More than half of people in Latin America can access one or more pay TV service

"It’s Pay-TV boom time in Latin America. According to the regional advertising council LAMAC more than half of Latin Americans can currently access one or more Pay-TV platforms. That’s up from 36.3% since 2008 (the actual present-day statistic is 56.3%) – a significant advance that advertisers, the LAMAC stresses, are reportedly remaining a little slow to take advantage of, with over 85% of advertising campaign efforts targeting free channels, and only 10% of investment directed at Pay-TV."
Source:  IP&TV News, 27th September 2013
Note - just because they can doesn't mean that they do

3 million taxi journeys in London have been made using the Hailo app

"Three million taxi journeys have been made in the capital using smartphone app Hailo, the London-based tech start-up announced today.
Investor Sir Richard Branson also predicted that the number of cabbies using Hailo — which number 42,000 worldwide, including 13,000 in London — would double over the next year."

Source:  Evening Standard, 23rd September 2013

Earlier - 40% of London black cab drivers use Hailo (Feb 2013)

Alibaba's sites account for 60% of all parcels delivered in China

"Alibaba’s various e-commerce sites account for 60 per cent of parcels delivered in China; just two of its portals handled more sales globally in 2012 than eBay and Amazon combined. Half of all online payments in China go through its online payment processor, Alipay."
Source:  Profile of Jack Ma in the Financial Times, 28th September 2013

Note - this stat is also quoted in The Economist, 23rd March 2013

Forms of advertising that people trust

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Source:  Data from Nielsen, reported on their blog, 17th Sept 2013
Based on 58 countries

The global and regional reach of mobile chat apps among iPhone users

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Source:  Data from Onovo Insights, reported in The Next Web, 8th August 2013
Note - Android has more users in most regions, but the figures should still give a good indication of popularity

Ad revenues rose 45% y-o-y for DMGT newspaper websites

"Daily Mail & General Trust's national newspaper division, DMG Media, has reported a slight year-on-year rise in underlying ad revenues for the 11 months to the end of August.
Strong growth for DMGT newspaper websites including Mail Online, with ad revenues up 45% year on year, offset print decline during a period that included tough comparisons with last year's money-spinning London Olympic and Paralympic Games. Other digital ad revenue, mostly from Evanbase and Wowcher, was up 21% year on year during the period."

Source:  The Guardian, 25th September 2013

Apple sold 9 million iPhone 5s & 5c models in the first three days

"Apple® today announced it has sold a record-breaking nine million new iPhone® 5s and iPhone 5c models, just three days after the launch of the new iPhones on September 20. In addition, more than 200 million iOS devices are now running the completely redesigned iOS 7, making it the fastest software upgrade in history. Both iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c are available in the US, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK. Demand for iPhone 5s has exceeded the initial supply, and many online orders are scheduled to be shipped in the coming weeks.
“This is our best iPhone launch yet―more than nine million new iPhones sold―a new record for first weekend sales,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The demand for the new iPhones has been incredible, and while we’ve sold out of our initial supply of iPhone 5s, stores continue to receive new iPhone shipments regularly. We appreciate everyone’s patience and are working hard to build enough new iPhones for everyone.”"

Source:  Press release from Apple, 23rd September 2013
Earlier - 5m iPhone 5 models sold in the first 3 days in Sept 2012

Smartphones as a percentage of all mobiles in Asia & Beyond

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Source:  Data from Nielsen, 17th September 2013

What Americans do on their mobile phones

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Source:  Pew Internet & American Life Project, Cell Phone Activities 2013, 19th September 2013

Nokia's 'Thanks Apple' Tweet has had over 40,000 Re-Tweets

Thanks, #Apple ;) pic.twitter.com/x4w3r8Ghcy
— Nokia UK (@nokia_uk) September 10, 2013

