ARTICLE: Bad news is the only news. Open your newspaper or your news feed and it's all about disease, despair and demise. The virus has shut down the world and flooded the minds of 7 billion people with fear, uncertainty and negativity. In normal times when bad news come you switch the channel. People are advised for a change of scene and for a change of company or for a change of activities. The problem with the present situation however is that all three are either limited or not available. All major sources of diversion and entertainment are the first casualty of this virus. Sports that are the major passion in many countries for young and old, banned. Movie theatres are a weekend compulsion. Shutdown. Restaurants are a daily break out. Closed.
The physical, mental and emotional ramification of the absence of these avenues is and will be far beyond the vaccine discovery. Just imagine a mind loaded with negative news, views, images, stuck in houses, inactive and no breaks in the chain of fear and uncertainty. This is an ideal breeding ground for mental traumas. That is why it is necessary that as countries start to reopen the economies the entertainment industry is not left to roost but is opened as well. It should be encouraged to adapt and come out to present some events of light, funny, engaging and joyful breaks to prevent mental breakdowns becoming another pandemic.
To understand the desperation of people to find mental diversions just have a look at the Netflix and PrimVideo of Amazon viewership. The statistics are mind boggling. HBO's parent company, WarnerMedia, studied its subscribers viewership spending time of movies and TV shows over a period of weeks. While the television industry as a whole saw a 20% increase compared to pre-Covid-19 days, HBO Now saw the highest usage on its platform since summer. The percentage of people binge viewing series increased 65 percent, while movie watching increased 70 percent on HBO Now.
WarnerMedia is not the only company seeing increases in traffic. Netflix's chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, told CNN that although the company was not going to release numbers, Netflix has seen a huge surge in streams. Third-party companies have reported seeing massive increases in usage and subscription signups for streaming platforms like Disney Plus. Amazon's other streaming platform, Twitch, has seen a 31 percent growth in viewership, with total amount of hours watched jumping from 33 million on March 8th to 43 million on March 22nd, according to data given to The Verge by research firm StreamElements. YouTube Gaming streams have also seen a 15 percent increase since people started social distancing. Even as the lockdowns continue to ease, these numbers are still increasing as entertainment industry is going to be the last to be allowed to open.
Another huge leisure pass-time is sports. Football, Tennis, Cricket and Olympics, etc., are eagerly awaited and passionately followed events. They are big incentive for people to relieve their stress, enjoy their evenings and become more fit emotionally and physically. The sudden halt to all events has been a stunning psychological blow. The Tokyo Olympics, the French Open, the Wimbledon and ICC World Cups have all been postponed. These are almost financial knockdowns. The global value of the sports industry is estimated at US$756 billion annually. In the face of COVID-19, many millions of jobs are therefore at risk globally, not only for sports professionals but also for those in related retail and sporting services industries connected with leagues and events, which include travel, tourism, infrastructure, transportation, catering and media broadcasting, among others. The void of sports and entertainment has been filled by news of the most depressing kind. The financial cost aside, the psychological cost of not having any relaxation diversion is pushing people more and more in depression, anxiety, suicides and relationship disorders. Thus, it is important for these bodies and businesses to come up with some solutions that give partial relief to people and provide some job opportunities to those whose livelihoods are connected to this industry.
As they say the show must go on. However, the show cannot go on the way it was before Covid-19. There have to be some innovations that the entertainment industry has to do to spend a year and a half before the vaccine becomes easily available. Let us see what the various industries can do to adapt and do business safely:
Rest and Restaurants- This industry has been badly hit as even after the lockdown is eased up countries are reluctant to open them up as their closed and crowded environment is a great virus spreader. Restaurants need serious rethinking and redesigning. Firstly, some restaurants who have outdoor space have and can offer open safe distancing designs where families can sit away from other tables. For those restaurants that do not have open sitting the inside sitting needs to be re-spaced with some plastic hut like covering on every table. Disinfecting air cleaners in the cooling equipment will be an innovation which will be fast developing to make people safe. Restaurants need to be certified by health authorities as being absolutely SOP compliant and then start their operations. Similarly, tourism facilities need to start planning more outdoor camping and adventure tourism to give some rest and leisure option to people.
Cinemas and Theatres- Cinemas and theatres are also in danger of being bankrupt. Cinemas can do social distancing easily as very few movies have packed houses on all shows. Making people sit with one seat distance is possible. However, what is needed is the medical innovation of ventilation and air circulation which will ensure that air disinfectants are strong enough to clear any droplets in the air. Also, there is a revival of outdoor Drive In Cinemas. People going out in cars, as in the past, and watching big screen movies is something that is already gaining popularity and can provide some revenues to this industry.
Sports and Events-This is perhaps the biggest gap the world is feeling on a regular basis. Whether football or rugby or tennis or cricket, the build-up games, the final rounds, the semis and finals would engage people for months. It is good that football is making a comeback and cricket is about to restart but behind closed doors. Innovation on letting fans come in but barriers in spacing with scanning of temperatures and facemask wearing could be a starter for natural cheering.
If human beings do not get these entertainment breaks they have and will break down. Innovations in safe playing and entertainment environment are necessary to lift the morale and spirits of people in these times of extreme stress and duress.
(The writer is a columnist, consultant, coach, and an analyst and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail,com. She tweets at @AndleebAbbas)