What COVID-19 has Taught Us about the Future of Streaming Video

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve been forced to completely change the way we live our lives. Not just personally, but professionally too. Millions of people and businesses had to adjust the way that they worked to ensure things could run as smoothly as possible without leaving their own homes.

Live video conferencing made this possible.

SaaS Saw a Huge Boost in Sales

SaaS platforms such as Slack, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams all blew up in popularity over the last few months as people were searching for the best ways to stay connected and collaborate at home. While some businesses were struggling, Zoom more than doubled their revenue from February to April 2020 compared to the previous year, raking in over $300 million.

These video conference services were not only used by businesses wanting to stay connected but by people wanting to stay in touch with their family and friends.

Video Conferencing Not Just for Business

Whether it was just for weekly family gatherings or larger holiday celebrations like Easter, Passover, and Ramadan, Zoom became the go-to way to communicate. Some Muslim communities were arranging nightly Zoom Iftars where they would eat a meal and share their thoughts and feelings throughout the pandemic.

For those people who were missing the gym, PTs from around the world were using Zoom and other streaming platforms to stay in touch with their clients. In the UK, personal trainer Joe Wicks turned to YouTube to encourage young people and their families to stay active amidst a seven-week lockdown that saw schools, workplaces, shops and cafes completely close their doors.

Some PTs even used social media to encourage fitness through Instagram TV or by posting short HIIT workouts on their profile pages.

Gym equipment company Peloton saw their number of live workout app users increase to 3.1 million at the end of June—double the number of users they had the previous year, due to an increased demand for home workouts.

Zoom Social Hours became a thing, and people even found that they could “date” during the pandemic. Dating platform Tinder decided to make their “passport” feature free so all users could e-meet people from around the world. People were sharing dinners, drinks, movie nights with people living thousands of miles away.

Is the Future of Video Streaming Stable?

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we are able to adopt changes fairly easily, both in our personal and work lives. Though people have reported that they would still rather hang out with friends in person, thanks to these technologies, people can feel more in touch during a time where we can’t be as physically connected.

Businesses also have demonstrated that they can offer a more flexible work life balance for their employees with the option to work from anywhere. Programs like Slack and Zoom allow you to stay just as connected as you would be in the office as long as there’s a stable internet connection. They even have mobile apps so you can stay on top of things on the go.

But what about after the pandemic? Will figures continue to increase? Or, will they suffer a decline as people return to normal?

According to some experts this all depends on the ethos of the company. Video streaming/conferencing services need to keep user experience in the forefront of their mind when trying to reduce churn rates of subscribers. Rather than focusing on traditional models to drive new customers and drive more sales, they must keep providing value to their monthly subscribers and listen to their needs to sustain long term cashflow and success.