Int. J. Enterprise Network Management, Vol. 13, No.

2, 2022 155

Analysis of rising trend of online streaming services

during pandemic situation of COVID-19

Khushboo Agnihotri
Amity Business School,
Amity University, Uttar Pradesh,
Lucknow, UP, India
Email: agnihotrikhushboo@gmail.com
Email: kagnihotri@lko.amity.ac.edu

Sachin Kumar Srivastava*

IILM Academy of Higher Learning Lucknow,
Uttar Pradesh 226010, India
Email: drsachinksrivastava@gmail.com
*Corresponding author

Mohd. Saif Nawaz

Amity Business School,
Amity University,
Lucknow Campus, UP, India
Email: mohd.nawaz1@student.amity.edu

Abstract: The implementation of nationwide lockdown during this pandemic

situation has resulted into huge impact on the living style of everyone and
affected various industries and companies during this lockdown resulting into a
boom for those who were already present in the market with their stronghold in
the online market. Some of these were the digital payment method, streaming
service providers, online study platform, etc. Some of these services even
reported a boom in their profit and market shares. The goal of this study was to
identify the major streaming service providers in India and assess whether they
made a profit during the lockdown and increase in the number of subscriber,
increase in the streaming time and increase in the customer satisfaction. The
result of the study shows that there was increase in the number of subscribers
not only in subscriber but also increase in the streaming time too.

Keywords: COVID-19; online streaming; online plate-form; online streaming

service providers; delivery service providers; internet and broadband providers;
online education service providers.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Agnihotri, K.,

Srivastava, S.K. and Nawaz, M.S. (2022) ‘Analysis of rising trend of online
streaming services during pandemic situation of COVID-19’, Int. J. Enterprise
Network Management, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp.155–179.

Copyright © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

156 K. Agnihotri et al.

Biographical notes: Khushboo Agnihotri is an accomplished professional and

Senior Assistant Professor in the field of Economics and Marketing. She did
her BCom and MCom and PhD in Applied Economics. She started her career in
academics in 2006. In 14 years of her career, she worked as Lecturer, Senior
Lecturer, Assistant Professor, and Senior Assistant Professor. Currently, she is
working as a Senior Assistant Professor of Economics, Amity Business School,
Amity University Uttar Pradesh Lucknow Campus

Sachin Kumar Srivastava is currently a Professor at the IILM Academy of

Higher Learning Lucknow. He is an accomplished professional and professor
in the field of marketing and sales. He did his BE and MTech in Mechanical
Engineering and MBA with major in Marketing and PhD in Public
Administration. He started his career in 2005 with Bharti Tele-venture services.
Later he moved to academics as Lecturer. In 16 years of his career he worked
as Lecturer, senior lecturer, associate professor, professor and dean of
management.

Mohd. Saif Nawaz is a student of MBA from Amity Business School, Amity
University Lucknow Campus. He is a brilliant scholar of marketing and sales.

1 Introduction

The lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted into the slowdown and
closure of many companies and industries, but the ones which has profited the most from
this lockdown are the one which have there online services on and running, even the ones
which did not have any such services have step in these services.
So why the lockdown? What is the reason for the lockdown? Why these online
services had a boom during this period?
COVID-19 or coronavirus is pandemic which is caused by ‘severe acute respiratory
syndrome coronavirus 2’. The report of the first case was identified in the Wuhan region
of China in December 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) then identified the
virus on 30th January as a public health emergency of international concern, later it was
declared as a pandemic on 11th of March 2020. The said virus is being identified in
around 187 countries and is spread by mere human contact.
As the number of cases kept on rising in different countries, it became a troublesome
moment for the countries to identify the cases and stop the spreading as a solution to this
most of the countries implemented social distancing, country-wise lockdown, isolation
camps, etc. This resulted in many people staying home, working from home, studying
from home and enjoying at home. This gave some of the companies a huge market area
to go digital and the ones who already had a digital platform a time to make money
(Chwe, 1978).
Some of the service industries like:
• online education service providers
• online streaming service providers
• delivery service providers
• internet and broadband providers, etc.
 Analysis of rising trend of online streaming services 157

Had a huge growth in their market capitalisation (Juluri et al., 2015).

So, let us talk about online streaming service providers. What dose online streaming
service basically means and who are they? Online service providers are basically
subscription-based service providers who provide online streaming of movies, videos,
web series, TV series, sports, news, etc. (Thomes, 2013). These services are basically
owned by a parent company which provide the end user the services on there devices
such as mobile phones, smart TV, iPad, laptops, etc. These services are first on a trial
basis for a month or so and then are paid, the subscriber pays a sum annually or monthly
to get access to these services on every device he logs into or whosoever logs into the
account with the given username and password (Hasan et al., 2018).
There are many such service providers in the world who offer these services some of
these famous service providers are as follows:
• Netflix
• Amazon Prime Videos
• Apple TV+
• Disney
• YouTube
• Hulu
• HBO, etc.
So talking about the most popular online service providers in India, we have three major
players in the market namely:
• Netflix
• Amazon Prime Videos
• Disney+Hotstar.