It is one of the most re-tweeted brand tweets ever - Background here

GTA5 generated $800 million in first day sales

"Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO) today announced that Grand Theft Auto V delivered the highest first day retail sales of any title in the history of the Company and the Grand Theft Auto series. Launched on September 17 for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the title has already received widespread critical acclaim and achieved first day sell-through of more than $800 million worldwide, excluding the upcoming launch in Japan and Brazil, according to Company estimates.
“All of us at Take-Two are thrilled with the initial response to Grand Theft Auto V. Once again, the team at Rockstar Games have outdone themselves, setting the entertainment industry's new standard for creativity, innovation and excellence," said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two. “Beginning at midnight on Monday, consumers around the world gathered in anticipation to be among the first to experience the evolution of this remarkable series. In North America alone, more than 8,300 stores opened their doors at midnight to welcome fans whose loyalty and enthusiasm were rewarded with what The New York Times called ‘the most immersive spectacle in interactive entertainment’. We are incredibly proud of Rockstar Games’ creative achievement and could not be more pleased with the success of this launch.”"
Source:  Press release from Take-Two Interactive Software, 18th September 2013
Update - $1bn in 3 days

The development & marketing budget for GTA5 is estimated at $265 million

"The budget for Grand Theft Auto V is the highest of any video game, it has been revealed ahead of the keenly-awaited title’s release next week.
It is also is more than any movie bar Pirates of the Caribbean 3, with the game expected to make $1.57 billion in just one year.
Although games with a budget of around $100 million are becoming relatively commonplace, the $265 million (£170 million) budget of Grand Theft Auto V is more than double that of 2008’s Grand Theft Auto IV.
A number of movies hover around the same mark, including famous flop John Carter, but the only film that cost more to make than Grand Theft Auto V is 2007’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.
Despite this colossal investment newspaper The Scotsman reports that Grand Theft Auto V is likely to sell 25 million copies in its first year alone, generating sales of £1 billion ($1.57 billion)."

Source:  Metro, 9th September 2013

Netflix uses pirate sites to determine what TV shows to buy and offer

"This week Netflix rolled out its service in the Netherlands and the company’s Vice President of Content Acquisition, Kelly Merryman, says that their offering is partly based on what shows do well on BitTorrent networks and other pirate sites.
“With the purchase of series, we look at what does well on piracy sites,” Merryman told Tweakers.
One of the shows that Netflix acquired the rights to in the Netherlands is Prison Break, since it is heavily pirated locally. “Prison Break is exceptionally popular on piracy sites,” Merryman says."

Source:  TorrentFreak, 14th September 2013

Strght Skateboards was founded after people showed interest in Instagram pics

"Gabe Willis is a surfer—or at least he was until he moved from sunny San Diego to landlocked Oklahoma for college. Facing a sudden lack of waves, Gabe bought a skateboard and took to the streets, only to be left with a broken board after a few weeks. Rather than dip into his student budget for a new one, Gabe decided to try his hand at making one himself. Drawing inspiration from old-fashioned wooden boards and his family’s engraving company, he set to work and documented his process on Instagram as he went.
As people saw the unique board he was creating, they wanted to figure out how to get one as well. Supported by the interest on Instagram, Gabe created the @strght account and began filling orders directly through Instagram. Now, seven months later, Strght has expanded to four full-time employees and has begun to sell in stores and through web retailers."

Source:  Instagram for Business, June 2013

There were 2 million Tweets about GTA5 in 24 hours

Over the past 24 hours, there have been more than two million mentions of Grand Theft Auto V on Twitter. #GTAV #GTA5
— Twitter UK (@TwitterUK) September 17, 2013

"Over the past 24 hours, there have been more than two million mentions of Grand Theft Auto V on Twitter. #GTAV #GTA5"
Source:  Tweet from Twitter UK, 17th September 2013

Line has 200 million registered users

"LINE has achieved a new record of 200 million registered users* worldwide on Saturday, July 21!
Since its launch in June 2011, LINE has grown to become a service enjoyed by users all over the world, reaching out from Japan to as far as Taiwan, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, the Middle East, Spain, India, and South America. We here at LINE would like to express our sincere gratitude to all you 200 million users for your support. Thank you for using LINE!
*All registered user numbers are for iPhone/Android/Windows Phone/BlackBerry/Nokia Asha/feature phone apps combined.
*Each LINE account can only be used on one device. The combined number of registered users refers to the total number of accounts created on LINE for all devices."

