STREAMING VIDEO & AUDIO IS ONE OF THE FEW "WINNERS" DURING THE PANDEMIC

You may have noticed that more and more videoconferences and webinars are being conducted via Zoom. 

Though Zoom has been around for a while, the increased use of the streaming platform has grown exponentially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Some industry observers say that Zoom is unintentionally “winning the coronavirus pandemic.” 

In the past Zoom has dealt with security problems. But that doesn’t seem to stop many people now from subscribing.

Zoom’s stock prices have soared in 2020. Earnings will likely be up by 200% from 2019. Revenue in 2020 may be over 80% higher than 2019.

There are many reasons why this is happening now: People crave human contact during isolation; businesses seek to remain visible to customers and public service organizations use Zoom to harness resources in the community. 

Perhaps the biggest reason for Zoom’s growth is that it is cheap and is easy to use.

According to information on Zoom’s pricing page [link], people can join Zoom for as little as $15 per month or $150 for a full year. 

Business can zoom to 100 people for $400 per year.

USE OF STATION AUDIO STREAMS IS ALSO UP

According to new analysis by Dave Sullivan, PPM Client Services Manager at the Radio Research Consortium (RRC), public radio news and music stations are receiving more listening from their audio streams than ever before.

The chart in the left displays streaming listening to 10 public radio stations for February, March and April.

Half of the stations Sullivan examined are full-time NPR News/Talk stations (WBEZ, WAMU, KQED, KERA and KOPB). All of these stations had more streaming audio listening in April than in February. Of the five news stations, WBEZ had the biggest gains in streaming listening.

Stream listening for the five public radio music stations is a mixed bag. Both of the AAA stations examined (KKXT and WXPN), increased their streaming audio listening each of the three months.

Listening to streams for Classical music WETA, Jazz music KMHD and Christian Contemporary KTIS all decline over the period.

Readers with questions or comments should contact Sullivan at RRC@RRConline.org or 301-774-6686.