Netflix
Netflix Inc. is a US-based online streaming service provider with headquarters in
Los Gatos, California, USA. The company as of April 2020 had over 182 million paid
subscribers out of which 69 million were based out of the USA alone, the company has
its headquarters in many countries such as India, Japan, Brazil, South Korea and
Netherlands. The services of the company are available worldwide excluding some
countries due to political issues. The services are not available in North Korea, China,
Syria and Crimea.
The company entered in India in the year 2016 in the month of January. The service
is free for 30 days in India when a person subscribes to it after 30 days, it costs around
approximately $8/month for basic plan. There are three types of subscription plan
available with which the customers can choose accordingly.
158 K. Agnihotri et al.

Amazon Prime Videos

Amazon Prime Videos also known as Prime Video is a US-based on demand/streaming
service provider with its headquarters in Seattle, Washington, USA. The company started
in 2006, September 7th with the name of Amazon Unbox and got its popularity rapidly.
The Statista reports showcase that Prime Video has a subscriber base of over 75 million
worldwide and expected to reach 100 million in around 2020.
The company entered the Indian market in the year 2016 in the month of July and
gained its popularity as fast as possible. The service is free for the first 30 days of
subscription and cost around $2/month for a universal plan clubbed with one day delivery
and Amazon Prime Music.
Disney+Hotstar
Disney+Hotstar which was earlier known as Hotstar is an Indian-based streaming service
with its headquarters based in Mumbai, India. The company started providing its services
in February 2015 at the peak time of the Indian Primer League and gained its popularity
through it. On April 3rd, 2020, the service was relaunched in the name of Disney+Hotstar
due the purchase of the parent company of Hotstar (21st Century Fox) by Disney. As of
March 2020, Hotstar has over 300 million active users.
The streaming service is also available in some of the other countries such as the
USA, the UK and Canada. The service is basically free for all but for some of the content
you must be a premium subscriber which costs around $5.27/month which includes live
TV, sports, news, etc.
So, basically during the period of the lockdown due to COVID-19, all these services
reported an increase in their subscription and reported profit all along. The company
Disney took a bold move in the period of the lockdown and launched Disney+Hotstar
during this period only. So, it made a great topic to be researched on whether the
statements of the company are true or is just a mere hypothesis.

2 Objectives of study

The main objective of the study is to analyse whether the industry was in profit based on
some of the parameters, the parameters being as follows:
• Number of subscriptions – Researchers fabricated the questionnaire as such that
researchers can find by the conclusion whether there was an increase in the number
of subscriptions or decrease in the number of subscriptions during the period of
COVID-19.
• Streaming time – With the fabrication of the questionnaire with context to the
subscription, there also comes another section that plays a major role that is the
streaming time (time spent on watching). So, the study also focuses on whether there
is an increase/decrease or no change in the streaming time of the services.
• Customer service – One of the most important things for a company is the service
which they provide to its customer. So, keeping in mind the scenario of lockdown
and the increase in customer-base whether the company was able to provide the same
customer satisfaction and services it used to provide before the lockdown period.
 Analysis of rising trend of online streaming services 159

3 Scope of the study

The study of this research paper revolves around the ‘study in the boom of online
streaming service provider during COVID-19’ and the focus is to find out whether the
claim of these service providers during the lockdown period was true or just a mere
statement so, by conducting the study in this area sheds a light on how and why? These
service providers incurred a profit during this period of lockdown (Srivastava et al.,
2017) While conducting the primary study on the topic, it came into researcher’s
knowledge that for conducting a research on or around this topic some of the major
focuses area should be the number of subscription whether the numbers increased during
the period of lockdown or there was no increase in the subscriptions. Secondly, the focus
should be the time spent on the services or mainly called the streaming time whether it
increased/decreased or stood the same. And lastly, one of the most important thing for
any such service provider or company is the customer service with which it attracts and
retain the customers and during the lockdown period it became one of the important
factor so, by orders of the government there were news for these service providers to
decrease its streaming quality to standard definition or commonly known as SD and these
services have the video quality of high definition, ultra high definition and ultra 4k high
definition. So, whether these company followed the rule of the government and decrease
the video quality to the lowest or it kept in mind their customer service and retained the
same service. This study was carried out with the help of primary data collection with the
method of quantitative (stratified data) data collection using Google Forms and the form
was circulated amongst various age group member and various states to get a quantitative
and exact report. After the data collection, the same was sorted into statistical form using
different analytical tools and researchers came up to a conclusion (Srivastava et al.,
2016).

