We are all now aware of the viral severity of the Corona virus. Even before the World Health Organisation declared it a pandemic, it was something to worry about now that it is spreading across the world. As a result, there is a major disruption in the rhythm of life of the world’s population and many changes from day today. The latest action comes from YouTube and Netflix, which are reducing the quality of its streaming services in Europe.
Youtube and Netflix reduce the quality of their streaming services in Europe through COVID-19
People are encouraged to work from home, for example, as offices and other services have begun to close. This means that more people work from a distance, which also means that more time is available for surfing the Internet or other similar activities.
As a result of the COVID 19 lockdown, Steam has crossed the threshold of 20 million connected users and YouTube has announced that it will reduce the quality of live video in Europe. This decision is, of course, a response to the virus. The main reason is to avoid overloading the Internet service providers. Obviously people now have more reasons than ever to use streaming services, but YouTube is not alone and Netflix has announced something similar:
“We are making a temporary commitment to bring all our content within the European Union up to the standard definition.”
The measurement of the movie and series portal consists in reducing the maximum bitrate to limit bandwidth consumption. Considering that YouTube now allows 4K streaming, this decision comes as no surprise as it is the most resource-intensive resolution in any network. European telecommunications providers such as Vodafone or Deutshe Telekom have also reported an increase in data traffic in recent days. Therefore, the decision of YouTube and Netflix makes a lot of sense.
While Netflix has reduced the quality of their videos for thirty days, there is no news about how long YouTube will keep its measurements. In any case, we know that this is one of the decisions that must be made in times of need to avoid overloading networks unnecessarily.