Source:  Line's blog, 23rd July 2013

Also - The Line 'Game' services has has 200m downloads as at 6th September

The Shazam app has been used 10 billion times

"Shazam®, the world’s leading media engagement company, today announced it has crossed a major new user threshold – people around the world have used the app over 10 billion times to identify and discover songs, TV shows and ads. The 10 billionth song was Lady Gaga’s new single, “Applause”, which was Shazamed in the U.S. in the city of East Brunswick, New Jersey, via an iOS device.
“The exploration of music through technology is an important element of ARTPOP, so for 'Applause' to be the 10 billionth song Shazamed is very exciting!” said Lady Gaga from London where she opened the iTunes Festival.
Almost 100 songs were identified in 17 countries in the same second as “Applause”, narrowly missing by milliseconds the distinction of being the 10 billionth."
Source:  Press release from Shazam, 5th September 2013

Charles Dickens made no money from the sale of his books in America

"Now suppose that someone sees there’s money to be made from books, and decides to print and distribute my book themselves, without any agreement with me, and keep all the money they get from it. They’d be fairly stupid to do that, because this is where the law of copyright comes in. They’re not allowed to do it. It’s against the law. That’s why it very rarely happens now, although it used to happen a great deal before international copyright agreements came into existence. Charles Dickens, for example, made no money at all from the vast sale of his books in the United States, and he was justly angered about it."
Source:  Philip Pullman writing in Index on Censorship, September 2013
Also - The Story of Dr Jekyll & Mt Hyde was an early victim of piracy

More than 350 million photos a day are shared on Snapchat

"Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel said the popular mobile-messaging app is now processing more than 350 million “snaps” a day, up from 200 million in June.People take photos outside of Snapchat’s headquarters in Los Angeles. Bloomberg
The app became popular thanks to a self-destruction feature that deletes photo messages, or “snaps,” seconds after they are opened. A big potential rival, Facebook'sFB +0.20% Poke app released earlier this year, quickly fell off the top rankings among free apps in the Apple store. Snapchat, meanwhile, stands at number 12 on Apple’s free app chart."

Source:  WSJ, 9th September 2013

Earlier - 50 million a day in December 2012

More than 1 billion Android devices have been activated

"All this Android innovation is driving tremendous ecosystem momentum and I’m excited to share that together we’ve now passed 1 Billion Android device activations. Huge thanks to the entire Android community from the hardware manufacturers, chip makers and carriers to the developers and content creators to all of you - our Android users around the world - for making this possible."
Source:  Post on Google+ by Sundar Pichai, 3rd September 2013
Earlier - 480m announced in September 2012 (assuming that 480m 'users' = devices)

More than 1 million Pinterest 'pins' are made in the UK each day

"Pinterest claims more than one million Pinterst posts are made in the UK each day, with more than 60% of monthly users visiting the site weekly."
Source:  Marketing Magazine, 9th September 2013

The six biggest movies at the US box office in summer 2013 were all sequels

"The six top movies of summer – ‘Iron Man 3,” ‘Despicable Me 2,” “Man of Steel,” “Monsters University,” “Fast & Furious 6” and “Star Trek into Darkness” – were sequels."
Source:  The Wrap, 3rd September 2013

CNN mentioned 'Twerking' 110 times on TV in one week

"And according to TVEyes, “twerk” went from 2 mentions on television Sunday to a peak of 1,058 mentions on Thursday.
This week, the word “twerk” or “twerking” was used on E! 114 times, CNN 110 times, Fox News 66 times, MSNBC 35 times, CNBC eight times and ESPN one time."
Source:  Buzzfeed, 1st September 2013