4 Need of the study

The study was conducted during the nationwide lockdown period of COVID-19 to find
out whether there was really an increase in the profit of the streaming service providers in
India or it was just an statement made by these providers for the period of the lockdown
with keeping in mind the area of research, it was necessary to take up some particular
grounds to assess whether the company made a profit or was at the original position only.
The study showcased the growth rate of three major online streaming service providers
namely Netflix India, Prime Videos and Disney+Hotstar in India and what is the market
coverage of these services.

5 Research methodology

Research methodology is the method by which the research has been taken to conclude
the research report. For instance, researchers have had to collect data from various states
of India and various age groups, so researcher needed quantitative data for the same.
Quantitative data can be said as the data obtained in numeric form so that it can be
directly put into analytical tools to get a proper graph or representation of the data. Which
160 K. Agnihotri et al.

can be studied further to obtain a result on a side by assessing which side has the biggest
number showcasing the result in favour of that side.
Now, seeing the requirement researchers have had to gather primary numeric data to
conclude now while studying this, the sample size researchers noticed that we had a large
population base and that population was divided into subpopulation. To assess on this
result, we had to go with stratified sampling of the data so that researchers can get an
accurate result of the findings.
So for the research study, researchers had to use quantitative data collection and
stratified sampling for concluding this research to an exact result.

5.1 Data collection method

For this research study, researchers have used stratified sampling in a form of a closed
ended questionnaire.

5.2 Sampling method employed

Sampling from such a huge population and coming to an end result researchers had to use
stratifieed sampling technique in a form of a Google Form close ended questionnaire
which we circulated among my contacts in various states using a shareable Google Form
link.
The Google Form was designed as such to gather the information in below mentioned
way:
• The sample size for the survey (N) is 685.
• Samples are collected through circulating Google Form shareable link.
• The target sample group was divided into different age group under 18, 18–25 and
26 and above so that it could be easy to capture a targeted sample.
• Then, the person had to state the state from which he/she belongs to so that the data
can be distributed towards different states.
• Then, the Google Form was divided into three subsections, each containing the
questions related to subscriptions, streaming time and customer satisfaction
respectively.

5.3 Limitation of the study

There was some limitation to carry out the study of the research. Some of them being as
follows:
• Sample size to carry out the study, as researcher had to get a huge sample to ensure
that said hypothesis is proved and gathering the data from different states and
different age group was a limitation.
• The assessment of the available data was a difficult task whether the data is true, or it
is been just randomly answered.
 Analysis of rising trend of online streaming services 161

• The lack of prior data or prior research on this topic was also a limitation as there
were no as such reports carried out in the period of lockdown.
• Access of the data during this lockdown period was tough task as to circulate the
Google Form among the sample was only possible by the means of online shareable
link.
• Lastly, one of the main problems occurred during the collection of the sample was
the priority of the people as people did not prioritise in filling the Google Form as to
do other useful chores.
These were some of the limitation researchers faced carrying out my research topic.

6 Review of literature

• With the implementation of the nationwide lockdown during this pandemic, there
has been a huge impact on the over the top service provider as there has been a
complete stoppage in the production of new movies, TV series, game shows, etc. so
the service provider have said that they will bring back some of the old programs
which they used to run earlier. Prime Video has also given a statement that they will
start a new section in their video streaming platform.
Farzeen (2020) said on 1st April in The Indian Express that and researchers quote
“OTT platform introduce ‘free window’ for audience during lockdown.”
• On 22nd April 2020, Netflix India reported profit as there were nearly 16 million
subscription surges during the lockdown period, the e-marketer analyst,
Mr. Eric Haggstorm stated that Netflix has seen a record number of increases in the
subscription during the pandemic and is providing the service as same and also will
continue to provide the service as Netflix is ready to handle huge amount of data
surge at the same time. Netflix has earned a profit of Rs.5,000 crores on the
investment revenue of Rs.44 crores (Netflix See Records Sign-ups During
Coronavirus Lockdown, Warns Boost May Fade, https://gadgets.ndtv.com/
entertainment/news/netflix-sees-record-sign-ups-during-coronavirus-lockdown-
warns-boost-may-fade-2216013).
• Amazon Prime Video has also made many changes in the way of their showcasing
movies, TV series, podcast, etc. Amazon Prime Video while tweeting the statement
on 14th April 2020 that they have introduced a family and kid section which the
customer will able to watch free by just only subscribing to the service.
“Soumya Mukherjee, the head of revenue and strategy, said in a statement that the
company has removed the option to download HD videos already and is currently
working to reduce the maximum streaming resolution to SD” (https://www.
mysmartprice.com/gear/ COVID-19-lockdown-effect-amazon-prime-video-netflix-
zee5-mx-player-cut-streaming-bitrates-india/).
• One of the boldest move ever taken by a company can be said taken by the
Walt Disney production as prior to the lockdown Disney announced its purchase of
the Indian streaming services Hotstar during the Indian Premiere League (IPL) but
162 K. Agnihotri et al.

