New approaches to entertainment during lockdown

Back in January 2020, no one could have imagined a global pandemic that would disrupt the entire system and the activity of our everyday lives. However, in the wake of 2020, the world was shocked to hear about Covid-19, a pandemic that we were clueless about. To curb the spread of the virus, many countries initiated lockdown measures which meant people could not leave their homes for no reason at all. 

Several industries lost millions of dollars to the pandemic due to these restrictions. The entertainment industry was one of those large industries that took a significant hit by the pandemic. Many cinemas, parks, and other public hubs were forced to shut down due to government regulations across the world.

While many people thought that would be the end of the entertainment industry, we saw a transformation in the industry across the world. People found new ways. For instance, the gaming sector of the entertainment industry saw more games created during the lockdown period. If someone were to check online, they would see the even brand new casino list on CasinoHEX India, which is mainly from the lockdown period.

This article will show some new ways people developed to entertain themselves during the lockdown.

Online gaming

The online gaming community grew actively during the lockdown period. It would interest you to know that even the US military created a gaming platform for some of its members. Game streaming platforms like discord and twitch created a community for gamers, where people could chat, play games and have fun. So if you are a gamer, those platforms offer you a great place to connect with friends and people from around the world.

Social media

Social media played a very crucial role in entertainment during the lockdown. Although it was a large part of our lives before the lockdown, people took to social media to get entertained during the lockdown. People saw the importance of communities, and for the first time, they appreciated how our lives were connected.

More people took to online platforms to connect with their friends and family. Tiktok mainly saw a massive growth during the lockdown. According to Forbes, TikTok grew by 75% and had more than 33% more users during the year. More people took to those videos to entertain themselves and also shared the videos with their friends. 

Video streaming

Cinema closure was a terrible hit for both business owners and movie lovers during the pandemic. Many people had so much time on their hands, but then they couldn’t go out to see the new movies they had been waiting for before the pandemic. Streaming platforms like, however, came to the rescue to fill the void. Platforms like Netflix, Disney plus, and many more have seen a massive increase in size since the pandemic last year. For instance, while most of the world’s cinemas were closed. Netflix pulled 73% more revenue during the lockdown. Similarly, the US box office had over 80% more sales during the period showing how people looked for alternatives for entertainment.

E-sports

 E-sports had been a top source of entertainment for many years. However, it became even popular as more people took to it during the lockdown as an alternative source of entertainment. People who wanted to watch the live-action of their teams their favourite sports team could not watch them on TV because most sports activities were on hold across the world. However, there was an online e-sports competition for most top sports that people were people had interests in.

According to PWC, around 50% of 2000 people in a survey in 2020 agreed that they were involved in at least one e-sport activity online. According to PWC, the sudden rise in popularity is why the industry, worth only 194 million dollars in 2014, grew to about 980 million dollars in value by 2019. Interestingly, the industry is worth about 1.8 billion dollars by 2023, all thanks to the changes in entertainment caused by the COVID 19 pandemic.

Podcasts and audiobooks

People had to do something to kill the boredom. Thanks to mobile technology, we had a lot of things quickly. While most people took to reading regular hard copy novels, some people read audiobooks. They are fun, and they give the reader the flexibility of doing whatever they want while listening to the book.

Podcasts are a fantastic way to keep up with your favourite topics, and they have been here for a while, like audiobooks. However, the industry also saw some boom as more people had more free time to create and listen to these podcasts than in the past. Many people took their time to create content of hope for people who were home and depressed. More so, the content economy grew around this period at a fast rate.

The editorial unit