Emerging Lifestyle Trends in 2021
Thursday, 04 March 2021, 06:57 IST
We, the people have always adapted to different lifestyles in accordance with the development in technology. But, the situation today is that we are adapting to new lifestyles due to the pandemic situation. After 2020, there have been many changes in our day-to-day life choices. Two of them are “binge watching” and “gaming”.
Lifestyle of a person changes with time and situation. Even after the advent of the Covid-19 vaccine, people are starting to make the new trends a part of their lifestyle. Ever since the lifting of lockdown, there have been many changes in the lifestyle of people.
The boom of binge watching
The boom of “Over The Top” platforms is a notable change. Although, the OTT platforms have been around for some time now, it became even more popular because of the pandemic situation as people didn’t have access to movie theatres. The movie industry also have adapted to the new trend as many film makers have started to release their new movies directly in the OTT platforms such as Netflix.
The increasing trend can be seen when we see the following numbers. The number of Netflix subscribers increased from 148.86 Million subscribers in 2019 to 203.66 Million subscribers by the end of 2020 and is still climbing steadily. The stock for Netflix gained 65.9 per cent in 2020. Netflix stock has been in an upward trend for almost a decade. The share price started in 2020 at around $325 and it reached $567 per share following the release of its fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 earnings report in after-hours trading.
Speaking of the future, the company noted, “For the full year 2021, we currently anticipate free cash flow will be around break even (vs. our prior expectation for -$1bn to break even). Combined with our $8.2bn cash balance and our $750m undrawn credit facility, we believe we no longer have a need to raise external financing for our day-to-day operations.”
Even though the movie theatres are being opened, it can be seen clearly that Netflix has become a lifestyle choice for many people and will have an expanding market in the near future.
The Gaming Industry
Gaming has become a part of life for many young enthusiasts who aspire to become professional gamers or streamers like Ninja and Shroud. The Gaming Industry has been growing at a steady pace throughout the decade. But Gaming became a major trend in 2020 and is going to continue to be so 2021. With the ease of availability of smartphones to the public, mobile gaming has become the new trend in the gaming Industry.
The major video game companies such as tencent, epic games, Activision, Garena have integrated their gaming with Artificial Intelligence leading to more interactive gameplay for its users. Also the Esports market at the end of last year saw more viewer counts in games like PUBG Mobile and Garena Free Fire than the PC Games like CS:GO and Dota 2.
The numbers estimated by Newzoo’s Global Games Market Report is astonishing. It says that in 2021, 2.8 billion gamers worldwide will help the global games market generate revenues of $189.3 billion. Young audiences have started watching streaming platforms such as Twitch and Youtube Live not just for the gaming content but also for the non- gaming content.
Popular gaming streamers such as Shroud, Ninja, Tfue have a combined Twitch followers of more than 35 million followers. With this, the online chess is also trending in Twitch and Youtube after the Chess Grand Master Hikaru Nakamura popularized it by becoming a full time streamer.
With the year 2021 just starting, we can see that the lifestyle choices of people are becoming more and more reliant on technology. Still what holds in 2021 is yet to be seen.
Lifestyle of a person changes with time and situation. Even after the advent of the Covid-19 vaccine, people are starting to make the new trends a part of their lifestyle. Ever since the lifting of lockdown, there have been many changes in the lifestyle of people.
The boom of binge watching
The boom of “Over The Top” platforms is a notable change. Although, the OTT platforms have been around for some time now, it became even more popular because of the pandemic situation as people didn’t have access to movie theatres. The movie industry also have adapted to the new trend as many film makers have started to release their new movies directly in the OTT platforms such as Netflix.
The increasing trend can be seen when we see the following numbers. The number of Netflix subscribers increased from 148.86 Million subscribers in 2019 to 203.66 Million subscribers by the end of 2020 and is still climbing steadily. The stock for Netflix gained 65.9 per cent in 2020. Netflix stock has been in an upward trend for almost a decade. The share price started in 2020 at around $325 and it reached $567 per share following the release of its fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 earnings report in after-hours trading.
Speaking of the future, the company noted, “For the full year 2021, we currently anticipate free cash flow will be around break even (vs. our prior expectation for -$1bn to break even). Combined with our $8.2bn cash balance and our $750m undrawn credit facility, we believe we no longer have a need to raise external financing for our day-to-day operations.”
Even though the movie theatres are being opened, it can be seen clearly that Netflix has become a lifestyle choice for many people and will have an expanding market in the near future.
The Gaming Industry
Gaming has become a part of life for many young enthusiasts who aspire to become professional gamers or streamers like Ninja and Shroud. The Gaming Industry has been growing at a steady pace throughout the decade. But Gaming became a major trend in 2020 and is going to continue to be so 2021. With the ease of availability of smartphones to the public, mobile gaming has become the new trend in the gaming Industry.
The major video game companies such as tencent, epic games, Activision, Garena have integrated their gaming with Artificial Intelligence leading to more interactive gameplay for its users. Also the Esports market at the end of last year saw more viewer counts in games like PUBG Mobile and Garena Free Fire than the PC Games like CS:GO and Dota 2.
The numbers estimated by Newzoo’s Global Games Market Report is astonishing. It says that in 2021, 2.8 billion gamers worldwide will help the global games market generate revenues of $189.3 billion. Young audiences have started watching streaming platforms such as Twitch and Youtube Live not just for the gaming content but also for the non- gaming content.
Popular gaming streamers such as Shroud, Ninja, Tfue have a combined Twitch followers of more than 35 million followers. With this, the online chess is also trending in Twitch and Youtube after the Chess Grand Master Hikaru Nakamura popularized it by becoming a full time streamer.
With the year 2021 just starting, we can see that the lifestyle choices of people are becoming more and more reliant on technology. Still what holds in 2021 is yet to be seen.
