At the onset of the pandemic, the surge of media consumption has been noted. Never before have we seen such a huge increase in media consumption. More and more are shifting to digital space as the pandemic is still an ongoing battle with no clear sight of its ending yet.

Due to social distancing, people are advised to stay at home unless for essential transactions or activities. This resulted in people spending more time virtually to connect with loved ones, friends and others. Streaming of entertainment and non-stop news have seen an all-time high increase among users with the use of social media. Even conventional education has gone online.

Social Media as venue for social gathering

As social gatherings are put on hold, the usage of social media platforms have become an important avenue for social connections. Applications like Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber and other related apps have seen double digit increase among their users.

Online streaming has seen an explosive growth as well.

Continuous news online

As lockdowns continue more people are going to Social media to stay informed over what’s happening. Watson of Statista said that across the world the U.S. consumers were among the most engaged particularly on COVID-19 updates. According to a study about 40% were tailing at least once daily about the coronavirus updates globally.

Information about the pandemic has been unfolding at a dynamic rate, creating a sense of urgency to get as much news more frequently. Following news update has become the forefront of peoples’ minds since the onset of the pandemic. Fake news that abounds is an ongoing concern as well.

Entertainment Online Streaming

Online streaming for entertainment has grown dramatically. More players are expanding their coverage and selections as consumers are turning to television, online streaming and video games or eSports to fill in their time during the lockdown.

Reports from Statista said that the Traditional TV media have been seeing a decline in revenues as advertising expenditures of companies have lessened. On the other hand, streaming services have seen rising revenues that became evident when the pandemic started.

Reports said that Netflix still has the biggest subscription in the industry. Amazon Prime Video is catching up and has become the biggest competitor of Netflix. Other streaming companies are Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Peacock and others…

Education is shifting to online learning modality

The pandemic is changing the landscape of education. At the height of COVID-19 pandemic, schools across the world are forced to close. Only those who adapt to online learning, where teaching is done via digital platforms, are able to resume classes and cope better with the situation.

According to the World Economic Forum website, Research is putting forth an observation that the e-learning modality has helped improve learners’ information retention with less time. Proposing that the online learning may not just be a temporary setup but may be here to stay.

Is the surge of media consumption only due to the pandemic? Will media consumption still be high post COVID-19? That remains to be seen…

Social media has served to be very useful during the pandemic. The only ways to access this would be through owning gadgets like smartphones, tablets, computers, smartwatches, etc. People these days usually use smartphones and computers, most especially smartphones, among the many gadgets that have been mentioned. High recommended smartphones to used would be the iPhone 12 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy A51.