THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON THE MOVIE INDUSTRY IN NIGERIA (A CASE STUDY OF NOLLYWOOD)

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INTRODUCTION

BACK GROUND OF THE STUDY

The entertainment industry has been severely impacted by COVID-19 pandemic while demand for content has surged under stay-at-home orders, television and film production has ceased. New content that is being delivered is sourced from productions that were completed prior to the current shutdown. Business spending on advertising has also materially declined. The film and entertainment industry, in general, has experienced substantial negative impact; movie theatres have been shut down, art exhibitions, movie premiers and musical concerts have either been cancelled or postponed. In fact, multi-billion naira worth of deals has been lost in the sector. The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has, no doubt, sparked a dramatic first for movie industries across the world. As the lockdown persists, filmmakers are screening their movies for free on online platforms like YouTube.

Corona viruses belong to the Coronaviridae family and appear just like spiked rings when observed through an electron microscope. The surface looks with various spikes, which are helpful to attack and bind living cells. These are the viruses causing the simple common cold disease to severe illnesses like Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERSCoV), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). The source of these viruses is some animals including bats. The word coronavirus is a derivative of the Latin corona, which means crown or halo, that states to the typical look indicative of a crown or a solar corona around the virions. These viruses are having a positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome (27 to 34 kilobases) and helical symmetry nucleocapsid (Su et al., 2016; Sexton et al., 2016). Typically, the coronaviruses are of ~20 nm size draped with a large petal or club-shaped surface appearance. The first coronavirus was discovered in 1937 in the birds and later on in the 1960s in humans. The various types of viruses, capable to infect human beings are 229E, OC43, HCoV-NL63, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, HKU1 and SARS-CoV-2. There are several outbreaks from time to time due to these viruses. The most notorious outbreaks were in 2013, 2012, 2015 and 2018 with 774, 400, 36 and 42 deaths, respectively. It is important to mention that the 2019–2020 outbreaks started in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China in December 2019 (The Editorial Board, 2020) when a new strain of coronavirus was detected on 31st December 2019 (WHO, 2020). World Health Organization (WHO) has given name to this virus as 2019-nCoV (Novel Coronavirus 2019, 2020) which was later renamed as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. The diseases caused by this virus is called as coronavirus disease 2019 and abbreviated as COVID-19 [CO: corona, VI: virus, D: disease and 19: 2019 year] . This virus was found to have 86.9% resemblance to a bat coronavirus, and, hence, is suspected to develop from bats (Lu et al., 2020; Wan et al., 2020; Zhu et al., 2020). This virus is out broken in pneumonia type of disease with respiratory problems, leading to death due to respiratory failure. About 210 countries and territories have been reported to be infected with major outbreaks in the USA, China, South Korea, Italy, Iran, Japan, etc. tolling about 2.2 million patients with more than 0.15 million deaths globally. The United States of America is the most affected country with the highest patients of about 0.7 million and about 35,000 deaths.

Health is fundamental to a prosperous productive society, whereas panic and illness can stifle production, consumption, Entertainment, travel, and overall well-being (Marin, 2017; Adeola& Evans, 2018; Lawanson& Evans, 2019; Nwaogwugwu& Evans, 2019; Fourie, 2020). Health disasters such as the Ebola virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak and the rise of COVID-19 not only have global health impacts but also wide-ranging socioeconomic disrupts which affects the entertainment sector and particularly the Nigerian movie industry. Much of this impact was due to consumer fears given the ease of transmissibility of the virus in public settings (Dimmock, Easton & Leppard, 2016). In the same fashion, the incidence of the COVID-19 is growing at a disturbing rate with significant impacts on global economies and public health. According to Bloomberg, China’s first‐quarter GDP growth may drop to 4.5%; the global GDP is also expected to decline by roughly 0.42% in the first quarter of 2020. Economists have estimated that, without urgent global actions to curtail the virus in time, China is expected to lose up to $62 billion in the first quarter of 2020, while the world will lose over $280 billion. Ayittey et al (2020) compared these values to the World Banks estimate that even a weaker flu pandemic, such as the 2009 H1N1 viruses, would still wipe 0.5% off global GDP, which is approximately $300 billion.

While it may be accepted wisdom that America’s “Hollywood” and India’s “Bollywood” are large movie producers, the twenty-first century Nigerian movie industry (Nollywood henceforth) produces about 2,000 movies a year, which arguably places it in third place on the global film circuit (Gray, 2013; Evuleocha, 2018) – albeit not necessarily from a marketing competence perspective (Madichie and Katwalo, 2015; Madichie and Ibeh, 2016). Nollywood has also been argued (Okome, 2014; Haynes, 2015; Haynes and Okome, 2012; Madichie and Ibeh, 2016) to be the second highest revenue earner in present day Nigeria with revenue of over N9bn (US$72 m – based on July 2009interbank rates). Nigerian movie industry (Nollywood) constitutes a multimillion-dollar. It is arguable therefore that the industry has become big business and worthy of not only management research interest but also public policy attention. Nollywood also produces a very wide variety of storylines including those that are not readily visible in movies from other parts of the world. However, Nollywood is still considered an industry in perpetual infancy (Barnard and Tuomi, 2018).

