumstances. If these industries can prove that they are viable, then they might be able to secure the crucial funding that they need.

Asia has coped particularly well with the pandemic, introducing strong controls quickly, where many Western countries experienced delayed lockdown. This could account for much of the fast economic recovery that Asian and Pacific countries are experiencing. Nevertheless, it provides hope for the American and European entertainment industries.

Much of the success of the entertainment industry will come down to its ability to adapt and embrace new technologies. Countries such as Japan and Singapore have long invested in modernized point-of-sale (POS) solutions, which made switching to a service model that involved less human contact easier. A movie theater POS system like this one also enables a variety of cashless options, some of which don’t require any contact.

The move to a cashless society, along with social distancing measures and increased hygiene, can help movie theaters to re-open. Doing so quickly is vital if Hollywood wants to keep up with the hugely popular content coming out of Asia.

For instance, Singapore released movies such as The Diam Diam Era and Enter the Fat Dragon last year. Both of these achieved sales of more than 1.5 million USD. This is enough to rival some of America’s recent projects, many of which have had their release date pushed back many months due to the pandemic.

There’s no doubt that the spread of Covid-19 has hit some industries particularly hard. The travel and entertainment sectors are seen as the least essential and therefore end up becoming the first to face restrictions. Many such companies cannot survive without income for more than a few months.

If governments are able to prop these industries up using subsidies, then they may just survive, returning stronger than ever. The figures out of Asian-Pacific markets reveal that these sectors are able to bounce back quickly. People never get bored of watching movies or going to live concerts, leading many experts to have confidence in their long-term survival.

Source: asiaone.com