Who knows what type of chaos the world would be experiencing right now if folks who are staying at home during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic didn’t have streaming options to rely on? You think self-quarantines are bad now, then imagine if you didn’t have Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, or other services to keep you occupied. You may actually have to…read a book! But according to a new report, most people aren’t reading and are instead flocking to their various streaming alternatives.
Forbes has a report that says streaming services have experienced massive sign-up increases in the days leading into the current coronavirus lockdowns. Leading the way is Disney+, which saw its sign-ups more than triple from March 14 to March 16, compared to the week prior. Obviously, this increase is due to school closures all around the US, which finds kids stuck at home with parents that are either attempting to telework or just would like their children to keep quiet for a couple of hours.
Joining Disney+ with some large gains in sign-ups are HBO Now (90% increase) and Showtime (78% increase) over that same period. However, one thing to remember with these two services is that the sign-ups include free trials. And these two platforms are notoriously more prone to free trial cancellations than more steady growers like Disney+ and Netflix.
Speaking of Netflix, while the gains haven’t been as impressive, the streaming giant has also seen a spike in sign-ups, with an increase of 47% during this period.
READ MORE: SXSW Teams With MailChimp & Oscilloscope To Stream 70+ Festival Short Films For Free
And if you’re wondering which streaming service is still struggling during this global pandemic that seems to be benefitting just about every other platform, the answer is Apple TV+. The fledgling service, which has had its fair share of issues since its debut in November, has only seen an increase of 10% in sign-ups. Not a great number when you have companies like Disney reporting 300% or more.
Either way, it’s obvious that people are streaming more and more as they continue to self-quarantine.