The covid 19 pandemic had negative impacts on all sectors not just the Nigerian Nollywood. Covid-19 affected the ability of the producers in this industry, as a result of the lock down which restricted movement of people and constituted a bottle neck to businesses. This resulted to a great decline in the revenue of the entertainment sector as a whole. These impacts cut across many sectors and undoubtedly have long-term consequences” in the country (Smith et al, 2019). This has affected the entertainment sector and their revenue. Because of its potential to cause significant illness and death worldwide, experts believe that a global covid-19 pandemic will have a major negative impact on the global economy, including travel, trade, tourism, food, retail consumption and eventually, investment and financial markets. The coronavirus crisis is primarily a public health issue, demanding containment policies that have inevitably caused shocks to economic activity.

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The outbreak of the coronavirus was a big defect on the entertainment industry and the Nigerian film industry in Nigeria. This affected all the parties involved in the generation of revenue in this sector which include the film producers, actors etc. The lock down played a major role on this industry creating a gap between the film industry and generation of revenue. This constituted a bottle neck on the socio economic development of the film industry as a result of this pandemic the sector has been kept in a stationary point, leaving it in stagnant position. Cinemas which were shut down plays a major path in the socio economic development of the film industry. These cinemas serve as a recreational means to the public and increases the revenue of the entertainment film sector, where left to the mercy of the covid19 pandemic in Nigeria. All the parties involved in film making where restricted to their homes there by leaving most of them jobless during the disease outbreak. This study therefore examines the impact of covid19 on the movie industry in Nigeria.

1.3 Objective of the study    

The main purpose of this study is to examine the impact of covid19 on the movie industry in Nigeria. The specific objectives are to;

1) To examine the extent covid19 pandemic affects the Nigerian movie industry

2) To examine the impact of coronavirus pandemic on the Nigerian movie industry.

3) To examine the challenges posed by coronavirus pandemic on the movie industry in Nigeria.

4) To examine the relationship between Coronavirus pandemic and performance of Movie industry.

5) Recommend solutions to the challenges of the Nigerian movie industry

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1) What is the extent covid19 pandemic affects the Nigerian movie industry?

2) What is the impact of coronavirus pandemic on the Nigerian movie industry?

3) What are the challenges posed by coronavirus pandemic on the movie industry in Nigeria?

4) What is the relationship between Coronavirus pandemic and performance of Movie industry?

5) What are the solutions to the challenges of the Nigerian movie industry?

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

Hypothesis 1

H0: Covid-19 pandemic has no significant impact on the performance of Nollywood industry in Nigeria.

H1: Covid-19 pandemic has a significant impact on the performance of Nollywood industry in Nigeria.

Hypothesis 2

H0: There is no significant relationship between coronavirus pandemic and the performance of Nollywood industry

H1: There is a significant relationship between coronavirus pandemic and the performance of Nollywood industry

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study would have contribution to enlighten the society on the impact of covid19 on the Nigerian movie industry. It would also prepare ground for interested researcher who might wish to conduct further research in related areas and could contribute to the existing literature.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study is restricted to the impact of covid19 on the Nigerian movie industry

1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Financial constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview)

Time constraint: The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Epidemic: The occurrence of cases of a disease or illness in a community or region in excess of what is usually expected over a given period of time.

Emerging Disease: A new infection resulting from the evolution or change of an existing pathogenic agent, a known infection spreading to a new geographic area or population, or a previously unrecognized pathogenic agent or disease diagnosed for the first time and which has a significant impact on animal or public health.

Contagious: A contagious disease is easily spread from one person to another by contact with the infectious agent that causes the disease. The agent may be in droplets of liquid particles made by coughing or sneezing, from contaminated food utensils, water or food, or from direct contact between two individuals.

Isolation: The physical separation of a person suffering from an infectious or contagious disease from other persons in a community.

Outbreak: The confirmed presence of disease or infection of one or more cases of disease or infection in a defined epidemiological unit (i.e. flock, herd, farm or village) and during a specific period of time.

Pandemic: An outbreak of a disease that affects large numbers of people throughout the world.

Quarantine: The physical separation of healthy people who have been exposed to an infectious disease – for a period of time – from those who have not been exposed.

Social Distancing: A disease prevention strategy in which a community imposes limits on social (face-to-face) interaction to reduce exposure to and transmission of a disease. These limitations could include, but are not limited to, school and work closures, cancellation of public gatherings, and closures or limitations of mass transportation.

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