Moleskine sold 17m notebooks in 2014

"Last year, Moleskine sold more than seventeen million notebooks, and brought in more than ninety million euros in revenues from sales of paper products, up from just over fifty million in 2010. While some of the company’s success, especially among the young consumers who make up its fastest-growing market, can be attributed to its marketing—which is built on associations with such famous creatives as Chatwin, Hemingway, Picasso, and van Gogh (all of whom used similarly styled notebooks)—for many people, the notebook is simply superior to its digital competitors."

Source:  New Yorker, 14th June 2015

'The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want U.S. to intervene'

"On March 28-31, 2014, we asked a national sample of 2,066 Americans (fielded via Survey Sampling International Inc. (SSI), what action they wanted the U.S. to take in Ukraine, but with a twist: In addition to measuring standard demographic characteristics and general foreign policy attitudes, we also asked our survey respondents to locate Ukraine on a map as part of a larger, ongoing project to study foreign policy knowledge. We wanted to see where Americans think Ukraine is and to learn if this knowledge (or lack thereof) is related to their foreign policy views. We found that only one out of six Americans can find Ukraine on a map, and that this lack of knowledge is related to preferences: The farther their guesses were from Ukraine’s actual location, the more they wanted the U.S.  to intervene with military force."
Source:  Washington Post, 7th April 2014

The average number of sexual partners a British woman has had has doubled in 20 years

Click to enlarge

Source:  Natsal, the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, 26th November 2013
Full Infographic here
Lancet papers here
Methodology:
"Over 15,000 adults aged 16-74 participated in interviews between September 2010 and August 2012. Studying this large representative sample of people living in Britain enabled the researchers to produce key estimates on patterns of sexual behaviour, attitudes, health, and wellbeing across the population. Two previous Natsal surveys have taken place, in 1990 and 2000, making it one of the biggest and most comprehensive studies of sexual behaviour undertaken in a single country."
Note - Yes, I know that this isn't a 'digital stat' but I think this (& other findings in the surveys) is a great example of how people's attitudes and behaviour can change over time.  I often hear people say 'people don't change, technology does' and while I agree with that to a degree (often motivations don't change...) people do change, and society does change...

It took 17 days for the news of Nelson's victory at Trafalgar to reach London

"It took a full seventeen days for news of Nelson’s victory in 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar to reach London. The news had travelled at 2.7mph.
News of the 1891 Nobi Earthquake in Japan travelled at 246mph, taking one day to reach London.
And in 2008 it took just one minute for news of the Sichuan earthquake to reach – London, travelling at 204,000mph."

Source:  Blog post by Martin Weigel, 15th July 2013

Note - I'm not sure of the original source, but I think it might be Michael Stillwell, A Farewell To Alms: A Brief Economic History Of The World

See also - 'It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million people

13,000 British households have a black & white TV licence

"More than 13,000 households across the UK are still using black-and-white television sets, according to the TV Licensing authority.
London had the highest number of monochrome licences, at 2,715, followed by Birmingham and Manchester, it said.
The number of licences issued each year has dwindled from 212,000 in 2000. A total of 13,202 monochrome licences were in force at the start of 2013.
A black-and-white TV licence costs £49 a year, a colour licence costs £145.50.
TV Licensing spokesman Stephen Farmer said: "It's remarkable that with the digital switchover complete, 41% of UK households owning HDTVs and Britons leading the world in accessing TV content over the internet, more than 13,000 households still watch their favourite programmes on a black-and-white telly.""

Source:  BBC News, 10th January 2013

Note - Each household in the UK needs a TV licence if they have a TV.  You can only get a black and white licence if you only have a black and white TV.  If you have a colour TV and a black & white TV, you need a colour licence.

UK Album downloads rose 15% in 2012

"A fifth successive record year for singles and strong performances from digital albums and streaming services demonstrated further consumer confidence in digital music formats in 2012, new Official Charts Company figures released today by the BPI confirmed.
British music fans streamed audio tracks more than 3.7 billion times during 2012, Official Charts Company figures showed for the first time, with Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye ft Kimbra, Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen and Titanium by David Guetta ft Sia the three most-streamed tracks of the year.   This is equivalent to 140 music streams for every household in the UK.
Digital album sales rose 14.8% to 30.5m, although sales of albums on CD declined 19.5% year-on-year to 69.4m in total.  Combined volume sales of digital and physical albums fell overall by 11.2% to 100.5m in 2012.
Digital album download volumes continued to show strong growth, with 16 albums selling more than 100,000 digital copies in 2012.  Despite the growth in digital formats, the CD remained popular with album buyers in 2012, accounting for more than two-thirds (69.1%) of total sales compared to a 30.4% share for digital albums and 0.4% for vinyl LPs.
It was another year of success for the UK singles market, with single track sales volumes continuing to break records for the fifth year in succession.  Total singles sales increased 6.0% to 188.6m in 2012, with the overwhelming majority (99.6%) accounted for by digital tracks and bundles. All the top 20 best-selling singles of 2012 sold more than 500,000 copies each.
The final week of 2012 proved to be the year’s record week for digital sales as consumers redeemed their Christmas music vouchers and downloaded more than 1.3m albums and 5.6m singles."