due to the lockdown, the IPL stands cancelled but then also on the 3rd of April 2020,
Disney announced its purchase and Hotstar was renamed as Disney+Hotstar.
The President of the Walt Disney Production Uday Shankar told the Economic Times
on 2nd April 2020. “We were planning to launch along with IPL but decided to hit a
pause and have a relook at the strategy amid concerns on safety and fear on
Coronavirus” (https://m.economictimes.com/magazines/panache/amidst-lockdown-
disney-plus- makes-it-way-to-india-users-can-start-streaming-from-april-3/
articleshow/74913298.cms).
• Before the implementation of the lockdown in India, the Disney+Hotstar service
were to be launched during the one of the most profitable time for the streaming
service in India and that was during the period of the famous IPL. But Disney seeing
the juicy fruit of lockdown during this period launched its services with best of the
TV series and movies of Disney like The Mandalorian, the Lion King, etc.
Disney Chairman Bob Iger in the statement given to The Print on 1st April 2020 told
that “investors in February that Hotstar’s premium services in India would be
rebranded as Disney+ Hotstar, and that the Indian Premier League would be an
‘opportune moment’” (https://theprint.in/tech/locked-down-india-to-get-one-more-
streaming-service-as- disney-launches-this-week/392527/).

7 Hypothesis

Hypothesis is said to be an assumption or an idea that is proposed or taken up for the sake
of research study so that we can prove and make a point by testing it whether its is true or
not. It works in this way that first, the hypothesis is assumed before the study and then
the research is done revolving around the same hypothesis to prove whether it is true or
false.
So we can sum-up and say that hypothesis is a statement which is assumed before a
research study and then the research study is made around the same to prove whether the
said hypothesis is true or false.
For this research study, researchers took these hypotheses.

7.1 Null hypothesis (Ho)

• There was an increase in the number of subscribers – For the first null hypothesis,
researchers took the assumption that there was an increase in the number of
subscriptions for these online streaming services during the period of the lockdown.
• There was an increase in the streaming time – For the second null hypothesis
researchers took the assumption that there was in increase in the streaming hours for
these online streaming services during the period of the lockdown.
• There was increase in the customer satisfaction – For the third null hypothesis
researchers took the assumption that there was an increase in the customer
satisfaction of these service providing companies during the period of the lockdown.
 Analysis of rising trend of online streaming services 163

7.2 Alternative hypothesis (H1)

• There was a decrease in the number of subscriptions – For the first alternate
hypothesis, researchers took the assumption that there was a decrease in the number
of subscriptions for these online streaming service providers during the period of
lockdown.
• There was a decrease in the streaming time – For the second alternate hypothesis,
researchers took the assumption whether if there was a decrease in the time spent by
the customers on these service providers.
• There was a decrease in the customer satisfaction – For the third alternate
hypothesis, researchers took the assumption that there was decrease in the customer
satisfaction provided by the service providers.

8 Main study

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) became a concern to a pandemic, there were many

after-effects of the same and as the virus spread to different part of the world, there were
many precautions taken by various countries all around the world. As a precaution, the
Indian Government also implemented what other countries were implementing and that
was the lockdown as it was the best method to stop the infection of the virus and help the
country to become stable again the lockdown started from 25th of March 2020 and was
again and again extended to make sure the safety and total removal of the virus from
India.
When the news of lockdown came in the knowledge of the people, they started
panicking and then there was a message delivered by the prime minister to make
assurance of the situation being under the control of the country and everything was
being done to make the people safe.

8.1 Situation for the companies

When the lockdown came in to effect in the country, many of the companies and industry
faced a difficult situation because no one was ready for such a situation ever coming and
the companies reported a loss but some of the companies which have had a strong
presence in the online market they started making profit and started making new plans for
making more profit and other companies which did not yet have there online presence
they started planning and making their online platforms.
Some of the service providers like the online study platform, online streaming service
providers, video conferencing, online teaching, etc. which already had the online
presence started reporting a huge increase and they were making profit from it. One of
the service providers is the streaming service provider the platform like Netflix, Amazon
Prime Video, Hotstar, YouTube, etc. reported large number of subscriptions and increase
in their customer-base. This research study is based upon these streaming service
providers in India among which some of them in their statement said that they were
making profits.
164 K. Agnihotri et al.

