Many businesses are struggling around the world, with restaurants, bars, and offices shut down as part of the global effort to slow the spread of coronavirus. Some businesses, however, are thriving and those that offer entertainment to those stuck isolating at home are some of the biggest success stories.
Video streaming
Hundreds of millions of people around the world face stay-at-home orders, and whilst many are expected to continue working remotely millions have been furloughed and have chosen to spend their free time catching up on all those shows people have been talking about from Takes From The Loop to Tiger King.
Netflix was already one of the biggest sources of global internet traffic, with users streaming millions of hours of film and television content every month in HD or even 4K definition. As countries around the globe announced lockdown, Netflix took the unprecedented step of reducing the quality of its video streams to standard definition in Europe, India, Australia and other locations in order to reduce its impact on global internet infrastructure already buckling under the pressure of more people than ever now working from home. Netflix vice president Ken Florence commented: “If you are particularly tuned into video quality you may notice a very slight decrease in quality within each resolution…But you will still get the video quality you paid for.”
Other streaming services like Amazon Prime, YouTube, and national services like BBC iPlayer have all seen surges in users during the lockdown, and have rushed new shows online and re-uploaded others from their archives to keep these new users entertained. And without sports to watch, the BBC are showing parts of the London 2012 Olympics and ITV have decided to rebroadcast games from EURO ’96.
Online gaming
Video streaming is there for people that want to sit back and relax, but for those that want a bit more engagement or to stay entertained with friends then gaming is having a boom. Online gaming platform Steam has seen record numbers of players log onto its platform over the last few weeks, with players up by more than 20 per cent globally to more than 23 million.
However, it is not just AAA titles that are seeing a surge in numbers with casino games online also seeing significant user growth around the globe. Last month saw Poker Stars’ Sunday Million tournament attract over 60,000 players to become one of the largest games ever on the virtual felt.
And the pattern is the same around the globe, with players numbers up everywhere from NZ online gambling platforms to those based in the US, where even those limited to gambling in-state are seeing record prize pools.
Video chat
Platforms like Zoom had already become ubiquitous for meetings within many companies, but few would have imagined the surge in demand for the platform the last month has produced. Despite security warnings, Zoom has been used for everything from virtual drinking sessions to UK government meetings and everything in between.
Elsewhere, Google Hangouts and Skype are also seeing increased user numbers, and the lively video chat app Houseparty has come out of seemingly nowhere to be integral to virtual friend and family gatherings around the world.
Photograph by Matthew Keys