COVID-19 and the Entertainment Industries in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines not only on the socio-economic implication of the lockdown on practitioners in the entertainment industry namely the cinema halls, live performances, and the film industries among others, but also it explores the ways E-entertainment was being introduced especially in music and drama industry. With the lockdown orchestrated by the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak in Nigeria, show lovers were being entertained through E-concerts, drive in theatre performances, and television live shows like Owambe and Pepsi Dance Party that was being showed every weekend with the audience responding on face book, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms among others. The research method is qualitative and analytical. The study employed a survey method of data collection to gather relevant material from published and unpublished materials in hard and soft copies which included online materials. The material was analyzed through mixed-method, which involved description, explanation, translation, and interpretation. The result showed that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted negatively the entertainment industry, bringing to a halt the performer/audience physical participation and interaction and a lot of reduction in the socio-economic progress of entertainers and the entertainment industry depends on their audience for finance. It also opened up the need for the entertainment industry to focus more on the acquisition of E-entertainment facilities to bridge the gap between the entertainers and the audiences on a larger scale to take care of pandemic incidents like COVID-19.