Due to a global lockdown after the start of COVID pandemic, the digital economy and Big Tech has experienced an unprecedented rise.
With most booksellers, stores and department stores closed, considered “non-first necessity”, online sales platforms – including Amazon in the lead – have experienced extraordinary figures.
Regarding telecommunications between people, Zoom is the big winner in an era where teleworking and remote studies have flourished on a global scale.
Social networks, such as Instagram, Facebook and even LinkedIn have seen a sharp increase in their use, between professionals and individuals, during office hours, but also for e-parties.
Last but not least, online entertainment has, unsurprisingly, been the big favorite for this end of the year. As of the second lockdown Netflix and Disney+ have made spectacular breakthroughs.
Present at every hour of the day, Internet has shown its key place in the tech giants’ role in today’s liberal economy.
Google Is the #1 Big Tech
The first Big Tech listed on the GAFA acronym, Google, had its strongest year since going public. Launched at $64 in 2004, its stock is now trading at nearly $1,800.
In 2020, 90% of Internet users used Google for research.
Q3 2020 earnings: Giants continue to grow. Google stock price is up 6.2% after market hours. 2 quarters of pandemic has given new wings to digital businesses pic.twitter.com/hyCBczGOUX
— Deepak Abbot (@deepakabbot) October 30, 2020
Companies acquired by the Mountain View giant are also favorites when it comes to entertainment. Youtube, bought by Google in 2006, has become the most watched channel in the world: “every day, more than a billion hours of videos are viewed in this way,” reports the Finance for All website.
Facebook confirms its solidity
With 2019 turned upside down by eavesdropping from founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, 2020 has been a key year for Facebook.
With teleworking and rising e-studies and students leaving campuses and going back to their parents, totaling up nearly three billion people, many institutions have turned to Facebook to target advertising in order to grow.
As a result, advertising revenue rose 22% from a year ago, despite a drop of 196 million daily users in the United States and Canada – notably during the election period in the third quarter.
Facebook now has 3.21 billion active users worldwide, nearly half of the world’s population. It counts almost 10 million active advertising accounts, which means 9 more compared with July 2019.
Average revenue per user climbed from $4 last year to $7.8 in the third quarter of the year, but less than Q3 2019, when the $8 milestone was crossed.
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Netflix and Disney+, leaders in entertainment
Big Tech is also making a promising breakthrough in the entertainment industry.
Already back in April, Netflix was the star of the lockdown show… Well, it is highly likely that the online platform is going to lead the second lockdown during this winter.
Within a year, Netflix stocks have nearly doubled, going from $336 to $519 a share.
However, Walt Disney may well turn the pioneer of online video upside down.
Thanks to its Disney+ platform launched at the start of the year, the Hollywood giant has forecasted that its number of subscribers will be tripled by 2024.
The monthly subscription will be increased to $8, a price that Netflix had waited two years to dare offering to its then-subscribers.
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