Source:  Press release from the BPI, 2nd January 2013

78m Americans bought CDs in 2011

"According to an annual study of the consumer music market in the U.S. by The NPD Group, a leading market research company, growth in the music market can be traced to an increasing number of CD and digital download buyers, and an increase in the total amount that consumers are spending for music. After years of decline, driven by sharply falling CD sales and maturing digital download market, total music-track sales rose 4 percent during 2011. Although CD sales dipped, the decline was not nearly as severe as in the past, and the drop was offset by a healthy paid-music download market.
Based on the findings of NPD’s “Annual Music Study,” after years of losing buyers, caused by many consumers who simply stopped buying music, the total number of CD buyers increased for the second consecutive year, growing 2 percent to 78 million. There were a variety of reasons consumers cited for purchasing more CDs, including a perceived improvement in the quality and value of the music available, and a greater ability to learn about music prior to purchase. Consumers also now have a wider variety of sources to discover new music -- from traditional AM/FM radio and online services like Pandora, Rhapsody, and Spotify. Even as Apple’s iTunes approaches its tenth anniversary next year, there are still nearly twice as many CD buyers in the U.S. as there are paid digital-music downloaders."

Source:  Press release from NPD, 6th March 2012

40% of tickets on Live Nation go unsold

"Can data really solve this mess? The 40 percent figure was first revealed by Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino last year, in the chambers of Congress of all places.  And now, it's part of a freshly-published research report that focuses on a pressing cheap seats problem.  Because it's not that Live Nation doesn't want to fill every seat in every house, they just don't know how."

Source:  DigitalMusicNews, 19th December 2011

Nearly 80% of US kids' spend on entertainment goes on physical goods

"[A]ccording to a study shared by NPD Group, kids between the ages of 2 and 14 in the US still overwhelmingly purchase physical goods.        
That is, 79 percent of their entertainment purchases by value - across all media types - are of the tangible variety.  "For every dollar kids (ages 2-14) spend on entertainment content, $0.79 goes to physical format content and $0.21 goes towards digital format content," the report authors shared with Digital Music News.
Oddly, the stat seems to fit.  In a presentation earlier this year, NPD Group analyst Russ Crupnick reported that 55 percent of music buyers - across all ages - are still solely purchasing CDs, though the broader number of buyers is shrinking. "

Source:  DigitalMusicNews, 18th October 2011

Vinyl sales rose 55% in the UK in 2010

"Figures from the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) show a 55% increase in sales of vinyl LPs, led by the success of Radiohead's King Of Limbs.
Sales of vinyl albums increased to 168,296 units in the first half of 2011, compared with 108,307 in the same period of 2010, despite the fact that consumers pay £16.30 for an average vinyl album compared with £7.82 for CD albums and £6.80 for digital albums.
Leading the charge for first six months of 2011 was King of Limbs which sold 20,771 copies, compared to just 1,446 copies sold by the best-selling title in the same period last year, the vinyl edition of Paul Weller’s Wake Up The Nation.
The other major contributor was April’s Record Store Day, the annual celebration of independent record shops, which features many exclusive vinyl releases."
Source:  Music Week, 27th July 2011

Justin Bieber's scent Someday generated $3m in sales in one store in just 3 weeks

"What does success smell like?  Justin Bieber's Someday for women, of course.
The teen pop star's scent has raked in $3 million in sales at Macy's Herald Square in just three weeks following his frenzied appearance in New York City.
If teens and fans keep buying, the fragrance is projected to be the best seller of 2011."

Source:  New York Daily News, 15th July 2011

More people visit an Apple store in a quarter than visit Disney's 4 biggest theme parks in a year

"More people now visit Apple's 326 stores in a single quarter than the 60 million who visited Walt Disney Co.'s four biggest theme parks last year, according to data from Apple and the Themed Entertainment Association.
"Apple's annual retail sales per square foot have soared to $4,406—excluding online sales, according to investment bank Needham & Co. Add in online sales, which include iTunes, and the number jumps to $5,914. That's far higher than the sales per square foot and online sales of jeweler Tiffany & Co. ($3,070), luxury retailer Coach Inc. ($1,776), and electronics retailer Best Buy Co. ($880), according to estimates."
Simply amazing. In 2001, when the stores were launched, they were expected to be a flop within a year - perhaps two - because companies such as Gateway had failed with them. Dell tried them and didn't thrive. Intriguing view from behind the counter."

Source:  Data from Apple and the Themed Entertainment Association, reported by the WSJ, and The Guardian, 16th June 2011

Sainsbury's sold over one third of the DVDs of The King's Speech sold in the UK in the first week of sale

"The general merchandise and clothing offer grew faster than food, despite a very tough market. This quarter Sainsbury celebrated its biggest childrenswear sales week ever, and it was the number one retailer for The King's Speech DVD, where it achieved a record market share of 34% in the week of its release.
The convenience business grew at 20%, underpinned by strong like-for-like growth, and the groceries online business grew at over 20%."

