See you at the movies? DIY cinemas and box office rentals

There’s something comforting about heading to the cinema, being greeted with the smell of popcorn and melting cheese, and seeing your favorite drink spinning in the ice machine.

So it’s no wonder that 214k people have turned to creating cinemas of their own. English-language conversations on social media around DIY cinemas in March and April are up 94% compared to January and February, as people try to replicate the experience at home, or in the backyard.

It isn’t just to occupy time. For 17k users, creating an at-home experience was a way to celebrate birthdays or anniversaries. In March and April these mentions increased by 168% compared to January and February.

And looking at Google Trends data in the US over the last 90 days, interest in projectors, sofas, and cinema-style snacks peaked last week. Since it’ll take a while for those to ship, we can expect to see more home cinema setups cropping up on social media in the coming weeks.

Of course it’s one thing to organize a night in for a treat or to celebrate at your DIY cinema, but it’s another to find something which everyone wants to watch. For 12k authors we found discussing DIY cinemas, the answer is home rentals.

Total conversations around movie rentals in March and April increased 1696% compared to January and February. This indicates that digital rentals are starting to fill a gap left by theaters.

And, according to the Wall Street Journal, it’s a smart move to bring recent box office movies direct to home rental. ‘Trolls World Tour’ made more money in rentals than in five months in theatres.

While at-home cinemas are a great lockdown pick-me-up and celebration, they aren’t quite the real thing. What will be fascinating to see is how the cinema industry will be shaped by Covid-19: Will online movie rentals continue their current success into the future.

The good, the bad, and the background noise

With the number of video meetings and virtual drinks we’re all doing, background noise has become a bigger issue than ever.

Whether it’s from poor connections, noisy air conditioning, or loud TVs, people are getting a bit fed up.

Unsurprisingly, people have taken to their keyboards to vent.

Of all mentions around background noise since March, 53% of them are classified as angry by our Consumer Research platform. That’s a lot of frustrated people.

It wasn’t just about meetings and calls, though. We also found 2,600 people talking about podcasts and recordings. With more people creating their own content, clearly a few of them are struggling with technical issues and getting the sound quality on point.

We also looked into the searches around this topic. Some of it made sense, such as an increased interest in apps like Krisp, which cuts out background noise for video calls.

But then we noticed something a little odd.

YouTube searches around the topic of ‘background noise’ have been rising, too.
It turns out, with many more people working from home, they’ve begun to miss the murmuring of coworkers and the clattering cutlery of cafés. A quick look at the top videos for ‘background noise’ returns an eight hour coffee shop and rain soundscape, for example.

You can also find the sounds of distant thunder storms, train journeys, and alien spaceships. There’s something for everyone, it seems.

People aren’t just turning to YouTube. We found a massive increase in online mentions of background noise apps and websites. These either give you tracks of various types of background noise, or allow you to build your own.

The number of people discussing them in April was up 252% compared to February, and up 51% compared to March. Thanks to demand, The Kids creative agency even created an office noise generator just for the occasion.

Want to try some apps out yourself? Here are the five most-mentioned to get you started.

Hope on the horizon

Yesterday we showed how anxiety around the world has changed throughout the pandemic. Today we’re looking at optimism and depression across different countries.

We used Qriously to survey 7,000 adults through their tablets and smartphones, asking them about how they were feeling in the current climate.¹

Here’s what they told us.

The immediate picture is a positive one. In all countries, option one (which represents no depression at all) was picked most. When you include option two (indicating only minor levels), this covers over 50% of people in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, and the US.

Looking at people choosing ‘very depressed’ (option five), the average across the countries surveyed was 16%. There were only two countries significantly different to this: Australia with 9%, and China with 23%.

When looking at the percentage of respondents picking option three and up, China has the highest (57%). As the country has been dealing with Covid-19 and lockdowns longer than any other, this is no surprise.

On a happier note…

Optimism levels are fairly high. On average, 65% of respondents chose option three or above (indicating medium to high optimism), and just 13% chose option one (indicating no optimism at all).

China has the highest percentage of respondents saying they’re ‘very optimistic’ (option five), despite also having the highest percentage saying they are very depressed. As lockdowns are lifting and case numbers are brought down, many people are expecting things to improve, but it’s a polarized picture.

Things look pretty optimistic across the board. On average, just 27% of respondents chose option one or two. That said, the UK and Spain pulled this average up, with 32% and 35% respectively.

With all things considered, it’s a mixed picture but it looks like things are on the right track, even if there’s still a long way to go.

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Brandwatch Response Team

¹ Note: All surveys are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error. On the basis of the historical record of the polls at recent general elections, there is a 9 in 10 chance that the true value of a survey result lies within 4 points of the estimates provided by this survey, and a 2 in 3 chance that they lie within 2 points.