8.2 Streaming service providers

Online service providers are basically subscription-based service providers who provide
online streaming of movies, videos, web series, TV series, sports, news, etc. These
services are basically owned by a parent company which provides the end user the
services on their devices such as mobile phones, smart TV, iPad, laptops, etc. These
services are first on a trial basis for a month or so and then are paid, the subscriber pays a
sum annually or monthly to get access to these services on every device he/she logs into
or whosoever logs into the account with the given username and password (Lee et al.,
2016).
There are many such service providers in the world who offer these services, some of
these famous service providers are as follows:
• Netflix
• Amazon Prime Videos
• Apple Tv+
• Disney
• YouTube
• Hulu
• HBO, etc.
In India, there are three major players in the field of online streaming service provider
those are:
• Disney+Hotstar (earlier known as Hotstar)
• Netflix
• Amazon Prime Video.
These are the service providers which we included in our study of the research topic.

9 Service providers and affect of the lockdown

9.1 Disney+Hotstar
Previously known as Hotstar, the service was again launched in India after Walt Disney
purchased the parent company of Hotstar (21st Century Fox) and was going to launch the
service during the most profitable time for Hotstar and that was during the IPL, but due to
the lockdown being implemented in the country, the IPL was first postponed but then was
cancelled in the country but the company made a bold and huge discussion of launching
the company as Disney+Hotstar and started a new section in their platform in the name of
Disney+ and made the services of Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National
Geography available to the customers in India. With the introduction of the same during
the period of lockdown came, many shows to the Indian customers such as the Lion King,
The Mandalorian, etc. The streaming service is also available in some of the other
countries such as the USA, the UK and Canada. The service is basically free for all but
 Analysis of rising trend of online streaming services 165

for some of the content you must be a premium subscriber which costs around
$5.27/month which includes live TV, sports, news, etc.
So, basically during the period of the lockdown due to COVID-19, all these services
reported an increase in their subscription and reported profit all along. The company
Disney took a bold move in the period of the lockdown and launched Disney+Hotstar
during this period only.

9.2 Netflix
Netflix India is the part of Netflix Inc. which has its headquarters in Los Gatos,
California, USA, when the company launched in India in January 2016, its already had a
strong popularity among the Indian crowd and gained a huge popularity as soon as the
lockdown was implemented the first company who gave the statement was Netflix India
regarding the increase in their subscription and introduced a wide range of shows on their
platform for the Indian crowd like Hasmukh, Extraction, Mrs. Serial Killer, etc. The
service is free for 30 days in India when a person subscribes to it after 30 days it costs
around approximately $8/month for basic plan. There are three types of subscription plan
available with which the customers can choose accordingly.
The company as of April 2020 had over 182 million paid subscribers out of which
69 million were based out of the USA alone the company has its headquarters in many
countries such as India, Japan, Brazil, South Korea and Netherlands. The services of the
company are available worldwide excluding some countries due to political issues. The
services are not available in North Korea, China, Syria and Crimea.

9.3 Amazon Prime Video

Amazon Prime Video is a company which is a sub-company of Amazon, the company
launched its streaming services all together in the world and first the service was
launched in Bangalore, India on September 7th 2006 and gained a huge popularity by
serving the people by new ways including the TV series, movies, etc. based on the Indian
customers and due to less pricing and easy user interface the service was a huge success
throughout. The Statista reports showcase that Prime Video has a subscriber base of over
75 million worldwide and expected to reach 100 million in around 2020.
The company entered the Indian market in the year 2016 in the month of July and
gained its popularity as fast as possible. The service is free for the first 30 days of
subscription and cost around $2/month for a universal plan clubbed with one day delivery
and Amazon Prime Music.
With this, the service providers during the period of COVID-19 was affected in many
ways as we went deep into the exploration of the topic, we made some questions with the
answer of which it can be directly analysed the situation of these companies during the
lockdown period.

10 Interpretation of data and proving the hypothesis

As a result of gathering the information through Google Form, some of key point which
came into notice before the lockdown period of COVID-19 and during the period of
COVID-19 was as follows which will be discussed further in the research topic.
166 K. Agnihotri et al.

10.1 Before COVID-19

The scenario before the COVID-19 was checked by researchers based on how and what
services were provided by the company before the implementation of lockdown. The data
of 685 people who filled the form and gave us the response.

10.1.1 Age
Age is one of the important factors in the research as to know which part of the sample
belonged to what age group and who spent more time on these services and how.

