From short video to live streaming and gaming, the coronavirus outbreak in China has driven people confined at home to spend their time consuming online content. Products such as short video app Douyin and Kuaishou and mobile games have seen a surge in downloads and active users. These are good times to be in the online entertainment business—but we still don’t know if platforms can bank lasting gains.
Bottom line: Online content platforms provide a replacement for people to kill their time when they are not able to dine out or go shopping, but they will not be indispensable when things go back to normal. Companies still need to address quite a few challenges before they can turn new users into regulars. In a protracted downturn, entertainment can be a resilient sector, but reliance on ads for monetization could mean unprofitable eyeballs.
Windfall users: The Covid-19 outbreak in China which has led to more than 2,700 deaths is pushing the country’s already tech-savvy population further online for entertainment, groceries, and healthcare, wrote TechNode reporter Emma Lee.
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