In news that should come as a shock to no one, streaming has gone up a shocking amount since this time last year. As per Deadline, a new report from Nielsen Holdings, the data collection agency that tracks television ratings and other viewing habits, details that from the fourth full week of March 2019 through the fourth full week of March 2020, “streaming among people 25-54 has increased almost 100%.” That’s a lot of people watching Tiger King.
You probably think you know why: We’re all (or most of us) at home quarantining from a rampaging pandemic that has claimed over 42,000 lives in the United States alone. We’re scared, we’re angry, but we’re also bored and in desperate need of distraction, so everyone’s bingeing things shows and movies or perhaps fiddling around with Quibi, the new bite-sized, exclusively phone-based (for now, anyway) streamer.
But not so fast: Quarantining didn’t begin in most places until mid-March, and that’s probably not enough time to so grossly inflate those stats. For another, the report states that “organic streaming had been growing over the past few months,” which it attributes to a growing number of new streamers, most notably Disney+. That said, the numbers have definitely gone up since COVID-19 arrived on American shores, with a 50% increase in streaming during 1pm to 4pm — i.e., work hours — between March 2 and March 23.
Though Nielsen singled out the 25 to 54 age group, they claimed streaming was up among all demographics, but especially amongst kids. With many schools closed nationwide, the younger demographic saw a 60% uptick over the majority of March.
Data has yet to be released for the weeks after March 23, but no doubt it’s rose even further, or at least plateaued at around the same shocking number. By the way, a friendly reminder that books are also a fine way to pass the time.
(Via Deadline)