The entertainment industry: a worthy investment?
As a species, there are three things we cannot do without – food, water, and entertainment. Entertainment is one of the most lucrative businesses in the world and it’s multifaceted too. Films, music, books and video games, these are the pillars, the building blocks, the cornerstones of the entertainment industry. Everything is contained within these four defining attributes. Our fascination with being entertained is as old as we are as a species. Oral tradition became print, print transitioned to reels and reels are now digital. There’s a common argument that in today’s digital world economy, that print is dead. This is not true, print has simply adapted and evolved. There’s an argument to be made that music is dead. Also untrue. Like print, it’s simply had to adapt and also evolve to the technology of the times. In fact, music is still in a transitional phase with regards to artist royalties, something that remains murky in these digital times. Cinema it could be argued is dead, and right now it is, but that’s out of everyone’s hand. Once we return to normalcy, it will come back with a vengeance. However, cinema is part of filmed entertainment and on the whole, filmed entertainment has been swallowed up by the streaming giants. The point is that the entertainment industry is evolving and as usual, there’s profit to be had.
Why should you invest?
There’s no way to sugar-coat this; investing is risky, regardless. You can do your research, follow the latest entertainment trend reports by CityIndex, and yes, a product or service can showcase incredible potential, but you won’t know until the dust has settled and this is especially true in the entertainment industry – one that is almost entirely reliant on the taste of the consumer. Hollywood is littered with the corpses of box office bombs, but it’s also filled to the brim with box office gold. If you’re going to invest in entertainment, you’ll have to run the gauntlet of an unpredictable public, critical reviews and of course, studio interference. A prime example would be the extent to which Warner Bros. hacked up major DC movies such as Justice League and paid the price. However, if the film or the intellectual property becomes a hit such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe has proven with constant returns, then the risk of investing almost completely and utterly fades away. The same is true for music, theatre, books and video games. If the public positively receives these ventures, then you’re going to profit from the good reception.
Range and sustained returns.
It’s easy to buy into the idea that only large investors can be a party to the entertainment industry. With massive budgets and lots at stake, it’s easy to see yourself as a bit player. However, you don’t have to invest in something big. You could take a stab at an independent film production, a small theatre production, or you could invest in a musical artist who’s just starting their career. In addition to this, you could also opt for online trading. Brokers in this industry allow you to partake in speculation or spread betting. For instance, if you wanted to invest in Warner Bros., whose parent company is AT&T, then you could simply bet and estimate on the movement of AT&T’s share price without buying the actual stock. And then of course there are the ones that offer sustained returns. Imagine you had invested in Marvel Studios back in the early 2000s? Whether it’s a film franchise, a book that spawns a series like Harry Potter, a music artist who churns out hit after hit or a play that becomes a staple on Broadway, there’s always the chance you might be investing in something with sustained returns.
