Since the epidemic outbreak, there has been a boosted demand for online cultural and entertainment consumption, such as watching short and long videos, as Chinese people are self-isolating themselves at home.

File photo: Xinhua

During this particular period, short videos have become a part of many people's daily lives, and the number of users of the platforms has proliferated.

According to statistics from Aurora, the number of daily active users of Douyin, China’s top short-video App, reached a peak of 311 million during the Spring Festival holiday, an increase of 93.1 percent over the same period last year.

Kuaishou, another Chinese video-sharing app, ranked second with 177 million daily active users, up 55.8 percent year on year. Meanwhile, Watermelon Video, a Chinese short-video app, had 45.8 million daily active users, up 30 percent from a year earlier.

Watching various TV series is also one of the main forms of entertainment for many people during these days. According to statistics, for instance, during the Spring Festival and extended holidays of this year, a TV series named Ever Night has been played more than 2 billion times on the Tencent Video platform, a top online video platform in China.

The release of new dramas, to a large extent was to meet the needs of audiences and has become the download growth driver for long-video websites.

Furthermore, coinciding with epidemic prevention and controls, in addition to TV news and mobile phone pushes, many Chinese people have also turned to short video platforms, live broadcasts and long video websites for the latest information on the epidemic.

Short video platforms, which are mainly used by young people, have also been attracting many middle-aged and older people and used as an important channel for entertainment, information and social interaction. The number of users has increased significantly and the age of users has declined significantly, thus opening up a larger market for the industry.