IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

INTRODUCTION

The Covid-19 has adversely impacted the Media & Entertainment industry, all across the world.
The main aim of the research paper is to analyze the extent to which various functional areas in
the Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry has been affected by the pandemic. The finance and
the operations domains have undergone major changes with the advent of Covid-19 and the
research paper focuses on the management problems which have occurred in these two domains.
Firstly, the finance sector has witnessed a huge decline in revenue with the advent of the pandemic
due to cancellation of various events & work-from-home (WFH) norms. Advertising accounts for
a large portion of the M&E industry’s revenue and there has been a sharp decrease in advertising
spending. This is accompanied by an increase in demand for content during the pandemic.
Secondly, operational and supply chain sector in M&E industry has also been affected. Since
productions are delayed and live events are suspended, upfronts take up a digital form. This, in
turn, resulted in a boost in the digital media with the usage of Over-the-top (OTT) platforms so as
to meet the increased demand for content by the public.

RESEARCH PROBLEMS

1. What is the impact of Covid-19 on the overall revenue earned in the Media &
Entertainment industry?
2. How has the usage of OTT platforms been affected by the pandemic? Are OTT platforms
able to meet the increased demand for content?

REASERCH OBJECTIVES

1. To analyze the impact of Covid-19 on Media & Entertainment industry.

2. To understand the factors which led to the loss of revenue in the Media & Entertainment
industry.
3. To study why the operations & supply chain sector has resorted to increased usage OTT
platforms during the pandemic.
4. To examine the way Media & Entertainment industry creates a balance between increased
demand for content and decreased production & advertising revenue.

HYPOTHESIS
 1. The revenue in Media & Entertainment industry has decreased with the advent of the
Covid-19 pandemic.
2. There is a change in preference of people because of the outbreak of Covid-19.
3. The pandemic leads to increased usage of OTT platforms.
4. There is an increased demand for content because of WFH norms and safety regulations.

DATA COLLECTION

The research paper will follow a primary research approach by conducting a survey and a focus
group discussion. The survey will be conducted in the online mode in the form of a questionnaire
circulated through social media platforms like WhatsApp, e-mail and LinkedIn in order to gather
the maximum information. The sample size is estimated to be 200 and the questionnaire will
include 10 questions. These questionnaires primarily focus on how people’s M&E preferences and
their willingness to use the offline & online media platforms have changed during the Covid-19
period. They will be distributed to all the segments of the population including the students,
employees and to those working in M&E industry.

The focus group discussion will be done in two sets of groups. The first group includes 12 people
who are either students or working professionals within the age group of 18-35 years. And the
second group consists of 6 people who work in different fields in the Media & Entertainment
industry. The members from each group will be asked to join a video call for discussion. Around
10 questions will be asked about their present living conditions and how their preferences &
experience in M&E have changed with the advent of Covid-19. Demographic behavior such as
age, location, occupation, annual income, etc. are also examined in both these studies. Analysis
will be done on the data collected from both the sources.

DATA ANALYSIS

The data collected from the survey through the questionnaire will be analyzed by conducting a
Chi-square test and multilinear regression. The Chi-square test is conducted to identify the
relationship between the Covid-19 crisis and the revenue earned in the M&E industry. The
multilinear regression is conducted in order to calculate the relationship between the Covid-19
safety norms and the usage of OTT platforms. It is also used to understand how the demand for
fresh content by the public is different from the content currently available in the M&E industry.

Analysis of the data collected from the focus group discussion is done through a thematic analysis
procedure. It comes under the category of qualitative research wherein the data collected from both
the groups are identified, analyzed and interpreted into meaningful patterns. This helps in
understanding how the preferences of people have changed during the pandemic and their impact
on the M&E industry.

PLAN

RESEARCH PAPER ACTIVITIES DATE

Research Proposal 1st November,2020
Development of Questionnaires 10th November,2020
Preparation for Focus Group Discussion 15th November,2020
Pre-testing 25th November, 2020
Collection of Data 5th December,2020
Analysis of Data 15th December,2020
Presentation of the study 20th December,2020
Research Paper Submission 25th January,2021

BUDGET

Since the research is conducted during the pandemic, the entire process of data collection, analysis
and report preparation will be done in an online mode. Thus, the only requirement is a strong
network connectivity, resulting in no additional costs for the study.

REFERENCES

1. Luk,L., Whitaker,D., & Graham,P. (2020). What COVID-19 means for the media and
entertainment industry. KPMG.
https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/ca/pdf/2020/05/covid-19-media-and-
entertainment-industry-en.pdf

2. Madnani, D., Fernandes, S. and Madnani, N. (2020), "Analyzing the impact of COVID-
19 on over-the-top media platforms in India", International Journal of Pervasive
Computing and Communications, Vol. 16 No. 5, pp. 457-475.
https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPCC-07-2020-0083
3. KPMG. (2020). Media and entertainment post COVID-19.
https://home.kpmg/in/en/home/insights/2020/05/media-and-entertainment-post-covid-19-
the-best-of-times-the-worst-of-times.html

4. YMC. (2019). COVID-19 and the Media Industry.

https://www.pwc.com/us/en/library/covid-19/coronavirus-impacts-media.html

5. ETBrandEquity.com. (2020). Gaming and OTT spike in COVID-19 lockdown: Publicis

Report. The Economic Times.
https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/media/gaming-and-ott-spike-in-
covid-19-lockdown-publicis-report/75173664