The Impact COVID-19 Had On The Entertainment Industry In 2022
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) recently released their annual THEME report covering 2020. The report tracks the theatrical and in-home entertainment industry both globally and domestically as well as other video industries. For the THEME report, the MPA relied on various data sources.To get more
latest entertainment news, you can visit shine news official website.
In 2020, the global pandemic impacted the theatrical and home/mobile entertainment, as movie theaters and production studios temporarily closed. As millions quarantined, viewers were forced to stay home for their video entertainment. Coinciding with the pandemic, was the emergence of new streaming video services from such prominent studios as DisneyDIS -0.5%, Universal and Warner Bros. joining (and competing) with NetflixNFLX +0.1%, Hulu and AmazonAMZN -0.7%. Hence, stay-at-home viewers were able to watch premium TV and movies across various screens and providers. While industry analysts had commented this trend was already beginning, many agree the pandemic had sped up the pace of adoption.
With shut-downs occurring throughout the globe, consumers relied on digital (video-on-demand, streaming video and electronic sell through) for entertainment. The trend toward digital entertainment was accelerated in 2020 as revenue climbed to $61.8 billion, an increase of 31%. Digital media had accounted for over three-quarters of total theatrical, home/mobile entertainment revenue. There are now 1.1 billion online video subscribers worldwide up 26% from 2019.
Conversely, physical (Blu-ray, DVD and rentals) entertainment revenue continued to decline. In 2020 digital entertainment totaled only $7 billion, less than half of the $14.9 billion in 2016. Globally physical entertainment accounted for 9% of total revenue.
Domestic Revenue: In the U.S., the theatrical, home/mobile entertainment market in 2020 totaled $32.2 billion, down 11% from $36.1 billion in 2019. Theatrical entertainment dropped to $2.2 billion accounting for 7% of the revenue. In 2019 the revenue for theatrical entertainment was $11.4 billion.
Similar to the global market, digital entertainment revenue in the U.S. also grew notably. For the year, digital revenue totaled $26.5 billion, a 33% increase from 2019. While in recent years digital revenue has been increasing, in 2020 digital media exploded accounting for an 82% share of theatrical, home/mobile revenue compared to 55% in 2019.
Despite their continued decline as an entertainment source, in 2020, even physical entertainment generated more revenue than theatrical. For the year, physical entertainment revenue totaled $3.5 billion, a decline of 26% from 2019. In 2020 physical entertainment accounted for 11% of total revenue.
Streaming: Among the drivers in digital entertainment was the increase in online video subscriptions. In 2020, with new launches and more content there were 308.6 million subscribers, a year-over-year increase of 32%. Revenue from online video subscriptions grew by 35% in 2020, totaling $24.7 billion.
For the year, Netflix had nine of the ten most streamed original television programs (based on minutes streamed), led by Ozark. The outlier was the Mandalorian on Disney+ which ranked fifth. The ten most watched acquired series were all on Netflix, led by The Office (the sitcom left Netflix in 2021 for Peacock). For movies, it was a different story, Disney+ dominated with seven of the ten most streamed films of the year led by Frozen II. The most streamed film on Netflix was the Secret Lives of Pets which ranked third.
