THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBING
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers have adapted to a modified way of life. As the lockdowns eased, data usage growth seems to have started to slow as compared to the peak months at the beginning of 2020.
Fremont, CA: As millions of Americans sheltered in place and moved to working from home and remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing research from Comscore, a trusted partner for planning, transacting as well as evaluating media across platforms, discovered that overall in-home data usage levels throughout 2020 remained significantly higher than in 2019.
Throughout the first several months of COVID-related lockdowns, data consumption from Comscore Connected Home custom reporting revealed increased usage across all connected devices; laptops, smart TVs, gaming consoles, smart speakers, phones, streaming boxes & sticks, and tablets all saw strong growth in data usage versus 2019.
Stay ahead of the industry with exclusive feature stories on the top companies, expert insights and the latest news delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe today.
By the summer, year-over-year growth rates across all devices seemed to level off to around 15 percent on average, but smart TVs and home computers continued to witness growth rates upwards of 30 percent versus 2019. Despite some schools reopening for in-person learning and some adults returning to their offices, at least part-time, home computer data usage continued to boost through the end of the year.
As 2020 came to an end, year-over-year growth in data consumption decreased marginally during Q4 2020 – in-home data consumption rose at about the same pace as in the weeks leading up to COVID closures. Overall, gross in-home data use rose by 18 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year.
Despite the year-over-year increase in data usage, there was not much change in the way data consumption was allocated across devices in 2020 compared to 2019. With the exception of a small move away from gaming consoles to smart TVs in 2020, households tended to consume data in somewhat similar ways as they did in 2019.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers have adapted to a modified way of life. As the lockdowns eased, data usage growth seems to have started to slow as compared to the peak months at the beginning of 2020. Comscore will continue to track these changing consumption trends in its Coronavirus Insights Centre.
More in News