COVID-19 and the Creative Industries

There is no doubt that the COVID-19 Pandemic has had a profound impact on the way we live; in the early phases of the pandemic industries such as travel, hospitality and retail were severely impacted; as governments look to provide support measures to ensure survival and business continuation, the Creative Industries were not only impacted but couldn’t benefit from those support measures.

UNESCO reported that the Creative Industries were hit with 10 million jobs losses and a staggering $750bn wiped off the value of the global cultural and creative industries.

Although job losses catalysed a drive to digital – many creatives and businesses turning toward things like streaming found that digital revenues failed to make up for the decline of live events and live shows. 

The music, entertainment, film and production industries suffered huge losses which today still look unrecoverable… but with adversity comes opportunity. 2021 saw the rise of Web 3 and the acceleration of digital and technology for immersive experiences and this trend along with consumer behaviour is shifting towards adoption of Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. 


Introducing Seventy7

We commissioned a Whitepaper (2030-CI) and the results were translated into a blueprint for the business we have today Seventy7 Ventures. 

Seventy7 Ventures is an agency with the focus of accelerating the digitisation of the Creative Industries, to narrow this down further we want to support the Entertainment, Media and Sports industries in adopting digital technology to align with fast shifting consumer behaviour and return these industries back to economic prosperity.


What we see, do and offer

We believe firmly that Immersive Experiences are the future of the Creative Industries but consumer behaviour demonstrates that transitioning to a wholly digital world (the Metaverse) is still going to take some time, along with this hardware costs are still too high and a barrier.

In our opinion, the next 5-7 years will require a more Phygital (where Physical meets Digital) approach; combining digital technology (AR/VR/XR) and Artificial Intelligence with traditional Entertainment (Film, Theatre, Music) consumers can ‘walk the bridge’ from physical to digital whilst industries can incorporate more immersive experiences.

Seventy7 Ventures has three core offerings to the Creative Industries; we can provide strategic consultation and in certain aspects a done for you service. We can support businesses with Capital Solutions to support the financing of this transformation and finally we have a Venture Partner Programme where we partner with the business to launch or scale.


Meet the team

Ketan Makwana

Tech & Media

Michael Jacobsen

Arts & Entertainment

Jimmy Nguyen

Tech & Blockchain

Carl Reader

Media & Sports

Julie Barber

Board Advisor

Andrew Bloch

Board Advisor

Katie Bell

Board Advisor

WHITEPAPER

2030-CI

Although damaged by the pandemic, the UK Creative Industries look set to outperform the broader economy in the period to 2030 while also proving a key driver of wider economic transformation.

Creativity is becoming synonymous with innovation and a critical lever for building value and digitally transformation, which in turn could see CI and the broader economy develop greater synthesis.

Drivers for Change

The Creative Industries as a whole demonstrates a large digital skills gap 

Role of Tech

Technology adoption within Creative Industries represents solid economic potential

scale of employment

Digitisation will create new job opportunities with an estimated 50 million roles 

scale of revenue

Global Creative Economy can grow by 40% by 2030 and be valued over $2 trillion