Tech trends during coronavirus: How companies have profited from a pandemic crisis
Times are changing. We look at the profiteers of the Corona crisis from a technological point of view.
An entry by Arnoldus Evan & Hendrik Reitz
Monday, July 27, 2020
Media, Technology and Society
If we take a look at the situation right now during the pandemic and people have to stay at home due to quarantine, we see that it has a negative impact on many industrial sectors. In the travel industries, lots of airline companies are suffering because people are canceling and avoiding flights. In the food sector, we see lots of restaurants and bakeries are forced to close its place. Due to the restrictions of public gathering suddenly lots of stores, gyms, schools, entertainment events have to close their business and it affects the whole economy all over the world.
However, there are companies that are still making money on this situation and even profited from this situation. The first industry that receives a positive impact due to people staying at home is the gaming sector.
Gaming Industry
According to Media and Games Invest plc (MGI) there is a large growing number of new online gamers in Europe. In March alone the data shows that there is a 43% increase of new player registrations compared to January and February.
The type of game people are often playing during quarantine is the multiplayer game. This is quite understandable because people are more likely to seek togetherness and multiplayer online games can be used effectively to connect with a lot of people.
A gaming company like Razer knows that they could benefit from the quarantine situation. Through the campaign “Stay Home and Game On” Razer wants to show their support on government rules and also encourage the gaming activity to their customers. This campaign has been well received and it is widespread in the gaming community as many people show their support by buying the poster “Stay Home and Game On” and posting it on social media.
On the other side a lot of gaming fans are also spending more time on video platforms like Twitch and YouTube to watch live their favorite e-sport competitions of games such as „League of Legends“ or „Counter-Strike: Global Offensive“. This is due to the fact that live events are currently canceled and making millions of people move to virtual events.
Digital Entertainment
Speaking of video platforms, the trend is going towards digital entertainment as people are recommended to stay at home. A study from Global Web Index shows that compared to March 2020, people are spending even more time in April on digital entertainment like instant messaging, social media and video streaming. The consumption of video streaming platforms has grown significantly.
Companies like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV and Disney Plus were able to generate a large number of subscribers. Netflix as the largest streaming provider, had actually expected growth of around seven million new subscribers in the first quarter of 2020. But the new quarterly figures, which the provider has now presented, are much more surprising: Netflix had almost 16 million new subscribers in the first quarter of 2020 alone.
Home Workout
In the fitness industry unfortunately, many gyms have to be closed because of the pandemic situation. However, this does not mean that the interest in getting physically fit is falling. On the contrary instead the public has been taking more care of their health and fitness which could strengthen their immune system. As a result many people are working out at home and even starting to workout because of this public health concern.
A fairly new fitness company that was founded 2012 in Silicon Valley called Peloton sells fitness bikes combined with a large screen display. With this equipment customers can take workout courses for a monthly subscription. Since the breakout of the coronavirus, the company has managed to increase its sales by two thirds to US$ 524.6 million in the first three months of this year. The number of subscribers has also more than doubled to 886,000. With this positive number, the workout activities are slowly shifting into digital and more individual.
Video Conference
One of the trends that saves the economy is the fact that despite the quarantine people are able to work at home. This instance can occur largely thanks to the video conference technology. As the pre-pandemic lots of people already implemented the working from home system, right now almost all people are obligated to adapt to the new system. The idea of working at the office and studying at school doesn’t apply to the current situation anymore. The video conference providers such as Zoom and Microsoft are benefiting from this shifting lifestyle and in the future, there is huge likelihood that there will be more companies which will implement the idea of remote working.
Stock Trading
The fintech industry is also having a positive impact because of the quarantine. Due to the fact that many people are spending more time on their smartphones, there is a 55% increase of usage time in finance apps according to CNBC. When compared to January a significant growth of 82% is also shown by CNBC in usage of trading apps. The cause of this behavior is also the falling stock price all over the world. This low price encourages people to invest in public companies that still might survive this crisis. A speculative reason for this behavior is due to the cancelling of many sport leagues such as NBA, NFL and many other categories. People who normally gamble on sports are having no options right now other than shifting to another platform and stock trading could be their new activity.
An online brokerage called Etoro for example is profiting from the surging activities on the stock market. On their data collection, they found that there has been increasing activity on the app since February this year.
Further literature and recommendations:
Anleihen Finder (2020): Media and Games Invest plc: Zahl der Online-Gamer steigt während Corona-Krise um 43%. In: Anleihen Finder. Available at:
Finanzen Net (2020): Bei diesem Gaming-Unternehmen boomt das Geschäft trotz Corona-Pandemie. In: Finanzen.Net. Available at:
Holzki, L.; Kerkmann, C.; Möthe, A. (2020): Computerspiele boomen in der Krise – doch der Nachschub könnte ausbleiben. In: Handelsblatt. Availabe at: https://www.handelsblatt.com/technik/it-internet/corona-epidemie-computerspiele-boomen-in-der-krise-doch-der-nachschub-koennte-ausbleiben/25742030.html
Schuler, M. (2020): Netflix boomt. In: Tagesschau. Available at: https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/netflix-quartalszahlen-coronavirus-103.html
Hanbury, M. (2020): Peloton reports 66% increase in sales as coronavirus keeps consumers working out at home. In: BusinessInsider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/peloton-sales-surge-coronavirus-keeps-consumers-working-out-at-home-2020-5?r=DE&IR=T