Increase in demand for streaming platforms

Lockdowns that were enforced because of the novel Coronavirus were always going to create changes, with businesses in the streaming industry perhaps benefitting the most compared to anyone else.

With people stuck at home and not able to go to work, school or visit relatives, many had a lot of extra time on their hands that they would not normally have and needed to find something to do to fill the void that would normally not be available.

Media, whether it be in the form of TV shows, films or music, was always going to be extremely popular methods of entertainment that would be turned to as it is easier for many to ‘kill the time on their hands’ with and it seems streaming giants like YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Apple TV and Hulu all benefit from the increased demand.

Daily hourly increases

According to a recent survey, the TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) survey, more than half of the Americans questioned revealed that they were using paid streaming services a lot more than they had previously been. 56% revealed that they increased their daily usage, whilst 45% of those believed they would be making these subscriptions a permanent fixture within their lives even after lockdowns had come to an end.

Consumers had said that their usage had increased from 1-2 hours per day prior to the pandemic to an average of around 3-4 hours. Of course, with people stuck at home and not able to go anywhere, this doubled figure does not come as a surprise and is one that could, perhaps, be considered a little on the low side. With sports returning, though, it would not be a surprise to see these averages grow exponentially, especially if bettors are using USLeaguesBetting to further add to their experience.

More than one-third of the consumers that were surveyed in this particular report had revealed that they would spend at least five hours per day streaming media content. With smartphones and tablets readily available, it is not a surprise that 66% of the 18-29 year-old group had indicated an increase of this amount as a number of apps are readily available for consumers to download and easily find the shows they want to watch.

The increase is perhaps due to the nature of how people tend to watch content, with a shift from the traditional methods of watching TV shows and films. Streaming platforms offer consumers the flexibility of watching when they want, rather than having to be available at a certain time as when a channel on cable shows the program.

Users increase paid subscriptions to multiple platforms

There is more good news for streaming platforms, though, as the increased demand and hunger for their services continue to grow exponentially. Users have started to subscribe to multiple platforms, which saw an increase during the Coronavirus lockdown period. According to the research survey, the percentage of consumers who had subscribed to 3-5 different streaming services had increased from 37% prior to COVID-19 to 48%.

Cost may have played a role

In addition, streaming platforms appear to have been able to win consumers over with their price points as well, as many look to battle with ever-growing costs and look for alternatives that offer the same levels of entertainment for a fraction of the price.

Therefore, it should come as no real shock that around 53% of the participants surveyed in the questionnaire indicated that they use a subscription-based streaming service instead of traditional cable and satellite TV packages.

As briefly mentioned earlier, the power of smartphones and tablet devices is something that can be attributed to the increase in demand of streaming services, with it believed that 25% consumers in the 18-29 age group would prefer that particular method of watching their content.