3 Ways Tech Has Impacted The Entertainment Industry

The entertainment industry evolves alongside technology – and this entangled partnership has never been more evident than in recent years.

The pace of change has been so rapid even the Noughties feel resigned to a chapter in next year’s history textbook.

But for the most part, tech has changed the entertainment industry for the better. And the power of the internet is making things a whole lot more convenient for the consumer.

Feeling bored? Well, there’s certainly something you can distract yourself with. Read on as we take a deep dive into the way technology has impacted the way we stay entertained.

Streaming services change the way we consume television

Remember when we had to wait a week to view the last episode of Lost? What a waste of time that was.

10 years ago our favorite shows were drip-fed to us by television networks in half-hour or hour-long-increments. But the world has moved on and a lot has changed since then.

Fast forward to the present day and we’ve subverted the status quo in a decade dominated by online streaming — a technological leap that allows us to consume infinite amounts of content over the internet at a click of a button.

Netflix pioneered this change, but Amazon quickly followed suit by parceling it into their Prime service. And now there’s seemingly a streaming service dedicated to every niche you could imagine, from Disney Plus (for our inner child) to Funimation (which provides a snapshot into the wonderful world of anime).

Streaming has changed the game in terms of the way we consume content — and the stats are there to back it up. With research sites like Statista claiming 82% of adults prefer Netflix to standard cable television.

To put a contemporary lens on things, the recent coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the growth of these services even further.

Ofcom — the UK media watchdog — observed that the use of subscription streaming services doubled throughout April, which coincidentally coincides with the country’s first full-scale lockdown. And shows people are turning to the freedom of internet streaming, not the cable of old for their entertainment needs.

Traditional gaming is finding a digital home

Although it feels little good has come out of the coronavirus pandemic, it has helped showcase how some classical games have evolved in the digital age.

To be clear, we’re talking about games that have traditionally been played in person, like bingo, lotteries, or poker nights.

While the pandemic forced the hand of traditional players, this change has been a long time coming. Not least because of the sheer convenience of playing these games at the swipe of an iPhone, which is downright easier than trekking to the shops to buy a lottery ticket — or god forbid, visiting the bingo hall or trying to organize a poker meet with your friends.

But, now lockdown has taken the option away, we’re seeing more examples of this online transition than ever before.

For instance, the pandemic is pushing lotteries online because the historical act of buying tickets in person isn’t only inconvenient, but now unsafe. So with this in mind, sites like PlayHugeLottos and the bespoke National Lottery app are growing in popularity because they let you buy lottery tickets online, thereby giving you a more secure way to play.

And as for poker nights? With brick and mortar casinos closed, we’ve seen countless studies from official sources such as the Gambling Commission documenting the rise of online casinos — a platform of digital casino games, which uses software to recreate the same old classics from the comfort of home.

Spotify has allowed music to evolve beyond your CD collection

How can we discuss the entertainment industry without talking about music? A medium that has weathered the storms of change and been battered by endless waves of technological innovation.

Vinyl records died in the 90s, phased out by cassette tapes. Which turned out to be a short-lived era, superseded by CDs at the turn of the millennium. And even those became obsolete when iTunes and Napster opened everyone’s eyes to the possibility of digital downloads.

But here’s the kicker: despite this synopsis only covering the last few decades, now the music industry is caught up in its latest trend — online streaming.

Spotify — a Swedish startup turned industry titan — is the ultimate disrupter that has caused the music industry to completely remodel.

Allowing users to stream songs on-demand on a rolling monthly fee has proved to be an industry shifting concept. One that brought about the music industry’s embrace of the internet, rather than stoking the fires in its continued fight against the digital revolution.

Has it all paid off? Well, yes it has. Since Spotify was released in 2011, it has gone on to attract over 124 million premium users — and streaming accounts for 63.6% of the market. But the big winners are the consumers who’ve since played 91 billion songs across Spotify and its closest rival, Apple Music.

From television and music to the way we game, technology — and more specifically the internet — has elevated the way we consume entertainment

Things now are more convenient but in the same breath, it doesn’t hurt to hold onto nostalgia (we bet you still have a few records gathering dust in the loft).

Source: entrepreneurship|in|a|box