Global data created per year

The world produces more data than at any point in human history, while fewer people watch Survivor than at any point in its own. Somehow, these two sentences now describe the same line. Civilization is watching everything except Survivor.

Global data creation ballooned in 2020 as video calls, streaming, and remote work pushed everyone online, while Survivor's viewership dropped sharply because covid paused production, delayed seasons, and sent a weary audience drifting toward streaming alternatives. One curve climbed because everyone went indoors; the other dropped for the same reason. Same cause, opposite directions.

So the correlation is the sound of a medium migrating: more screens, less appointment television. Survivor's tribal council was, it turns out, on Zoom. Nobody watched live.