Zoom to Lift 40-Minute Meeting Limit for Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year for Free Accounts

Zoom has announced that it will be removing its standard 40-minute meeting limit applicable on free accounts for the upcoming festivals for users around the world. The temporary relaxation will be for a few days in December around Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year. This will allow people to spend more virtual time with their loved ones. The video conferencing service had last removed the time limit for meetings on Thanksgiving Day. Zoom has specified the time windows in which the 40-minute limit will lift automatically.

Zoom has listed the details about this relaxation for users with free accounts in its blog post, Zoom said that it will be removing the 40-minute limit as a token of appreciation for its users. Starting with the last few days of Hanukkah, the limit will automatically lift from December 17 at 10 am ET (8:30pm IST) to December 19 6am ET (4:30pm IST). Then, the limit will lift on December 23 at 10am ET (8:30pm IST) to 6am ET (4:30pm IST) on December 26 for Christmas. Similarly for New Year, the limit will be lifted from 10am ET (8:30pm IST) on December 30 to 6am ET (4:30pm IST) on January 2, 2021.

Earlier in November, Zoom announced that it was lifting the 40-minute limit for free accounts on Thanksgiving Day, which it did from midnight November 26 to 6am ET (4:30pm IST) on November 27.

This comes as good news for all Zoom users as this holiday season, celebrations are going to take place virtually with families getting together on video calls and not physically. Because of the pandemic, Zoom saw a significant growth in its user base, and data for the August-October period shows just that. Zoom's year-on-year revenue more than quadrupled in the second quarter of this year to $777 million (roughly Rs. 5,700 crores), yielding a profit of $198 million (roughly Rs. 1,500 crores). The Q3 earnings report of Zoom also showed that it saw an increase of 63,500 customers from July. In each of the previous two quarters, Zoom had added more than 100,000 customers.

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