Last Updated : Nov 13, 2020 09:45 PM IST | Source: Moneycontrol.com

From stand-up comedy to treks, on-ground events resume and bring relief to live events industry

Live events were on halt due to coronavirus-led lockdown since March.

Maryam Farooqui
Paytm Insider has listed stand-up comedy shows in Punjab and Mumbai, and drive-in movie screenings in Telangana’s first drive-in movie theatre, and Diwali movie screenings at the Westin in Pune.
Paytm Insider has listed stand-up comedy shows in Punjab and Mumbai, and drive-in movie screenings in Telangana’s first drive-in movie theatre, and Diwali movie screenings at the Westin in Pune.

The live events industry is seeing some relief as on-ground events are slowly restarting.

Live events were on halt due to coronavirus-led lockdown since March.

However, with easing of the lockdown, online ticketing platform Paytm Insider is set to resume listings for on-ground events.

Close

The platform has listed stand-up comedy shows in Punjab and Mumbai, and drive-in movie screenings in Telangana’s first drive-in movie theatre, and Diwali movie screenings at the Westin in Pune.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

View more
How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

View more
Show

related news

Ticket bookings for comedy events in Ludhiana, Amritsar, Delhi, and Gurugram are seeing strong traction as more comics are coming out and doing intimate sets.

For example, stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra's show in Mumbai is close to selling out.

The platform is also offering adventure trips including Gokarna beach trek and camping, Pawna lake camping, Kudremukh trek, Ramnagara cycling, and water activities, Bir Billing paragliding and trekking, and Har Ki Doon trek.

Treks and camping events have started picking up sales as people are exploring one or two day experience within the city.

“On-ground events are back on the platform after a long gap. While online events will continue to bring innovative event formats to our audiences, we are seeing the resurgence of on-ground events with limited capacity and safety norms. We see the two co-existing in hybrid variations going forward with on-ground events being streamed online to make them accessible globally,” said Shreyas Srinivasan, CEO of Paytm Insider.

According to a survey conducted by the platform recently, on-ground events in categories like music, comedy, festivals, travel, and adventure, were found to be the most popular preferences. When it comes to preferred formats, open-air events, limited seating shows, and drive-in experiences were found to be more popular.

Due to coronavirus-led lockdown, the live events industry faced huge losses.

In an earlier interview with Moneycontrol, Roshan Abbas, President, EEMA (Event & Entertainment Management Association) had said: "Initially, the losses in the live events space were estimated at Rs 3,000 crore, but it was a conservative estimate. The events industry is as big as Rs 500,000 crore. So, the losses are far more."
First Published on Nov 13, 2020 09:45 pm

tags #Business #coronavirus #Entertainment #India