Coronavirus: A large increase in content consumption is recorded by pay-TV

Great increase in content consumption is recorded by pay-TV and streaming platforms in the last period, as viewers in the "in the middle of a coronavirus»Era are forced to digitize and their entertainment.

ΑFrom the very first days of the imposition of the measures, the television platforms available in the Greek market as well as platforms for streaming content saw not only an increase in the number of their subscribers but also an increase in the content that they consume. That's why the European Commission has urged international streaming content providers to reduce data rates to ensure that networks work well, now that the requirements are extremely high.

As reported in insider.gr executives of telecommunication companies, the increase in the consumption of content exceeds 50% in each case and this has especially pushed the Greek providers to enrich it content their with new releases or new channels with niche content.

Of course, the fact that the Greek companies embracing the initiative for digital solidarity #digitalsolidarity also provided part of their content for free through youtube channels or as a gift to their existing subscribers additional channels, has also contributed to this increase.

In particular, the viewing of TV content by Greek households is particularly high, during the period when we stay home in her case Cosmos TV, of the platform that counts today over 550.000 subscribers with almost half (220.000) connecting to Cosmote TV GO. According to what the company reported to insider.gr, television viewing on COSMOTE TV channels in March was significantly enhanced, with the COSMOTE HISTORY HD (+ 30%), the channels COSMOTE CINEMA HD (+ 40 %), but also the children channels of platform (+ 70%), to note the largest increase.

Viewers have also turned to COSMOTE TV's on-demand content viewing services, for their increased needs for home entertainment. Movie rentals through the service Movies Club, they have doubledwhile viewing content through free on demand service COSMOTE TV More, where subscribers can find movies, documentaries, children's programs and over 90 complete box sets, has rises by 70% in March.

Overall, at this time, the subscribers of the service, carry out more than 8 million operations / month (movie rental, movie / series watching, use of REPLAY TV service for delayed viewing of content) through on demand services. The traffic on COSMOTE TV's YouTube channel has also increased significantly, where there is content available from shows such as Sto Plekhto, Game R1, etc., as explained by the Cosmote TV spokesperson.

Remember that Cosmote TV, supporting the increased needs of the Greek family for quality entertainment, while "staying home", offers a program with documentaries and COSMOTE HISTORY HD shows, free for everyone, through its official YouTube channel. Until April 30, 2020, COSMOTE HISTORY HD @YouTube, with a separate 24-hour streaming, will broadcast in high definition selected COSMOTE TV documentaries, as well as shows with educational content for children and young people.

It also offers -with the symbolic price of 0,01 € / package for one month- the flexible Documentaries and Kids packages that provide access to all the content with documentary and children's program of COSMOTE TV, through the application of the new streaming service for Samsung smart TVs and mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) or through or from a computer / laptop at www.cosmotetvott.gr. By activating the packages, users can watch the content they are interested in, live or on demand, any fixed or mobile network they have.

Correspondingly, the Vodafone he sees rise at time consumption content, rise that exceeds 70%. The rise in fact in its platform Vodafone n subscription base of which amounts to 120.000 customers, according to the latest data, makes its executives characterize the investment for the exclusive distribution of its content as extremely successful HBO through its platform.

At the same time, it is observed subscription increase on Vodafone TV, but there are no estimates for its percentage. Recall that the company participating in the #digitalsolidarity initiative proceeded to a free upgrade to the family package for subscribers of the basic Vodafone TV package.

The increase in content consumption on the Wind platform is close to 40%, Wind Vision, according to company executives. Recall that the Wind platform had, based on the latest data, about 55.000 subscribers within 18 months of operation. 

An average weight increase of 25% is also observed by Nova, both in satellite TV and on demand services, according to company executives. In fact, as they explain to insider.gr, the children's content and the Novacinema channels record a large increase, especially in the evening hours.

In contrast to the early days when there was a great demand for news content, the more time passes the less the interest of the people for information. Recall that the Nova pay-TV which counts according to the latest data  459.100 subscribers (350,8 thousand retail and 108,3 thousand wholesale in Greece and Cyprus) initially participated in the #digitalsolidarity initiative by offering free for a month to those private subscribers who did not have access to its cinematic content channels Novacinema.

In an effort to enrich the options and content available through its platform, the company launched, as long as we stay home, the new pop up channel Novacinema eextra HD which shows daily a marathon of a favorite TV series back to back. The Novacinema extra HD which became available from March 25 is available to all subscribers at no extra cost until Sunday, April 12. In fact, given the high demand, the company from the end of March decided to offer refreshed through the new application for Android TV the service Novaflix, with which the subscriber enjoys, through Internet streaming from all networks, favorite and award-winning movies and series, on demand or Live TV on his computer, tablet and mobile. In case of registration the first month is free.

Of course the increase in content consumption is also recorded on streaming platforms such as Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, without of course there are specific numbers for our country. However, a look abroad shows the trend. Indicatively to mention that due to the social distance measures that have trapped a lot of people at home, the revised numbers for subscriber growth on platforms like Netflix are much higher than analysts' estimates at the beginning of the year.

Recall that the Netflix, the subscription service that had in 2019 more than 167 million subscribers pglobally, of which More than 100 million are outside the United States, expected to add another 7 million subscribers to its base in the first quarter of the year alone. According to international analysts, however, this percentage could even double due to coronavirus.

Indicative of the impact is its spectacular entrance Disney + in Europe. Only on the day of the launch in the Old Continent did the Disney + app have 5 million download, according to App Annie measurements. Although not everyone who downloads the app will necessarily subscribe to the platform, the number shows the rise of online entertainment.

The Disney platform which was released on USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, in November 2019 and in Europe just last week, until the beginning of February - the first three months of its launch - reached 28,6 million subscribers. According to Forbes, Disney + managed to triple its subscribers in the above countries, in two days, from Saturday, March 14, 2020 until Monday, March 16, 2020, when many people closed their homes.

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