HCMCity (VNS/VNA) - Online entertainment will be increasingly morepopular in 2021 after a surge in use during 2020 because of the COVID-19pandemic, experts have said.

In2020, the pandemic affected performance schedules of numerous live showsand music projects. Compared to years ago, the number of new songs listed indigital music charts was very limited.

Thatsaid, 2020 saw the rise of music streaming, an online music service that waspopular during the social distancing period earlier this year.

Despitethe limited number of new songs, singers have ensured top quality. In thisdifficult situation, creativity has brought a breath of fresh air to the localmusic market, experts said.

Theyear 2020 also witnessed some notable collaborations between Vietnamese and internationalartists, including Duc Tuan’s Tron motkiep yeu album with famous sound engineer Steven Fallone, andTung Duong’s Con nguoi album recordedwith Christian Wright.

Thisis a positive sign for Vietnamese artists as the approach toworld music is expected to be “in” next year.

Accordingto musician Quoc Bao, rap and EDM will be the focus, along withtraditional pop music.

Aspeople have refrained from outdoor music activities, home entertainment hasbecome a popular option.

MusicianNguyen Minh Cuong said that various types of online music performanceswill continue to take the lead in 2021, since this will ensure connectionsbetween artists and their fans.

Growth in number of users

Peoplenowadays do not enjoy music game shows as much as before, and this hasencouraged production firms to constantly bring new shows to the industry.

MeritoriousArtist Vu Thanh Vinh said the life cycle of TV programmes is gettingshorter as the audience is more selective these days. It is essentialto create programmes that truly bring value to society.

Meanwhile,online entertainment continues to thrive with an increasing number of usersevery month. 

LuuThi Thanh Lan, Director of Galaxy Play, said the movie segment on theplatform grew two to three times during the social distancing period earlierthis year.

Similargrowth was seen on other platforms such as FPT Play and POPS. New webdramas, exclusive content and shows from overseas made the market verycompetitive, she said.

Accordingto a representative from POPS, livestreams of talk shows and musicperformances have been gradually embraced by locals.

Moreservices were created to maximise users’ experiences such as live chats,donations and fundraising, he said.

To meetusers’ growing demand and compete with big firms such as Netflix or HBO Go,local online platforms such as Galaxy Play, POPS, DANET and FPT Playregularly introduce new features.

For2021, Galaxy Play has plans to produce 20 exclusive films. 

However,many firms admit that this will be a challenge because thevast majority of users still have the habit of watching free entertainment contenton streaming platforms, and are reluctant to pay for it.

Thishas affected the amount of revenue generated, and can lead tomore piracy of legal content in cyberspace./.