Time spent online in the US has doubled in 3 years, thanks to mobile and tablet use

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Source:  Data from comScore, via JumpTap, reported by Business Insider, 5th September 2013

Twitter has 15 million users in the UK

2+ years, 15MM users in UK, teams in 6 EU countries, excited to return to HQ and home. Proud to hand off to incredible European leadership!
— Tony Wang (@TonyW) September 6, 2013

Source:  Tweet from outgoing UK MD Tonly Wang, 6th September 2013

Instagram has 150 million active monthly users

"Today we’re excited to announce that Instagram has grown to a community of more than 150 million people capturing and sharing moments every month.
Whether it’s documenting protests in Egypt, sharing the trip of a lifetime across the United States or snapping #petselfiez, this community continues to surprise us every day with your creativity, sense of adventure and unique perspectives on the world.
As the community continues to grow, it’s becoming more global too — now more than 60% of you are from outside the United States. Whether you’re in Moscow or Hong Kong, Berlin or Reykjavik, we’re more committed than ever to bringing you the best Instagram experience possible.
To the 50 million of you who’ve joined in the last six months, welcome. And from our team to all 150 million of you, thank you for making Instagram great. We can’t wait to see what you’ll create next."
Source:  Blog post by Instagram, 8th September 2013
Earlier - 130 million announced on 21st June 2013

Buzzfeed has 85 milion monthly visitors and is profitable

"BuzzFeed reached record traffic of 85 million unique visitors in August. We are 3X bigger than we were just one year ago, 8X bigger than we were two years ago, and we have served more web pages so far in 2013 than we have in the entire previous five year history of the company. By this time next year we should be one of the biggest sites on the web.
[...]
Part of our strategy is being a great business. This sounds strange as a strategic goal, isn’t that obvious? But we are in a market where many traditional publishers are run at a loss by wealthy families and many high profile venture-backed startups generate no or little revenue. Surprisingly it is contrarian that we are running BuzzFeed as a profitable business. Jon’s incredible success turning BuzzFeed into a great business in just three years has been the reason why we've been able to hire so many other talented new people. So don’t forget to thank Jon for your job if you joined BuzzFeed within the last 3 years. ;)"

Source:  Memo from Founder and CEO Jonah Peretti, 4th September 2013

Amazon sells more online in the US than the next 12 biggest competitors combined

"Amazon.com Inc. sells more online [in the US] than its next 12 biggest competitors combined, including Staples Inc. and Wal-Mart, according to the trade publication Internet Retailer. Despite its greater online scale, Amazon continues to grow quickly and command a hefty share of new Internet sales. Its 30% increase in North American sales in the second quarter outstripped the overall e-commerce market and some competitors as well.
Source:  WSJ, 27th August 2013

Foxconn assembles an estimated 40% of the world's consumer electronics

"Foxconn Technology has dozens of facilities in Asia and Eastern Europe, and in Mexico and Brazil, and it assembles an estimated 40 percent of the world’s consumer electronics for customers like Amazon, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Nintendo, Nokia, Samsung and Sony."
Source:  New York Times, 22nd January 2013

23% of UK online purchases are made on mobile devices

"The percentage of online sales completed through a mobile device (smartphones and tablets) has doubled in the space of a year, according to figures from IMRG and Capgemini.
In Q2 of 2012 the percentage stood at 11.6 per cent, but by Q2 of 2013 it had exactly doubled to 23.2 per cent. Over the same period the percentage of online retail site visits through mobile devices has also shot up sharply, from 21.1 per cent in Q2 2012 to 34 per cent in Q3 2013.
IMRG and Capgemini have been tracking sales through mobile devices for over three years, during which time its penetration of online sales has grown by more than 2,000 per cent, with the penetration of online retail visits via mobile devices growing by 1,100 per cent."
Source:  Retail Gazette,3rd September 2013

Note - It doesn't explicitly say that they are UK sales, but I'm assuming that they are

5.2 billion cans of Red Bull were sold in 2012

"According to the private company, it sold 5.2 billion cans worldwide last year, a 13% increase over the year prior. In the U.S., sales jumped 17%, while markets as varied as South Africa, Japan, Saudi Arabia, France and Germany also saw double-digit sales gains."

