Since the outbreak of COVID-19, which started around Spring Festival, many Chinese have had one of their "longest holiday" ever. So what are people doing at home?

"Cloud dining," "cloud exercise," "cloud tourism," "cloud party" are some things people have been up to, according to a report released by Alibaba Digital Media & Entertainment on February 24. 

Let's go dancing, online

"Cloud entertainment" is gaining traction amid the epidemic as young people stuck at home try to find new forms of entertainment. 

"Cloud disco party" activities have been launched on Bilibili, Kuaishou, Tiktok, and other online video platforms. To participate, you just have to click open a virtual room that's currently streaming an online dance party. 

And judging by the results, online disco parties have been very popular.

According to statistics, a well-known livestreaming DJ playing at home on the platform managed to gather 71,000 people online, and earned 728,500 yuan, putting him at the top of the hourly chart. 

From February 4 to 8, Bilibili, a Chinese online platform for animated video, and Modern Sky, China's largest new music independent record company, jointly held a live broadcast of the music festival, which attracted 490,000 viewers.

Modern Sky's second live event of the festival took place on February 22. That night, the highest number of viewers in the studio reached 1.31 million, and the number of viewers in the 40 minutes online exceeded one million, with 90 million views on related topics.

"Tonight's live broadcast is more of a taste of life. I didn't expect these cool musicians to be so simple and lovely in real life." In the comments, fans also reminisced about the time they spent outdoors at music festivals.

Compared to the first live broadcast, where only four core members formed a temporary team, Shen Yue, vice president of Modern Sky, felt that the second broadcast was more fully prepared. 

"In the second season, the artists we invited were more specific about what kind of energy and knowledge they wanted to convey and more directional," said Shen.

"The online festival is not just about singing online, it's about guidance and companionship" 

Shen said people become anxious and uncomfortable when they stay at home for prolonged periods of time, and they get a sense of companionship when musicians showcase their days at home. Shen sees relieving the boredom and anxiety of millions of music fans through an online music festival as a fulfilling task. 

Rock Records, NetEase Cloud Music, Tencent Music, and Taihe Music and other music companies have also released different online music festivals or shows.

It's unclear exactly how much revenue the cloud music festival will generate. Still, for musicians and labels, online shows do provide a certain amount of traffic exposure for artists and platforms.

Various recording methods

At present, due to the epidemic, original recording plans of major broadcasting programs have been canceled. The variety show industry has begun to look for a new development model.

Many variety shows such as "The Sound" and "Trump Card VS Trump Card" have been broadcast on TV, using diversified recording methods that have been adopted to ensure regular content. 

These programs are characterized by the integration of vlog, live broadcast, short video, and other formats. The programs sometimes have the epidemic as a theme or share the lives of celebrities at home, which may provide new ideas for the variety show business. 

At the same time, the promotion of film and television companies have also shifted online, such as holding online press conferences to promote new hit TV series. 

The outbreak is both a danger and an opportunity. It has changed the trajectory of many industries and has allowed practitioners to rethink their business plans.