For some industries, 2020 was a horrible year. Most areas that rely on people leaving their homes have seen perhaps their worst year ever: movie theatres have remained closed for most of the year, losing most of their business, many restaurants could only serve takeout, hotels have seen their lowest occupancy in years, and live events… were simply not held due to the restrictive measures in place to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.

But one’s loss is another’s gain, they say. For certain industries, 2020 was their best year ever. Here are some of the biggest gainers of the year 2020.

Gaming

We’ve been subjected to lockdown after lockdown in 2020. People were advised to work from home, schools have transitioned to online platforms, and traditional entertainment venues have closed to prevent the spread of the disease. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that many have turned to video games as their go-to means of keeping themselves entertained. Gaming has served both as a distraction and a means of escapism, socializing, and fun.

Everything from online casino games to massive multiplayer titles has seen a growth in both user numbers and time spent playing in 2020. The games over at JackpotCity Casino were among the fastest-growing ones, and for good reason: most in-person venues offering a similar lineup were closed. Mobile games, both hyper-casual titles like the online slots over at JackpotCity, not to mention puzzles and word games, insanely popular across all demographics, have once again taken the lead. After all, spinning a slot machine is something anyone can learn very quickly, not to mention that it’s very easy to set aside and return to, even if only for a few minutes.

Smartphone games, in general, saw their revenues grow by almost 16% in 2020, and – along with tablet games – dominated the gaming market, generating almost half of all the industry revenues last year. Console games received a boost from the release of both major next-gen consoles, while PC games maintained a healthy growth of almost 7%. The gaming market has also seen unprecedented levels of engagement, especially in the first half of the year, with players spending more time than ever playing games, especially online.

Online meetings and remote work

For a large percentage of employees around the world, remote work has become the new normal. Collaborative suites, video conferencing solutions and e-learning have seen their usage – and their revenues – skyrocket in 2020 as a response to the new reality.

Perhaps the biggest earner in this area is Zoom, the online video calling / conferencing service that became the go-to tool for millions around the world. In March, Zoom reported around 200 million meeting participants each day. Zoom has become the tool of choice for online education and many companies that relied on it to keep the business going while everyone was working from home.

Google’s own Meet has also seen its numbers explode in 2020, especially after it became available to everyone for free (it was only available as part of the GSuite before). Classroom, Google’s cloud-based online education platform (that includes Meet as well) has seen its users double by April 2020 and continuously grow further throughout the year. By the end of the year, Google’s Duo and Meet video calling platforms hosted more than 1 trillion minutes of calls.

Streaming

The movie lineup of the year 2020 was… weak, to say the least, due in a large part to the closure of movie theatres and the aversion of the studios from releasing their new movies online. With a few exceptions, of course. As a result, more people turned to in-home entertainment than ever.

By the end of September, the number of Netflix subscribers has grown to over 195 million worldwide, with the service adding almost 29 million to its total in the first nine months of the year. For the entire year, the company expects to bring this total close to 35 million. Amazon has also added large numbers of users to its Prime Video pool last year, bringing the total to more than 160 million. 

Many other streaming services have seen their user base grow in 2020 but in a more limited way – most of them are only available in certain territories. Disney+, currently available in a little over 50 countries (adding many more in 2021) has a viewer pool of over 86 million, while HBO Max, only available in North America at the moment, has convinced a little over 12.5 million subscribers since its launch in May 2020. WarnerMedia’s brand new streaming service is planning on exploring new territories somewhere in the middle of this year.But not all streaming services were this lucky. Quibi, the mobile-first streaming service launched in April, didn’t do well even in this streaming-first year – it was discontinued and shut down on December 1st.