How is streaming going to innovate after the coronavirus?

The global economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are already taking shape, as markets tumble and countries take emergency actions to respond.

As global habits change to adapt to the new realities of the outbreak, consumer spending also appears likely to fall, and the impacts could have far-reaching effects on the media, sports, and entertainment industries.

Here are four ways the novel coronavirus could affect these industries in the coming months.

As more people stay home, self-isolation and quarantine measures could increase media consumption in the home. This may result in increased use of entertainment services such as Live streaming scripts on-demand and gaming.

In China, after the country implemented nationwide isolation measures, average weekly downloads of apps during the first two weeks of February jumped 40% compared with the average for the whole of 2019, according to the Financial Times. In the same month, weekly game downloads on Apple devices were up 80% versus 2019. Nielsen data from China during the coronavirus outbreak shows that traditional media also received a boost in consumption – TV viewership grew after Lunar New Year when normally it experiences a dip.

Consumers looking for information about coronavirus may increase news consumption, but for many news companies, this could be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, online subscription media could benefit if they can convince people stuck at home to pay to access coverage. On the other hand, advertising-funded publishers may encounter new challenges.

Brands often use keywords to place advertising online, and, to avoid certain associations, negative words are frequently excluded. In February, “coronavirus” became the second-most common word on blocklists for publishers, meaning that important, in-demand and socially-relevant reporting is not bringing in the higher revenues it is capable of.

The decrease in advertising spending

Major brands could decide to lower their advertising spending, as supply chain issues or reductions in sales affect their products. A survey of brands in China at the end of February showed that 7 percent had stopped advertising completely and 14 percent moving their budgets from offline spend to online. Industry sources predict that advertising growth rates in China will fall from 7%  predicted before the pandemic to 3.9%.

Many of the Consumers may also reduce spending on non-essential items, which could impact how brands allocate advertising spend across their portfolio of products. Bricks-and-mortar retailers are widely expected to suffer a drop in sales. According to HBR, the most agile companies can redeploy new sales channels to account for shortfalls one beauty company in China achieved a 200% growth in year-on-year sales after hiring online influencers to push their products online.

It is quite hard to say what the long-term impacts of coronavirus will be on the media industry because nobody knows exactly when things will return to normal. The extent of the disruption will likely depend on the type of content that media companies produce and distribute.