According to Zach Weinberg, director of Gartner’s Amazon Advisory group, the platform uses algorithms to predict consumer demand and sales spikes, which allows it to adjust warehouse inventory accordingly.

“I imagine they’re using those systems to the best of their ability [to figure out] what they need to replenish,” Weinberg said. “Amazon has many fulfillment centers and frequently shuttles products between [them]. The one thing they have the ability to do, plus the data, right now is to analyze to say, ‘What are hotbeds of demand versus lulls?’ … [to figure out how to] flex some inventory in other warehouses to bring inventory where [orders have] spiked heavily.”

Overall, viewership on HBO’s direct-to-consumer streaming service has surged 40% since March 14—the highest numbers the service has seen since last summer. Viewers seem to be using the lockdown to watch popular older HBO series: The Wire’s viewers have tripled, while audiences for The Sopranos and Sex and the City have nearly doubled.

Binge-watching three or more episodes on HBO Now has jumped 65% compared to the past four weeks, and movie viewing has increased 70%, Idell said. Disaster films like Armageddon, the Vietnam War classic Apocalypse Now and the horror thriller Black Swan are particularly popular.

The continuing COVID-19 outbreak means a less-than-rosy outlook for media owners’ net advertising revenue forecasts. Media suppliers’ total linear ad sales, previously expected to hold steady this year, are now projected to decline by nearly 12% in 2020, according to a revised ad forecast from the IPG Mediabrands-owned Magna Global. Full-year ad sales are expected to drop by 2.8% across all media, when they had previously expected to grow nearly 7%.

The impact will be most severe for print media, which is expected to be hit with a 25% loss in advertising sales in 2020 compared to the previously forecast 17% decline

Curated content platform Flipboard is growing out its local news initiative with the addition of 12 new metropolitan areas, as well as partnerships with local news platform Patch and nonprofit newsroom ProPublica.

The local news initiative debuted in 23 metropolitan areas in the U.S. and Canada in January, and Thursday’s additions raise that total to 35 metro areas served. The new markets are: Baltimore; Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C.; Cleveland; Detroit; Indianapolis; Nashville; Orlando and Tampa Bay, Fla.; Pittsburgh; St. Louis; and Salt Lake City.

Data, insights and consulting company Kantar introduced the first wave of its COVID-19 Barometer, which examines the impact of the pandemic on consumer behavior.

The study, released on Wednesday, surveyed more than 25,000 consumers across 30 markets between March 14 and March 23 and included findings on consumer attitudes, media habits, impact on purchase behavior and what consumers expect from brands.

As buyers and media companies enact new strategies in the wake of COVID-19’s impact on the country and world, several are beginning to doubt whether upfront negotiations can be conducted in their usual late spring/summer timeframe.

With many buyers and brands still focused on reallocating their media spend in the wake of sports cancellations and postponements (including March Madness and the Summer Olympics), and reevaluating the tone of their current ads amid the pandemic, “I don’t think clients are thinking about the upfront just yet,” said one buyer, speaking anonymously.