Facebook's usage has gone up by 50% as a result of the coronavirus

"The coronavirus has ended up a boon for social media giant Facebook, which saw a 50 percent spike in usage as the virus ate its way through the country’s health and economy.
The usage of the social media network’s numerous features, such as messenger and video calls, has spiked in recent weeks as millions of Americans have had to stay home to avoid the virus. This is a sharp turnaround from not so long ago when the social network seemed to be collecting dust, mostly seeing use from older people as the youth flocked to newer models of social media.
But as of late, Facebook has been seeing increases in news consumption as well, with more than half the articles consumed on the site relating to the virus pandemic. Ranjan Subramanian, a data analyst with the company, talked about the increase in a blog post, calling it “unprecedented.”
The report says the bulk of the increase — over 90 percent — can be credited to what Facebook terms “Power News Consumers” and “Power News Discussers,” who consume and talk about news more than most users of the service. The company, monitoring the activity from that spike fervently, wants to make sure all news put out about the worldwide crisis is as accurate and authoritative as possible — a kind of real-time experiment in how to handle news on social media."

Source:  PYMNTS, 25th March 2020

More than a million people are watching Joe Wicks' YouTube workouts

"A YouTube workout by the online fitness guru Joe Wicks has been livestreamed by more than a million people, as parents turn to alternative teaching methods to cope with their children not being able to attend school during the coronavirus outbreak.
Wicks, who was due to start a tour of schools to promote fitness and healthy living this week, decided to livestream a daily workout instead, saying he wanted to become “the PE teacher for the nation” as the coronavirus forces more children indoors.
The former personal trainer said he had “never seen anything like” the support his workout received on Facebook, where it was shared more than 150,000 times, with support from school teachers who directed students to the stream as an alternative to PE lessons. Some schools also included links to the workout in home curriculum documents emailed to parents."

Source:  The Guardian, 23rd March 2020

Boris Johnson's Covid-19 Lockdown Broadcast was watched live by 27m people

"Boris Johnson’s address to the nation ordering Britons to stay at home due to the coronavirus pandemic was one of the most-watched broadcasts in UK television history, with more than 27 million Britons tuning in live to watch him announce the historic lockdown of the country.
This puts the pre-recorded broadcast in the top tier of most-watched British television programmes ever, up with the likes of the 1966 World Cup final and the funeral of Princess Diana, making clear the historic importance of the occasion as the country collectively watched the prime minister give the latest coronavirus guidance.
The overnight viewing figures do not include the millions of Britons who watched the broadcast on internet livestreams through news apps and websites, or those who watched it through catch-up services, meaning the real audience is likely to have been substantially higher."
Source:  The Guardian, 24th March 2020

Note - It was shown simultaneously on several major channels

51% of UK households have at least one paid video on demand subscription

"The proportion of UK homes with a subscription to at least one of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or NOW TV passed 50 per cent for the first time in Q4 2019, standing at 50.5 per cent.
27 million UK homes access at least one of these services, a quarter-on-quarter increase of almost 600,000 homes (4.4 per cent) since Q3 2019.
Netflix remains the largest service with 12.35 million homes subscribed, a year-on-year growth of almost 20 per cent.
Amazon Prime Video is the fastest growing service year-on-year, increasing by just over 35 per cent versus Q4 2018 to 7.14 million homes.
NOW TV saw almost 8 per cent year-on-year growth, bringing it to 1.69 million UK homes in Q4 2019 (although it experienced an 8 per cent quarter-on-quarter drop from 1.84 million in Q3 2019).
In Q4 2019, 6.03 million UK homes (21 per cent of homes) subscribed to two or more SVoD services, up 1.72 million year-on-year."
Source:  Advanced Television, 20th February 2020

36% of US workers have participated in the gig economy

"A quick glance at the workforce of 2020 doesn’t immediately present itself as all that different from the workforce of the year 2000.
The major professions remain the same — doctors, lawyers, bankers, accountants, stock brokers, academics, teachers, consultants, software programmers, etc. The trades are mostly familiar — electrical, carpentry, plumbing, welding, etc. There are still retail clerks and waiters; tailors and dry cleaners; drivers and warehouse workers — just as there were when the 21st century got off the ground.
But quick glances can be deceiving, and in the case of the 21st century, it is not only fair to say we aren’t looking at the same workforce as 20 years ago, but also, we aren’t even laboring in the same workforce of a decade ago.
That’s because a decade ago, the gig economy was still in its nascent stages. Today, it’s a bona fide influence unto itself in the labor force. According to the latest edition of the Gig Economy Tracker, PYMNTS found that 42 percent of U.S. workers will engage in some form of freelance work this year, 36 percent have participated in the gig economy and, by the end of this year, there will be an estimated 42 million workers active in the U.S. gig economy."

Source:  PYMNTS, 27th February 2020

5G is available in 378 cities in 34 countries

"Viavi Solutions Inc today revealed new industry data demonstrating a rapid surge in the spread of 5G technology. As of January 2020, commercial 5G networks have been deployed in 378 cities across 34 countries, according to the new VIAVI report “The State of 5G Deployments,” now in its fourth year."
Source:  Press Release from Viavi, 26th February 2020

Streaming accounts for 80% of US recorded music revenues

"US recorded music revenues grew by 13% year-on-year to $11.1 billion (£8.6bn) at retail value in 2019. It’s the fourth year in a row of double-digit growth.
Americans streamed 1.5 trillion songs during the year, according to the RIAA.
Streaming now accounts for 79.5% of all recorded music revenues, following last year’s 19.9% year-on-year increase to $8.8bn (£6.8bn).
The market increase was driven by subscription streaming in the world’s largest music market. Total subscription revenues of $6.8bn (£5.3bn) were up 25% compared to 2018. Premium streaming now accounts for 61% of all revenues.
One statistic jumps out of the RIAA report: the streaming market alone in 2019 was larger than the entire US recorded music market in 2017.
Subscription services were responsible for 93% of the growth in 2019 streaming revenue. DSPs added an average of one million new subscribers per month in the US, which now has 60 million people paying for services."
Source:  MusicWeek, 26th February 2020