Shocker: People are streaming video a lot more in the age of COVID-19

Unsurprisingly, we’re watching a LOT more streaming video during the coronavirus pandemic. Also, Netflix reveals numbers on its most popular titles!

MoffettNathanson has conducted a new study about video streaming, and to the surprise of absolutely no one, has confirmed that people are doing a lot more of it in an age when people are encouraged to stay at home (or have been laid off) lest they be exposed to the coronavirus.

Specifically, from March 30 to June 7, video streaming went up by 85%, with people watching over 1 billion minutes of content; that’s compared to 799 million minutes streamed over the same period in 2019. Hulu is up 68 percent, Netflix is up 76 percent, YouTube is up 96 percent, and Amazon is up 106 percent.

It’s weird to think that a situation that is so perilous for most Americans is really good for the bottom line of certain streaming services, but here we are. Netflix is rolling in it right now; they gained 10 million new subscribers in the second quarter of the year, far surpassing their expectations, although they expect that to flag in the second half of the year.

Indeed, Netflix is so happy they’ve even sharing viewership numbers, which is something they almost never do. Forbes got a hold of a list of the 10 most-watched movies on the platform:

1. Extraction (99 million views)
2. Bird Box (89 million views)
3. Spenser Confidential (85 million)
4. 6 Underground (83 million)
5. Murder Mystery (73 million)
6. The Irishman (64 million)
7. Triple Frontier (63 million)
8. The Wrong Missy (59 million)
9. The Platform (56 million)
10. The Perfect Date (48 million)

That’s an interesting crop of movies. For one thing, most of them are recent releases, which reflects how Netflix is growing year over year. Most of them also have at least one big-name star attached, from Chris Hemsworth in Extraction to Sandra Bullockin Bird Box to Mark Wahlberg in Spencer Confidential to Ryan Reynolds in 6 Underground.

I’ll be honest and say that I haven’t heard of some of these, like the Noah Centineo rom-com The Perfect Date, but that just goes to show that what’s hyped isn’t necessarily the same as what’s popular. Netflix pushed the Will Smith supernatural movie Bright really hard back in the day, but I don’t see it here. The Platform is an interesting one, since it’s from Spain and doesn’t have any big-name Hollywood stars, but maybe it’s the exception that proves the rule.

Netflix has had big recent TV hits, too, per Deadline. Mindy Kaling’s coming-of-age comedy Never Have I Ever snagged 40 million households in its first four weeks of availability, as did Steve Carrell’s Space Force. Unscripted stuff like Too Hot to Handle and Floor is Lava brought in 51 million and 37 million respectively.

We should mention that Netflix counts it as a “view” if someone watches something for at least two minutes, so technically, it’s possible that some of these numbers are the result of people turning on Extraction or whatever, watching the first scene, going “eh,” and doing something else. But the numbers are still impressive. I mean, they’re so high.

Meanwhile, the app Reelgood did an appraisal of what people are watching over on HBO Max, and while we don’t have viewership numbers, we do have a breakdown, and know that stuff like Joker, Game of Thrones, Rick and Morty and Friends are all getting a lot of views.

But Netflix doesn’t sound too worried about the competition. “All of the major entertainment companies like WarnerMedia, Disney and NBCUniversal are pushing their own streaming services and two of the most valuable companies in the world, Apple and Amazon, are growing their investment in premium content,” the company said in a statement. “In addition, TikTok’s growth is astounding, showing the fluidity of internet entertainment. Instead of worrying about all these competitors, we continue to stick to our strategy of trying to improve our service and content every quarter faster than our peers. Our continued strong growth is a testament to this approach and the size of the entertainment market.”

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