I Entertainment Pandemic-Winners

By Jamila Gandhi

LEADERBOARD • MEDIA

Entertainment Pandemic-Winners

Some media companies survived the stay-at-home economy better than others. Which of these pandemic-winners has entertained you?

Netflix

16 million

people created Netflix accounts in the first three months of the year

Nearly 16 million people created Netflix accounts in the first three months of the year, almost double the number of new sign-ups it saw in the last months of 2019. Its first-quarter figures were the largest three-month jump in the streaming service’s 23-year history. In September 2020, Netflix was the second-most popular entertainment app with 3.3 million downloads from global iPhone users. The widespread stay-at-home orders came alongside new releases like Tiger King, Money Heist, and Love is Blind. Netflix also added 44 iconic and critically acclaimed Arabic films to its extensive catalog, celebrating regional storytellers.

Nintendo

$1 billion

net profits in the first quarter of 2020

Japanese video game maker Nintendo racked up net profits of $1 billion in the quarter ending June 2020, buoyed by a massive demand for video games during the lockdown period and the runaway success of its popular Animal Crossing: New Horizons game. The figures showed a sixfold jump from $157.1 million from the same period a year ago. The Kyoto-based company is raising its Switch production target to around 25 million units this fiscal year from 22 million units set in April, according to Bloomberg.

TikTok

14.9 million

daily active iOS users in September 2020

Amid ongoing global controversy, ByteDance-owned TikTok has amassed a large consumer base. The viral video-sharing platform recorded 14.9 million daily active iOS users in September 2020, up from 5.8 million from the same period a year ago. In the same month, it was the most-downloaded entertainment app for iPhone in the Apple AppStore worldwide. Analytics firm Anavizio found that the app has been listed this year as one of the top downloaded apps on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store in the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar.