⏱The big winner of 2020

Dec 31, 2020

Hello and welcome to 90 Second News issue #62. Today is Thursday, December 31st.

Good morning and congrats to all of you for surviving 2020! It’s been quite the year, so fingers crossed that 2021 picks up the slack.

Streaming! It turns out that when the world was stressed, we all turned to The Office, Tiger King, and Queen’s Gambit to get through the year. The average household in the US paid for more streaming services this year than in 2019, and the subscriber numbers backed that data up. Netflix is currently in more than 60% of homes, while Hulu is in roughly 35%, and Disney+ has made a splash in its first year, hitting about 30% of households. We’re scared to ask how many total minutes were streamed. (Our guess? A lot)

The U.K. issued an EUA for the AstraZeneca vaccine late Tuesday night, making it the third vaccine to become approved in a western nation. Although the vaccine is less effective than its Pfizer and Moderna counterparts, health officials said that it will help tremendously to curb the rise of cases in the country as they fight the new strain of Covid.

Yesterday Amazon acquired Wondery, the podcast maker, in a deal that values the company at more than $300M. That valuation triples the one they received last June, although they’ve only increased revenue by $30M this year, with 75% of it coming from advertising. Amazon doesn’t appear concerned about the financials though, as they are immediately bundling it into their Amazon music service in an effort to break into the podcast area.

Yesterday Argentina became the third South American country to legalize abortion, following a 38-29 vote in their Senate. This move, in a largely Catholic country, marks a landmark moment for women’s rights — especially considering the opposition had some powerful allies, including Pope Francis.

The Wall Street Journal’s photo essay of 2020 captured all of the highest highs and lowest lows of the year. Google’s year in search also provides one of the most detailed breakdowns of this wild year (careful, it’s a tear-jerker!)

Have a great rest of your day, and we’ll see you tomorrow bright and early!

-The 90 Second News Team

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