As stay at home measures continue to lengthen, people are spending more time at home. This time spent at home has brought a lot of people turning to social media and specifically social media entertainers, for something to watch.
In a recent report by App Annie, time spent using apps is up 20%. There is an obvious demand for social media, but not just social media. Specifically, streaming has seen a considerable boost. With the Valorant beta, developed by Riot Games, reaching milestones of viewership for the platform, Twitch has seen a large uptake in traction throughout its platform.
“Even on my stream, I’ve seen an uptake of people come to check it out because you know, they’re either looking for jobs or they just don’t have much to do right now,” said Isaac Potter, Twitch streamer and social media manager for Stardust Vegas, under the name CoolKidd.
Stay at home measures haven’t just increased demand. They’ve also changed how and when some are on social media since people are able to stay up longer and sleep in more.
In social media production, there is a prime time for content to be uploaded so that it gets the most interaction and impressions on posts. The prime time is different for each platform. Twitter, for example, has a prime time of 12-2 p.m. Since people do not need to get up as early in the morning and are staying up later, these times have changed and are now up in the air.
“I feel now since a lot of people’s sleep schedules have been drastically altered, it might be harder for people to kind of like game the system and figure out what time is best to post on social media,” said Brendan Jackson, caster and coach for Shogunate Gaming under the name Turtle.
Social media is also being progressively used more by entertainers that would normally have performed in person, prior to stay-at-home measures. DJ D-Nice, for example, was seen using Instagram Live in order to stream his performances with great success. He reached a peak of 160,000 viewers, during multiple streams of his “Club Quarantine” show, according to GQ.
“I absolutely feel that there’s not a hole in the market that needs to be filled, but the market just got bigger,” Jackson said.
Now more than ever people have access to free software that allows them to produce substantive content, for free. With the new influx of viewership and the available free software, it is a perfect time to start making content to meet the demand.