We live in a time when digital entertainment and technology plays a vital role in society. Based on a report conducted last year by former Wall Street security analyst Mary Meeker, roughly 3.6 billion consumers can now readily access the World Wide Web. This astonishing figure accounts for nearly half of the global population, and with continuing investment in broadband technology particularly the improvement of network infrastructure and coverage, consumers and their devices are near enough permanently connected.
Such developments have provided web users the benefit of a boundless and sundry source of entertainment streams. Whilst the markets for books in hard copy and satellite television manages to maintain marginal growth, newspapers and magazines are experiencing a steady decline in popularity as online entertainment trends take precedence. In this article, we will be taking a look at which types of online entertainment have seen the biggest upsurge in demand, and those that are most likely to stand the test of time in our New Media Age.
We’ve come a long way from the Gold Rush days of high-stakes gambling of the mid-nineteenth century, often hosted in the back of a shady saloon in towns like “Deadwood” or “Tombstone”, where players were just as likely to be carrying a six-shooter as a pocket pair. Today, such games of risk are as popular as they once were; however the classic green-felt tables have turned digital with virtual casinos like Casumo offering a multitude of different games to cater for their players’ specific tastes.
You’ll find slick, user-friendly interfaces and a whole host of choices including Live Casinos with their own unique live studios and dealers hosting a wide range of games from Blackjack to Monopoly. Since this new frontier of online gambling was made possible in the mid-90s, player demand for E-Casinos has skyrocketed and the multi-billion dollar industry is undoubtedly set to maintain its popularity and player-base for years to come.
No longer must we as media viewers be a slave to a set program of scheduled content provided to us by broadcasting networks. Nor need we wait hours or days to watch the shows we crave. The future of media distribution and content creation comes in the form of on-demand or “over-the-top” (OTT) television and streaming platforms, which provide viewers with complete control of what, when, and where they watch.
It’s a booming market, currently headed by streaming giants such as Netflix, Amazon Video and Now TV, and consists of delivering television or film content through the internet, with users no longer being required to sign-up to traditional paid satellite TV services.
The huge success of Netflix put pay to the concerns some large television networks had regarding profit loss, and many competing television networks have now made the move towards such made-to-order platforms.
I remember as a child visiting the “Santa Claus Land” theme park in Aviemore, Scotland. To be perfectly honest I didn’t think very much of the place, that was until I wandered into their amusement arcade and found towering before me one of the first Virtual Reality machines to reach the market. Instantly captivated, I proceeded to drain the entirety of my £20 life savings in a futile attempt to gun down a series of poorly-rendered 3D robot adversaries in a futuristic gladiatorial combat arena.
Fast forward twenty years and I find myself back in the fray, but this time it’s with a compact wireless headset, High Definition graphics, and in the comfort of my own home. VR technology has risen to the forefront of society in recent years, embedding itself not only in the entertainment industry but also in sectors such as design, engineering, education, and defense. Today users can equip their smartphones with VR headsets, or invest in a more advanced alternative such as the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive which can allow for motion tracking and are compatible with many applications.
A PWC study on Global Entertainment & Media Outlook: 2018 to 2022 projects that VR will be by far the fastest growing industry within the next five years. So, with such focus and investment and popularity, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Virtual Reality technology become a permanent fixture in the entertainment industry and beyond.
If you are interested in even more entertainment-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels, then we have a lot to choose from.
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