Figure 1 Count of age (in years) (see online version for colours)

Seeing in Figure 1, we can analyse that out of 685 people who filled the survey, these
were the observations made:
1 609 people were in the age group of 18–25
2 56 people were in the age group of 26 and above
3 20 people were below 18 years of age.
If we see Figure 1, we can easily find out that the craze of streaming service platform is
more in the age group of 18–25 who can be said as young adult before the lockdown was
in effect in the country. The age group above 26 years or we can say the bachelors, only
contribute the number of 56 and the craze in the age group below 18 years of age was
only 20 in number.
So by this, we can state that the age group of 18–25 were the one who gave more time
to the online streaming service.

10.1.2 Location
As we wanted to explore the data into wider platform, we circulated the questionnaire to
our various contacts in different states of India so that we could get the data of a larger
and wider demography. So, we were able to circulate the questionnaire in 14 states and
union territories of India.
 Analysis of rising trend of online streaming services 167

By analysing the above histogram, one can see that we were able to collect the data of
14 states and the data can be shown as follows in Table 1.
Table 1 State wise data

S. no. State/union territory Number

1 Telangana 173
2 Uttar Pradesh 150
3 Maharashtra 38
4 Tamil Nadu 40
5 Bihar 45
6 West Bengal 46
7 Punjab 30
8 Madhya Pradesh 30
9 Delhi 51
10 Karnataka 66
11 Rajasthan 10
12 Uttarakhand 2
13 Nagaland 1
14 Kerala 3

From Table 1, we can see that we have a sample of 685 from different states and union
territories where there are large samples of above 50 from the states of Telangana,
Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Karnataka. Whereas, the authors have data ranging from
10–50 from the states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, West Bengal, Punjab,
Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. We have a negligible amount of data from three states
Uttarakhand, Nagaland and Kerala, which should not affect much in the study of the
research.

Figure 2 Count of location (state/UT) of stay (see online version for colours)
168 K. Agnihotri et al.

10.1.3 Use of streaming service before COVID-19

So for analysing the report for the time being of the lockdown in the country first, we
have to look for the condition which was before the COVID-19, how much was the share
of these online services in these 14 states before the lockdown was in act, so from
Figure 3.

Figure 3 Count of did you used any streaming services before COVID-19 (see online version
for colours)

From Figure 3, we can see that before the lockdown was in play, we had 516 people who
were using these services of the given platforms. One hundred thirty-six people were as
such those who were not using the services during the lockdown and we have 33 people
who were not aware or not using any of these said services. Figure 3 clearly depicts the
result of the sample from 14 states and 685 people.

10.1.4 Which services were they using

After getting the data of the people who were using the online streaming services, it was
the time to find out that which services do people prefer out the most for using before
COVID-19 was not there?

Figure 4 Count of which services were you using before COVID-19 (see online version
for colours)
 Analysis of rising trend of online streaming services 169

Figure 4 is the mix of all the combinations of streaming services people used to prefer
before the lockdown period and on which platform they were spending the most time. So
if we look closely in Figure 4, we can see that 157 people were using the services of
Netflix and Prime Videos, whereas 145 people answered that they were using none of the
above said services, 48 reported that they were using Disney+Hotstar services and
134 people reported that were using all of the above said services. The remaining samples
were using the services in the combination of one another.

10.1.5 Subscriptions
Now comes the most important question of this section that whether the samples were
having the subscription of the above said services or were they using it of someone else
before the lockdown period.

Figure 5 Count of did you have subscription for these services before COVID-19 (see online
version for colours)

If we analyse Figure 5, we can see that out of 685 people, 429 people had the
subscription for the above said services before the lockdown period. Two hundred
fifty-one people were not having the subscription to the above said services and rest of
the people were not even aware of the services.

10.1.6 Subscription had or not

Now for analysing the sample whether they subscribed for the services after the
lockdown was implemented was less or more than the above said chart for the proving of
the hypothesis.
If we analyse Figure 6, we can see that there is an increase in the number of
subscriptions after the lockdown was announced in India, out of 685 samples,
384 subscribed for these services after the implementation of the lockdown and
301 people already had subscriptions before the lockdown period.
170 K. Agnihotri et al.

Figure 6 Count of did you subscribe for these services during COVID-19 (see online version
for colours)

10.1.7 Subscription plan before

To analyse the research further to see whether the samples were using the service
subscription of self or others before the period of lockdown.

Figure 7 Chart 6 (see online version for colours)

Count of subscription plan before COVID-19

As we know from the earlier figures that there were many subscribers even before the
lockdown begun, so what we did was that we checked whether the subscription were
theirs or someone else and the result came out to what we thought it would be.
Two hundred eighty-eight people were using their friends account. There were
232 people who were using their own account and 165 of them did not have the
subscription.

