As I mentioned in my blog post "Give Me Liberty.. or Give Me Corona?", COVID-19 (also known as the corona virus) has shaken all of our lives up in some way, shape, or form. However, there's another thing the virus is messing with that no one seems to be paying attention too. What is it? Advertisements.
We as humans know what advertisements are. They are those pesky commercials in between shows, on television and radio. They can even pop up into the cyber world when reading our favorite articles. One question you might be asking yourself; how is the virus affecting advertisments?
You would think due to self quarantining and the "stay at home" movement on social media, companies would be ecstatic at the opportunity they have. More people at home, more people on social media or watching television or listening to the radio, the more ears listening to commercials. This would make companies tremendous profit, as they would be reaching a larger audience than normal. However, that is not the case.
With people having their hours cut, or even worse, getting laid off, people aren't buying things they don't need at the moment. Therefore, companies who sell things like clothes, toys, things for entertainment, really aren't making a whole lot of money from the spread of the virus.
The New York Times had this say, "it’s (facebook) seeing a slowdown in advertising bookings due to “uncertainty and anxiety” caused by the coronavirus, and expects to see total advertising revenues to decline “in the mid-teens” in the current quarter." There is more in the article here: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/06/facebook-ad-revenue-to-be-hurt-by-coronavirus-needham-analysts-say.html
The virus has affected us in more ways than one. It's hard to say what the future holds for companies who rely heavily on advertisements to gain new customers.