Many parts of the world are facing a lockdown in the cities or are following the government’s orders to stay-at-home in order to stay safe from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. While many people are working from home most of the youngsters have switched to online streaming services as a medium to spend time during the lockdown. This does not come as a surprise if many of the streaming services have faced a sudden rise in its viewership. California based streaming service Roku has also faced a surge in its streaming hours and is expected to hit an increase of 49 percent to 13.2 billion.
In recent times it has managed to grab 3 million more subscribers. On the other hand the company is expecting even larger numbers in near future as the hike has just started in the quarter in March, 2020, when the lockdowns had started to spread in nations across the globe. At the same time this does not mean that the streaming service is minting money due to the sudden surge in the demand. Roku has revealed that it will be posting a $60 million loss in the quarter and has taken a credit of $70 million to manage the current financial crisis in the market.
There are more people who are watching but that did not lead to a rush in the sales of its players or ad revenue. The sudden increase in demand with Roku does not mean that it this will also be the suit with other online platforms. But it cannot be denied that such online platforms are helping the people who are forced to be locked down at home amidst the coronavirus scare.
The arrangement seems to be temporary as the lockdown might not last forever and there might be times when it would be safe to venture outside and the demand for the online streaming services might not be the same as it was during the pandemic lockdown.
Photo Credits: Digital Trends
