A morbid interest in movies and games about pandemics has emerged in the viewing habits of countries hit first by the coronavirus.
A study by MAGNA shows that, as expected, television and streaming video have seen growth in the markets affected earliest by COVID-19.
“We expect that trend to extend to the countries that are in the earlier stages of containment,” says MAGNA in a study, Stuck at Home: Media Behaviour in the time of the coronavirus.
MAGNA, an IPG Mediabrands company, says TV news programs are gaining a bigger audience as people seek the latest on the crisis.
In China, gaming has been the top media beneficiary during strict containment measures which kept people confined to their homes.
The number one game on the app stores in China since the outbreak of the virus is called Plague, Inc. (previously ranked 15-20th).
In the US, linear television usage was up 8% for the weekend of March 14-15 on the previous weekend. Connected TV streaming was 25% higher.
Viewing to cable news for the last seven days of available data (through March 11) was up 22% compared to the same period last year.
“Despite the real-life danger, people have leaned into entertainment content about disease crises,” says the study by MAGNA.
“Movie titles like Contagion, Outbreak, and Pandemic have become some of the most-watched content on Netflix.”
“While primetime is typically when most television viewing occurs, increases are relatively modest there as consumption is more spread throughout the day.
“Beyond video, gaming and social media have been the outlets people turn to for distraction and stress relief.
“News content, both on television and online, has understandably seen spikes in consumption across markets as citizens want to stay informed.”
In Australia, the evening news on Sunday, March 15, saw a 34% increase over the prior Sunday.
“Gaming and social platforms are very likely to see increased traffic, as they have in other APAC markets,” says MAGNA.
“Online retailers are likely to see a major increase in activity as people shop more online and avoid high population density areas.”
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