10.1.8 Subscription after

So after seeing that there were a large number of people who were using their friends
account or were not using any before the lockdown, it was time to see whether the people
have bought any subscription of their own or were still using their friend’s service.
 Analysis of rising trend of online streaming services 171

Figure 8 Count of subscription after COVID-19 (see online version for colours)

So after seeing the result, we can see that there is a definite increase in the number of
self-registrations which grew from 232 to 310. There was a decrease in the use of the
services from their friend’s subscription which from 288 fell to 213. There were some
changes also in the people who were not using the services to some of them started using
some service which from 165, there were 29 people who have started using some
services.

10.1.9 Subscription plan

Now, when we can clearly see that there was a growth in the number of subscribers now,
it was time to check what plan did the people opt. for when chose their subscription plan.

Figure 9 Subscribers data (see online version for colours)

So by analysing Figure 9, we can see that there are 267 people who are using the
subscription plan of yearly. There are 255 people who chose the monthly plan that is less
than that of the yearly. There were 145 such people who got subscription free with some
other services like Airtel provides a yearlong service of Prime Video with their Xtreme
Plan, Reliance Jio TV provides Disney+Hotstar for free with the said service. Then, there
were still few people who were not using the service.
172 K. Agnihotri et al.

10.2 Hypothesis testing for Part 1

So from the data which we gathered in Part 1, we can clearly see that there has been
increase in some of the parameters such as:
1 There was a definite increase in the number of subscriptions.
2 The age group of 18–25 years are the ones who use these services much.
3 People earlier were using their friends plan too much.
4 The lockdown was the reason why people bought the subscription plan for
themselves instead of using their friends.
5 The people after the lockdown chose to buy the yearly plan more than the monthly
plan.
Hence, we can say that our first null hypothesis is true that there is an increase in the
number of subscribers.

10.2.1 Streaming before

Now the second hypothesis we come to analyse whether there is an increase in the
streaming time of the services, or the people are still using the service for the same time.
So here is Figure 10 representation of how much time did people use to give to these
services before COVID-19 lockdown.

Figure 10 Hours spent on these services before COVID-19 in hours (see online version
for colours)

In Figure 10, we can see that on an average people used to spend 1–2 hours on these
services before the lockdown of COVID-19. Some of the people used to watch the
service for 2–3 hours but negligible people were using the service for 3–5 hours.
 Analysis of rising trend of online streaming services 173

10.2.2 Streaming after

Now as we know that people used to spend on an average 2–3 hours on these services
before COVID-19, now was the time to check whether people have started spending
more time on the said service or they were giving the same time.

Figure 11 Hours spent on these services during COVID-19 in hours (see online version
for colours)

Now by seeing Figure 11, we can see that people have started giving more than
3 hours on the service and the graph of 2–3 have felt down accordingly and the graph of
1–2 has also increased.

10.2.3 Medium used for streaming

As we have seen that the people spent so much time on these services but what platform
do, they use to enjoy the services remained a good question so after analysing Figure 12.

Figure 12 Count of what platform do you used for streaming these services (see online version
for colours)
174 K. Agnihotri et al.

So by analysing Figure 12, we can see that 409 people used to see this service on mobile,
196 of them on laptop/desktop. And TV, tablet/iPad were less favourable platform for the
services.

10.3 Hypothesis testing for Part 2

So after clearly observing figures, we can come to an observatory result that:

1 There was an increase in the time spent on the services from 2–3 hours to 3–5 hours.
2 More number of people has started using the platform so there was even an increase
in time span of 1–2 hours.
3 As there is an increase in the streaming time people have chosen the platform which
is most easy to handle and use and that is mobile.
Hence, we can say that our second null hypothesis is true that there is an increase in the
streaming hours.

10.3.1 Customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is one of the most necessary point for any company so that they
can retain their customers and gain new customers based on what they provide unique to
their customers. In simple word the wow factor. To analyse whether the company was
able to maintain the same customer satisfaction or was not able to do that. So the question
was based on what company was providing earlier to maintain the customer satisfaction
and that can be as follows.

10.3.2 Streaming quality

So before the lockdown, there was no restriction as of such to what streaming quality can
these services provide to their customer base. Let us see what people had before the
lockdown period of COVID-19.

Figure 13 Count on which quality do you prefer streaming on (see online version for colours)
 Analysis of rising trend of online streaming services 175

So as what we can depict from Figure 13 that before the lockdown period, people used to
prefer watching in HD quality only. There were only few people who used watch in ultra
HD quality and the least number of people preferred the SD quality.

