Online shopping and podcast consumption boom during the pandemic, says survey

In addition to masks and gel alcohol, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought significant changes to the daily lives of Brazilians in several areas. On the internet, an unprecedented study by the Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (Cetic) shows that the volume of online purchases and banking transactions, video calls and podcasts had a ‘boom’ since the arrival of the coronavirus in the country.

The survey shows that approximately 52.5 million Brazilians made online purchases in 2019. After the pandemic, the public that consumes over the internet jumped to 68.3 million in the last year.

The data, released this Tuesday (21), were based on the response of 21,000 Brazilians heard between October 2021 and March 2022.

Cetic pointed out that podcast consumption also boomed and grew by more than 132% post-pandemic. Audio programs are frequently heard by more than 41 million Brazilians, against 17 million in 2019.

Driven by social distancing, digital financial transactions and use of voice or video calling apps were up 13% and 6%, respectively, compared to the pre-pandemic period. In absolute values, for example, more than 121.3 million Brazilians regularly chat via voice or video call after the Covid-19 pandemic.

“These results are fully linked to the reality of people during the pandemic, when they stayed more at home. During the lockdown, people only had video calls to keep in touch with their relatives,” Valter Teixeira, a doctor in psychology at UFRJ, told CNN.

“Another thing is the podcast, which has started to keep people company during the distance,” he added.

It is worth mentioning that more than 138 million Brazilians use the internet daily, while 9 million access it less frequently and about 35 million do not have access to the network and, therefore, are not users.