The Internet During Covid-19 – How It Changed [Infographic]
It’s no question that COVID-19 has changed how we live our daily lives. With many of us now living at home, the amount of internet we’re all using has skyrocketed. Many of us have even used more than 1 terabyte in a given month due to increased usage of streaming, video games, and video conferencing at home.
Thankfully, many internet providers have lifted their data caps during the pandemic. Overall, the number of internet users that have gone over 1 terabyte has increased by 138% during COVID-19.
But what is this increased usage going towards? Let’s break it down.
Table of Contents
People are streaming more
During COVID-19, video streaming has increased dramatically. 50,000 years of media have been streamed since April 4th, and the biggest contributor to this was Netflix, with 22% of this amount. Additionally, Disney Plus had 4 years of video streaming in this timeframe on its own.
Peloton, an exercise product that sells collaborative workout products, has increased its memberships by 66%.
Social media is booming
Social media usage has also increased dramatically during COVID-19. With many people working at home, or not working at all, they have more time to get on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
WhatsApp has doubled in the number of calls and messages being sent. Meanwhile, Facebook has experienced a 22% increase in traffic, LinkedIn has seen a 26% rise in the number of user sessions, and TikTok has seen a 25% spike in monthly downloads.
The business has moved online
With people working at home during COVID-19, it makes sense that business has moved online for the time being. Google Meet has seen 3,900 years worth of sessions in a single day. Microsoft isn’t far behind, with 2.7 billion years worth of session each day. As far as video streaming platforms go, however, Zoom is the clear winner, with 2,900% growth in participants since December.
Video conferencing isn’t the only type of business traffic that has seen growth, however. Slack, a team messaging application, has increased its paid user acquisition by 80%.
People aren’t just working, they’re playing too
Video games have increased an impressive amount as a result of COVID-19. Nintendo’s profits are up 41% annually when compared to the previous year. Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is seeing twice the revenue as last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops title.
Mobile games are doing well, too. Bunch Live gained 1 million users in just 7 days, and House Party’s monthly signups increased by 70%.
Down the supply chain, cloud service providers are seeing gains, too
Cloud services that supply server storage and hosting for developers are seeing growth as well. Microsoft’s cloud service has grown by 775% in locations where social distancing rules are in place. Meanwhile, competitor Amazon Web Services grew by 70% in the first quarter of 2020.
All of this data can be summarized in the infographic below.
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