10.3.3 Streaming quality after

As there were some regulations which were made by the government for these streaming
services during the lockdown period of COVID-19, it would have been difficult for the
service provider to maintain the same proportion of the user satisfaction.
So regarding of what these services were ordered to do then, also the people were
able to stream the services in their desirable quality. We can decide the same by seeing
the area of yes covered in Figure 14.

Figure 14 Count of are you able to stream on HD and above during COVID-19 (see online
version for colours)

10.3.4 New entries

The second method by which the company try to make their customer happy and satisfied
is by updating new shows and new material on their platform but due to the lockdown of
COVID-19, all the production of new TV series or movies were closed. So was the
company able to give the same to their customers let us see.

Figure 15 Count of is there any new web series/movies/anime included on these services during
COVID-19 (see online version for colours)
176 K. Agnihotri et al.

So as we can see clearly in Figure 15, 511 people said that there were new entries on the
platform to keep the customer satisfaction the same.

10.3.5 Satisfaction report before and after

These were some of the indirect method by which we got to know the consumer
satisfaction now we asked a closed ended question to directly answer to our hypothesis.

Figure 16 How satisfied were you with these streaming service before COVID-19 (see online
version for colours)

By analysing Figure 16, we can see that people were satisfied before the lockdown frame
and not very satisfied with the service people were also not very dissatisfied during the
period of lockdown in COVID-19.

Figure 17 How satisfied are you with these services during the COVID-19? (see online version
for colours)

Note: Select 3 if you do not use the service.

By analysing Figure 17, we can see that a smaller number of people we dissatisfied by
the service and a greater number of people were satisfied.
 Analysis of rising trend of online streaming services 177

10.4 Hypothesis testing for Part 3

By clearly observing figures, we can come to result that the companies were able to
provide the same amount of customer satisfaction as before. We can come to a result by
stating:

1 Though the government has asked the services of HD to be not provided during the
lockdown of COVID-19, the companies were providing the services in HD.
2 The studios and production centres were closed then also the services were able to
come up with new addition and entries for their platform.
• While analysing the closed end question, we can see that customers were satisfied by
the services provided by the company.
Hence, we can say that our third null hypothesis is true that the customer satisfaction has
increased during the period of lockdown.

11 Finding and analysis

By doing the research study, there were many findings which came up in front which
helped us a lot in our hypothesis. That helped to prove how these online service providers
have benefited by providing these services while maintaining the same of the customers
satisfaction. Some of the findings through our research are as follows:
1 There was a definite increase in the number of subscriptions.
2 The age group of 18–25 years are the ones who use these services much.
3 People earlier were using their friends plan too much.
4 The lockdown was the reason why people bought the subscription plan for
themselves instead of using their friends.
5 The people after the lockdown chose to buy the yearly plan more than the monthly
plan. There was an increase in the time spent on the services from 2–3 hours to
3–5 hours.
6 More number of people has started using the platform so there was even an increase
in time span of 1–2 hours.
7 As there is an increase in the streaming time people have chosen the platform which
is most easy to handle and use and that is mobile.
8 Though the government has asked the services of HD to be not provided during the
lockdown of COVID-19, the companies were providing the services in HD.
9 The studios and production centres were closed then also the services were able to
come up with new addition and entries for their platform.
178 K. Agnihotri et al.

10 While analysing the closed end question, we can see that customers were satisfied by
the services provided by the company.

12 Suggestions

With the findings and research study, we can suggest some of the improvement and
changes the services can take up to even make more profit even during the lockdown
period and in the normal period too. Some of the suggestions from my side are as
follows:
1 The company should focus more on attracting the customers of the age group of
above 26 years of age.
2 The companies should make some policy as so that the customers who buy the
subscription must register there only device to the subscription plan.
3 The companies should focus on increasing the usage on other devices also that the
customers’ demography increase. The company should offer some affordable
subscriptions on other devices.
4 The service providers should also run some regular surveys so that they can get to
know the customer satisfaction and check how they increase the customer
satisfaction.

13 Conclusions

After completing the research paper, we come to a conclusion that the online streaming
services have definitely grown during this period of the lockdown in COVID-19 and the
customer reach has also increased for these services so we can conclude by saying that all
of the three hypothesis stands proven true that the subscription have increased, the
streaming hours are increased and the customer satisfaction has also increased during this
period of COVID-19. The online streaming services have observed a boom during the
period of the lockdown in COVID-19.

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Websites
https://m.economictimes.com/magazines/panache/amidst-lockdown-disney-plus-makes-it-way-to-
india-users-can-start-streaming-from-april-3/articleshow/74913298.cms.
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