Source:  AdAge, 3rd September 2013

The demographics of Wonga customers in the UK

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Source:  Wonga, retrieved 3rd September 2013
Also - Wonga has more than a million customers

TV viewing on other devices accounts for only 1.5% of total viewing in the UK

"Analysis of UK TV viewing figures for the first half of 2013 shows how people’s TV diet is developing as on-demand TV viewing becomes a more established part of people’s lives.
According to Thinkbox, the marketing body for commercial TV in the UK, total average daily TV viewing in the UK during January-June 2013 was 4 hours, 1 minute a day per person.
This comprised:
3 hours, 58 minutes a day of linear TV on a TV set. This is 3 minutes a day less than the same period last year (source: Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board [BARB]). One reason for the slight drop is the improving economy.
3 minutes, 30 seconds a day via devices such as tablets, smartphones and laptops (or just over 3 half-hour TV shows a month). This is mostly on-demand but some live streams (source: figures supplied by UK broadcasters to Thinkbox).
In total, viewing on non-TV set devices via established services such as ITV Player, Sky Go, 4OD and BBC iPlayer, and new services such as Dave On-demand, accounted for 1.5 per cent of overall TV viewing during the first half of 2013. This is a slight increase on the full year figure for 2012, when it accounted for 1.2 per cent."

Source:  Advanced Television, 23rd August 2013

It took telephones 104 years to connect 300m people; it took Skype 10 years

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Source:  Blog post by Skype on their tenth birthday, 28th August 2013
Note - Of course lots of other people have done it in less than ten years - WeChat, for example

A third of visitors to US ecommerce sites come only via mobile or tablets

"Out of Every 3 Monthly Visitors to the Average Digital Retailer Website Comes Exclusively on Mobile Platforms
Not only is Retail one of the highest penetration activities across all digital media platforms today, but in June it actually had a higher penetration within smartphones (90%) and tablets (91%) than on desktop computers (78%). Given its relative importance on mobile platforms, retailers should not be surprised then to see an increasingly meaningful percentage of their digital visitors being sourced from smartphones and tablets.
What may be surprising to retailers, however, is that for many consumers mobile is the only channel through which they engage with a retail brand during the course of a typical month. A recent comScore analysis reveals that an average of 35 percent of the average Top 50 retailers’ monthly audience comes exclusively from mobile platforms. What this means is that retailers who do not (at a minimum) optimize their mobile browsing experience or introduce mobile apps are effectively turning away a third of their potential customers."

Source:  comScore, 27th August 2013

Note - I think that 'mobile' includes tablets

Micromax has a 22% share of India's smartphone market

"India’s currency may be floundering but its smartphone market is on fire—sales have nearly tripled in the last year, led by the local upstart Micromax, which is nipping at the heels of Samsung for market share dominance. Micromax now commands a 22% market share, up from 18.8% in the first quarter. Samsung’s share has slipped to 26% from 32.7%."
Source:  Data from IDC, reported by Quartz, 30th August 2013

Microsoft bought Nokia's mobile phone business for $7.2 billion

"Microsoft has agreed a deal to buy Nokia's mobile phone business for 5.4bn euros ($7.2bn; £4.6bn).
Nokia will also license its patents and mapping services to Microsoft. Nokia shares jumped 45% on news of the deal.
The purchase is set to be completed in early 2014, when about 32,000 Nokia employees will transfer to Microsoft."

Source:  BBC News, 3rd September 2013