The Trends that Will be Shaping Entertainment

The world of entertainment has undergone drastic change over the past few decades. Gone are the days when films were the domain of major Hollywood production companies, as content distributors like Netflix have become content creators as well. Sticking to film, with a far greater distribution range thanks to in-home streaming, theatres themselves are closing at an alarming rate. Music distribution is no longer the exclusive domain of major record labels, and let’s not talk about print… With everything seemingly up in the air, one is left to wonder; what next?

If the PwC’s 2018 Media & Entertainment Outlook report is to be believed, the next trend in the world of entertainment may just be virtual reality. Alongside over-the-top (OTT) video and internet advertising, PwC predicts that virtual reality (VR) will be the fastest growing revenue generator for M&E companies in the U.S. during the five-year period from 2017 to 2022.

Thanks to products like the Oculus Rift, the VR industry is rapidly turning into a major emerging market in the realm of entertainment. Going beyond gaming, even outlets such as USA Today, Washington Post, and The New York Times are joining the trend, making inroads into the emerging VR journalism platform. With revenues that reached $1.5 billion in 2017, the U.S. is currently the world’s leading VR market, and that total revenue is expect to increase to $7.2 billion by 2022.

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The Elephant In The Room

It’s perhaps one of our favorite phrases, but so many of us use the expressions without knowing its origins and the many times it has been referenced in the literary world. This is a problem that can no longer be ignored, much like an elephant in the room, so to speak… Here are the origins of one of our favorite phrases, and a brief history of its use.

In his 1814 fable entitled The Inquisitive Man, Ivan Krylov tells the tale of a man who goes to a museum and notices all sorts of tiny things but fails to notice an elephant. Credited with the initial concept that would spawn the term, Krylov would later be referenced by Dostoyevsky in his 1872 novel Demons, who wrote: “Belinsky was just like Krylov's Inquisitive Man, who didn't notice the elephant in the museum…”

Although The Oxford English Dictionary credits the term to a New York Times article published in 1959, evidence suggests that our modern day usage of “the elephant in the room” dates back far earlier, with allusions to the term by such notables as philosopher George Berkeley, author Mark Twain, and comedian Jimmy Durante. We may in fact never be certain of just how the term came to be, but one thing is for sure, it’ll likely continue to be used for many a year to come.

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Reading vs. Watching TV

The rise of streaming services like Netflix and Hulu certainly have more of us glued to our television sets than ever before, but has all that extra screen time come at the expense of reading? Before ditching our beloved books for the next binge, consider some of the merits of reading over watching something on screen.

With you wherever you go. If you have time to kill on your daily commute there’s nothing quite like having a good book by your side, or if you’d prefer ebooks, an entire library at your disposal. The batteries on your tablet or e-reader will certainly last a whole lot longer than when you’re streaming, and you don’t have to rely on data to have a good read by your side! Driving? You can still enjoy audiobooks while keeping your eyes on the road.

A world of pure imagination. A good book leaves a lot open to interpretation. You can paint landscapes yourself and imagine characters any way you want them to be as opposed to what a show producer wants you to see. Let your imagination run wild and be every bit as much a part of the narrative as the story itself.

Easier on the eyes. Printed pages and e-ink displays put significantly less strain on the eyes, and unlike tablet and television screens that emanate blue light, books and e-readers have considerably fewer negative effects on sleep.

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