The entertainment media industry has experienced incredible growth over the past 80 years. It has moved from being a small part of our public experience to being a part of everyday life for humans across the globe.
Television
In 1960, most of America had access to only three television channels that broadcast part time.
In 1980, cable television began to be more common, and a common cable package might make 20 channels of programming available to subscribers.
Today, there are 400 to 500 channels of original programming, across various broadcast, satellite, and cable providers.
With HD programming now becoming mainstream, the industry continues to grow into new areas.
Animation
The first animation studio opened in New York in 1914, and shortly after, short animated features began to be shown before films.
In 1937, Disney released the first feature-length animated film, Snow White, starting the golden age of 2D animation.
The first CGI film to be released in theaters was Pixar’s 1995 hit Toy Story, which grossed nearly 200 million dollars in the U.S. alone, and kicked off a new age of 3D animation.
Today, thanks in part to Pixar’s success, all of the major movie studios have opened their own 3D animation branches. Pixar’s most recent feature, Wall•E, has grossed almost half a billion dollars worldwide.
Film
In 1927, the first film with sound – The Jazz Singer – was released, and the film industry as we know it was born.
Citizen Kane, considered by many to be one of the finest films of all time, was released in 1941.
In 1980, domestic box office grosses totaled nearly 3 billion dollars, as the film industry continued to grow.
Today, the film industry is bigger than ever, the summer blockbuster season is an annual event, and movies have found more outlets than ever before – from premium cable channels to DVD release, as well as traditional theater release.
In 2005, the total domestic box office gross was nearly 9 billion dollars.
Music
In 1920, a mass audience for music was created when the government licensed commercial radio.
By 1960, the sales of music boomed to $600 million with the advent of rock and roll. Sales climbed past $1 billion in 1967, when albums began to outsell singles.
In 1982, the CD format was introduced and by 1990 was outselling cassettes.
In 1984, inexpensive 4-track cassette recorders started the project studio revolution. Less expensive production allowed more entries into TV, cable, film, and eventually game sound.
Today, the portability and ease of MP3s has created a new market for releasing and experiencing music – Apple’s iTunes store has sold more than 1 billion downloads, and most artists promote themselves heavily on the Internet.
Video Games
In 1972, Atari released PONG to arcades, officially launching the modern age of video games.
In 1977, Atari launched their first consumer model game system, the Atari 2600 – still one of the most beloved home game consoles.
Today, there have been almost 50 handheld and home video game systems commercially released, culminating with the recent release of the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii.
In 2007, the gaming industry saw retail sales of $18 billion – a record total for the industry.
Internet
In 1993, the World Wide Web began to gain public acceptance with the release of the Mosaic web browser –the first graphical web browser.
Throughout the 90s, the Internet continued to grow. Amazon.com, one of the first companies to sell goods over the Internet, was launched in 1995.
Today, the World Wide Web (now generally just referred to as “the Internet") has become a part of daily life for more than 1 billion people worldwide. Goods are traded and sold, people communicate across borders and continents, and companies across the globe use the Internet to advertise and create their image.
