Coronavirus and Its Impacts On Streaming Services in 2020.
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is increasing all across the globe at a rapid pace. Tech giants like Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter have directed most of their employees to work from home.
Different countries in the world like France, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, and others have announced emergency restrictions to fight against the deadly virus. As a result, cafes, restaurants, cinemas, shopping malls, and other public places in these countries have been closed.
During this COVID-19 outbreak, people are staying at homes and spending quality time with their loved ones by watching their favorite TV shows and movies.
In this blog post, I will let you know about the significant impacts of Coronavirus on people’s streaming habits in detail.
Major Events Cancelled/Postponed due to Coronavirus in 2020
From the world’s famous iHeartRadio Music Awards and concerts like Rolling Stones, Jonas Brothers and rambling festivals, one by one, all these events are being called off or delayed till further notice.
Here are some of the most anticipated events that have been cancelled or postponed from all around the world:
| Name of Event | Category |
| iHeartRadio Music Awards | Music |
| South by SouthWest Festival | Tech/Music |
| Jonas Brothers Concert | Music |
| Rolling Stones Concert | Music |
| Eurovision Song Contest | Music |
| Glastonbury | Music |
| NBA | Sports |
| NHL | Sports |
| French Open | Sports |
| Master Golf Tournament | Sports |
| Chinese Grand Prix | Sports |
| Asian Qualifiers for 2022 Football World Cup | Sports |
Impact of Coronavirus on Streaming Services
In a world of confined individuals, the health scare (COVID-19) has helped streaming services to a certain degree. According to John Stankey, CEO and President of AT&T, we are expecting exponential growth in our TV business in the coming months.
The famous cord-cutting service added another feather in its cap by launching an innovative streaming service “HBO Max” in May 2020. Similar to AT&T, the current situation is also providing a vast opportunity to Netflix.
There is no denying people will be staying at their homes and using their existing Netflix accounts to entertain themselves. There is a strong likelihood that they might end up subscribing to a premium package to avail additional simultaneous streams feature.
The popular US-based video on-demand streaming service is enjoying higher app downloads in one of the two streaming markets like Hong Kong and South Korea other than China. This rising trend started in January 2020 and has continued during March 2020.
The numbers of first-time app downloads in Hong Kong have improved by 100%. Likewise, the percentage of Netflix app downloads by new subscribers has increased by 33% in South Korea. On the other hand, countries like Italy and France have also witnessed the same kind of spike in terms of Netflix apps downloads.
The trend started to increase during the second week of February and has increased up to 100% in Italy currently. If we talk about Spain, the spike in apps downloaded by first-time users has improved by 50%.
Netflix, YouTube, Disney Plus, Amazon and Apple reduced streaming quality due to Coronavirus
All the famous streaming services including Netflix, YouTube, Disney Plus, Amazon and Apple have reduced their videos’ streaming quality. By doing so, the general public can watch their favorite TV shows and movies no matter if they are using a good or bad internet connection in COVID-19 affected European countries.
VPN Usage increased Worldwide after Coronavirus outbreak
As I already mentioned, the Netflix subscription base in different countries like Hong Kong, South Korea, Italy, and France has improved quite significantly. The same goes for VPN usage too because people have started using VPNs in such countries to unblock their favorite Netflix media libraries.
Recently, the research of Atlas VPN indicated that the population of VPN users in Italy has increased by 112% alone during the first two weeks of March. Similarly, the use of good free VPN services for streaming among Spanish and French users has also increased drastically.
This way, they are accessing a famous US Netflix media library that includes 5800+ movies, including TV shows titles to watch their favorite geo-restricted TV shows and movies instantly. However, the use of VPN is not limited to these countries only.
The number of VPN users in different countries like USA, Russia, and Germany is also increasing drastically. In the USA, the percentage of VPN users went up by 53% during the first two weeks of March.
Surprisingly, Russia is included in the list because the novel Coronavirus has not hit the country quite severely. Still, the number of VPN users has increased by 36% in Russia, while a 29% spike in the VPN usage was recorded among German users as well.
Quarantine Deals offered by Streaming services
Numerous online streaming platforms are playing their part to make the prevailing Coronavirus quarantine time bearable for their viewers. Here is the table that includes attractive streaming deals:
| Service Name | Subscription Price | Free Trial |
| US Netflix | $9-16/month | 30 Days |
| Disney Plus | $7/month | 7 Days |
| Sling TV | Free | Free |
| Hulu | $6-12/month | 7-30 Days |
| Amazon Prime | $13/month | 30 Days |
| HBO Now | $15/month | 7 Days |
Wrapping Up
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has coerced people to entertain themselves through streaming. If you want to make your self-isolation or self-quarantine time enjoyable then you can subscribe to Netflix or Disney Plus. Likewise, you can watch your favorite TV shows and movies by availing your preferred quarantine deals offered by several streaming services.
In terms of stats, the results have already shown that people have assumed Netflix as their primary source of entertainment. As far as Disney Plus goes, the famous streaming giant launched its services on March 24, 2020, in the UK.
But, due to the official request of the French government, Disney Plus delayed the launching of its services in France till April 7, 2020.
Therefore, it is highly likely that the Disney Plus subscribers’ base will be improving at an alarming pace. Furthermore, the use of VPNs in all the major countries of the world will reach new heights as these services would help them access their preferred region-based content libraries from anywhere.