Netflix sees 20 percent boost in streaming…thanks, Sandy?

GlobalPost

Netflix saw a 20 percent increase in streaming along the East Coast Sunday and Monday, in large part thanks to Hurricane Sandy. 

The site saw the boost in New York, Boston, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Boston, the Los Angeles Times reported

“Initially we saw a lot of kids titles being watched, a sign that the kids are staying home from school, said Netflix spokesman Joris Evers, according to Digital First Media, which also found that 2012 remake of “Treasure Island” was the top movie being streamed via Instantwatcher.com, which directed people to Netflix titles.

“Battleground,” “The Artist” and “Alexandria" were also popular during the storm, DFM reported. 

More from GlobalPost: Full coverage: Hurricane Sandy

"We're glad we can provide people some great entertainment while they're hunkered down for the storm," he added, CNN reported

However, Daily Finance writer Anders Bylund speculated that Netflix wasn't the only entertainment getting a boost during the storm.

"I'm sure that Comcast and DirecTV would report higher viewership as well as people while away a rainy day in anticipation of a coming disaster," wrote Bylund. "The Weather Channel looks like a big winner. Board games and diary writing are other likely gainers. Some people may even have started conversations, for crying out loud! Who knows where that might lead?" 

Who knows, indeed. At least there's a silver lining, albeit a thin one, to Sandy? 

More from GlobalPost: Reddit, Netflix, Flipboard, others shut down over Amazon cloud outage

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