Online entertainment: the favorite choice for many in the midst of the pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic has succeeded in bringing down most markets and many companies, including travel, have recorded significant loss of money since it broke through Chinese borders and began to spread around the world.

The obvious winners are those companies that base their logistics on digital media, but entertainment has been one of the fastest growing areas in the world since the mandatory quarantine was introduced in most countries where Covid-19 has been detected.

Such growth has an obvious logical basis, as users who usually spend a lot of time consuming multimedia content and other forms of entertainment have turned to the digital world to mitigate the monotony and boredom typical of confinement.

Online casinos are crowned with victory

One of the examples of successful online casinos during the pandemic is Casino Pilot; one of the most important portals in the gaming market in Canada. Higher growth figures have been reported and even an increase in the prizes per game in games such as poker and slots.

Coronavirus has not prevented thousands of new gamblers and those who preferred betting in physical casinos from migrating to these platforms to satisfy their desire to have fun while winning money.

Both piracy and subscriptions to legal streaming platforms have increased

With regard to piracy, in Latin America and especially in countries with a lower socio-economic level, piracy has also played its part, greatly increasing illegal downloads of copyright-protected content.

This negative side of the coin, however, has a strong counterpart in the number of subscriptions to Netflix and other streaming platforms. Such websites have reported an increase in consumption of their content and a large number of new subscribers.

Netflix is by far the largest subscription-based online entertainment provider and its shares have been growing since the beginning of the pandemic. However, already by April, specifically on the 16th day, the Streaming Giant’s shares achieved a powerful recovery, as opposed to the March 16th drop.

Google Play and Steam report more casual gamers

Both casual games and many multiplayer titles have reported a strong increase in the number of players during the month of April. For these dates, both platforms also reported a greater growth in the stock market price of their shares (Valve and Google).

The most popular game currently on Steam, according to data from the platform, is the multiplayer RPG Path of Exile, followed closely by The Elder Scroll Online. The most popular game on Google Play is Call of Duty Mobile, which has won more new players in April than in March.

It is expected that as containment measures are extended, the entertainment industry will continue to grow, and the trend is likely to continue even as such measures are relaxed.

Travel agencies will come out of the crisis stronger

Representatives of different management groups gathered at a distance have agreed that travel agencies will emerge strengthened from the health crisis as people will want to travel again and the safe way to do so will be through the agencies.

In addition, they have highlighted the role of agencies in the health crisis during which they are helping customers with repatriations, cancellations and reimbursements.

When analysing customer behaviour, they have pointed out that we must first look at the issue of the economic damage that people have suffered, which may also condition future development, even more so, even though the desire to travel is still there.