Coronavirus pandemic and online media consumption: settling into the New Normal

There was little public reaction as governments across Europe extended the current coronavirus pandemic related lockdown period for at least a few more weeks, demonstrating the collective acceptance of the “new normal” that Europe has got used to. We saw in previous studies that the pandemic wreaked havoc across a number of industries, and benefited others. Now, one month into the lockdown (give or take a few weeks, depending on the country), the novelty of “the new normal” seems to have worn off, and we may be seeing signs of fatigue. These signs are reflected in the most recent levels of activity across some of the categories that grew the most during the month of March 2020. These categories are “General News”, “Instant Messaging”, “Food/Groceries Retail”, and “Entertainment”. (A noticeable slump in “Education” is probably linked to school holidays over the Easter period. It remains to be seen how much enthusiasm students (or more likely their parents) will summon up to re-engage after the Easter break.) Generally, activity has levelled off.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, we illustrate this levelling-off through five charts.

Timeline of 2020 coronavirus pandemic events:

• Jan 24: France confirms its first case of the coronavirus within its borders.
• Jan 27: Germany confirms its first case of the coronavirus within its borders.
• Jan 31: Italy confirms its first cases of the coronavirus within its borders.
• Feb 1: Spain confirms its first case of the coronavirus within its borders.
• Feb 23: Italy quarantines small towns hit by the outbreak.
• Feb 24: Panic hits the financial markets. All asset classes are impacted.
• Feb 28: UK confirms its first case of the coronavirus within its borders.
• March 9: Italy declares nationwide lockdown.
• Mar 14: Spain declares nationwide lockdown.
• Mar 17: France declares nationwide lockdown.
• Mar 22: Germany issues strict social distancing measures.
• Mar 24: UK declares nationwide lockdown.