Video cures mind: Estimating how the disaster shifts video consumption

Natural disasters are believed to change the way how people use social media platforms and consume online streaming content. This research explores how the pandemic, as a context of a disaster, impacts consumer video consumption behavior. Specifically, it examines how consumers react to positive versus negative videos during a disaster. Video viewing has gradually become the most popular web-based activity and is predicted to account for around 82% of all IP traffic by 2022 (Cisco, 2021). Such an increase in video's popularity calls for a better understanding of what types of videos become popular among viewers (e.g., received more views, likes, comments, and shares). Our research revealed that people actively seek for more positive media content after the outbreak of COVID-19. We suggested and demonstrated that consumers became more dependent on positive videos when they felt more anxious during the pandemic, especially when stricter lockdown restrictions were imposed. Stronger negative emotions may intensify consumers' need for mood regulation.