The digital quarantine
How technology is playing a key role in the covid-19 pandemic and the resulting isolation measures.
Almost one quarter of the world’s population is totally or partially isolated right now¹. Saying that this changes our daily routine is stating the obvious. In the blink of an eye, everything changed and had to be done remotely; from office work to school lessons, even concerts and a G20 summit. This was possible thanks to the communication technologies that are, now more than ever, the focus of attention.
As the pandemic spread, certain behavior patterns were observed in our users first in China, then in Italy and Southeast Asia, later in Europe and now in America. Is this just an exceptional situation, or will this end up bringing a new paradigme? Let’s take a closer look to some of these patterns.
Everything happens on the Internet
Suddenly, digital communication became more fundamental than it already was. Internet operators from all around the world report considerable increases in the use of internet of up to 20% from one week to another. In Italy, it reached a 40% increase².
The time of use of mobile devices also grew significantly; in the most affected countries there were clear peaks in February already³.
Both apps and DSPs show an increase in the apps’ impressions. This means a greater inventory to sell, with which advertisers could get better CPMs⁴.
According to Global Web Index, 95% of the population is consuming more media.
What’s vital, possible and unnecessary
And what is it that people do on the internet? This general increase of traffic hasn’t impacted all sectors in the same way.
Communication tools quickly became the center of the scene. Facebook reports an increase of 50% in message volume, and in Italy the duration of group calls grew by 1,000%⁵. Houseparty, an app for group video chats that was barely known, is now leading the App Stores’ rankings with over 10 million downloads.
As a massive number of people are working from home, work tools are also booming. While in October the record number of simultaneous users in Slack was of 1 million, just last week they were 12.5 million⁶. The same happens with online education platforms.
Digital entertainment has become a basic necessity; on-demand video sites and apps, video games, music, and adult content among others, show considerable peaks.
Based on what happened in previous disruptive events such as hurricanes, Nielsen expects video streaming to increase up to a 60%⁷. Netflix, YouTube, Amazon and Apple have already turned the transmissions quality down in order to be able to cope with the increasing demand.
Whether because of the need for information or to ease the isolation hours, health, telemedicine and well-being apps show an increase in use as well.
Delivery and ecommerce are growing in many zones too, while transportation apps (like Uber, Lyft, Cabify) are experiencing the opposite effect.
The impact on mobile games
In this context, video games of all types are being a crucial source of entertainment and connection with friends and with players around the world. During the month of February, global downloads for mobile games increased 39% worldwide, from 2,900 million to 4,000 million⁸. In China, weekly downloads surpassed the 2019 average download by 80%, reaching 63 million in the iOS App Store. This meant a 25% increase compared to January. In South Korea, there was an estimated 35% increase⁹.
Throughout March, however, this pattern continued around the globe¹⁰. The last week of the month holds the record for most global downloads, with 1.2 billion. That’s 50% more than the average for 2019’s fourth quarter.
Slap Kings, Woodturning, Draw Climber and Brain Test: Tricky Puzzles are among the most popular mobile games this month. Multiplayer games like Words With Friends 2, Roblox, Call of Duty: Mobile, Magic Tiles 3 and Mario Kart Tour are in high demand.
Pokemon Go, with a game play that implied going out and about, has even been adapted to play at home.
Recently, Nintendo has launched the so expected Animal Crossing sequel, a game that was famous for being relaxing. Evidently, many are in need of cute animals right now, as it is breaking sales records.
The last sport standing
The whole world of sports has been paralyzed indefinitely.
Well, not the ‘whole’; a group of irreducible professional gamers still stands! Esport competitions are still happening, without live audiences but with an increasing online one.
Stream Elements reported a 66% increase in the number of minutes streamed in Italy during the first week of quarantine, for example. Also, the ESL Pro League reported a 27% increase in their audience comparing to last year.
GVC (gaming video content) is another entertainment option. Twitch hasn’t provided official information yet, but according to Sensor Tower, downloads have increased by 50% in just a week in Greece, 41% in Italy and 26% in Spain.
A leap towards digitalization
It is too soon to assess the situation and certainly we can’t predict the future. However, this sad circumstances reflect how technology can help us with our most basic needs.
In a couple of weeks, forced digitalization broke some barriers down that used to seem impossible; big companies started working from home, class lessons turned into online lessons and even the most reluctant people are learning how to shop and make online processes.
These ‘patches’ that are currently working to mitigate the material impact of the isolation measures, might stop being essential as our lives return to normal, but they will sure accelerate the birth of new consumption habits. Those businesses that are now adapting to a quarantine consumer are also preparing for a new era.
On the other hand, as days go by, we are experiencing firsthand that communication, entertainment and stimulation is also fundamental for our well-being,
As we always say, this is our specialty, and that is our contribution as an industry. We create new universes yet to be discovered, which can, for better or for worse, improve our lives, even just a tiny bit, even just for a little while.
Fuentes: ¹ Statista; ² Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Cloudfare; ³ AppAnnie; ⁴ Admiral Media; ⁵ Facebook; ⁶ Slack; ⁷ Nielsen; ⁸ Sensor Tower; ⁹ AppAnnie; ¹⁰ AdLibertas