Source:  MarketWire, 15th June 2011

Vinyl sales in the US have risen nearly fivefold in the last 5 years

"The latest, sourced from RIAA retail revenue data obtained this week, shows a near-fivefold revenue increase in vinyl over a five-year period.  Which, when scaled to size, looks something like this...
Specifically, 2010 receipts - after returns - were $87.0 million, compared to $15.7 million in 2006.   And, keep in mind, this also counts indie-focused distributors, owned by major label groups.  Which makes sense, because indies are driving a lot of this action.  Here's the breakdown, in both units and revenues (in millions, all net post-returns):
2006: 0.9 million units; $15.7 million revenue
2007: 1.3 million units; $22.9 million
2008: 2.9 million units; $56.7 million
2009: 3.2 million units; $60.2 million
2010: 4.0 million units; $87.2 million"
Source:  Data from the RIAA, reported by Digital Music News, 3rd June 2011
Note - Digital Music News have a great graphic on their site

TV viewing is rising in Europe

"Consumers in some of Europe's biggest markets are spending more time watching television, a new study has shown.
Research firm Eurodata suggested people in the UK dedicated 3 hours 57 minutes to TV every day during the opening eight months of 2010, a 15 minute increase on an annual basis.
The Netherlands generated a seven minute uptick from exactly three hours registered between January and August 2009.
Similarly, the average member of the Spanish audience commits 3 hours 49 minutes to this medium, a six minute improvement."

Source: Data from Eurodata, reported by Warc, 30th September 2010

U2's 360 Tour is the highest grossing tour in history

"It takes 120 lorries to transport, has a 50-metre tall sound system and cost more than any tour in the history of music. But it appears that U2's 360° extravaganza was worth the investment as it has become the highest grossing tour ever, beating the record set by the Rolling Stones.
The Irish band's first tour in three years, which kicked off in June 2009 at Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium, made it past the $558m (£341m) world record after their concert in São Paulo, Brazil, with 20 more gigs to go. The Stones pulled in $558m (£341m) for their Bigger Bang tour between 2005 and 2007.
By the time the U2 tour ends this July, the band will have played to more than 3 million fans in more than three dozen cities around the world and will have made an estimated $700m.
U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, said he and the band were proud of the tour. "That dollar figure for the gross looks enormous," he said. "Of course I can't tell you what the net is, but I can tell you that the band spend enormous sums on production for their audience. Fans all over the world agree that a ticket to U2 360° is good value for money."
Estimated to have cost more than $100m, 360° was already set to be the band's most expensive tour, with the transportation of the stage alone estimated to cost $750,000 a day whether or not the band played. It was projected to gross $750m by the end of 2010, eclipsing takings from the 2005-06 Vertigo tour, which earned U2 $389m."
Source:  The Guardian, 11th April 2011

Super Bowl XLV was the most watched TV programme in American history

"The world's greatest sporting event has cemented its place in pop-culture history by netting the most amount of Americans to ever watch a TV show. And not even Christina Aguilera's flub or Groupon's offensive ad could do anything about it.
In fact, they probably contributed to the 111 million viewers that tuned in for Sunday's thrilling Super Bowl between the victorious Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers. The NFL's showpiece game actually broke its own record, with five million more tuning in this year compared to 2010's showdown between the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts.
Until then, the series finale of M*A*S*H had famously held the record for 27 years with an impressive tally of just under 106 million, but now the Super Bowl has taken over the top two spots, as well as numbers four and five. "Super Bowl XLV caps what is arguably the most successful season that any sports league has ever had," said Pat McDonough, senior vice president for insight and analysis at the Nielsen Co. "The number of people watching NFL games has never been higher, with 24% more people watching the average NFL game this year than just five years ago. The Super Bowl continues to be in a category of its own.""
Source:  Time, 8th February 2011
Earlier - Super Bowl XLIV was the most watched TV programme in American history

Two million children in the UK have no internet connection at home

"More than one million children in Britain live in homes without computers and a further two million have no internet connection at home, a charity said yesterday).
The e-Learning Foundation said it feared the gap between rich and poor pupils' performance at school would widen unless more was done "

Source:  Research by the e-Learning Foundation, reported by The Guardian, 28th December 2010

Music eCommerce site Topspin makes 75% of its revenues from physical products

"According to information shared with Digital Music News, a whopping 75 percent of Topspin revenues involve some sort of physical product.  "We're beyond the one-size fits all product world - thankfully," said Topspin CEO Ian Rogers, discussing the numbers at New Noise Santa Barbara.  "What we see is, 50 percent of what we sell is digital, and 50 percent of it contains something physical.  The 50 percent that contains something physical is 75 percent of revenues, or more."
Sounds astounding, except when you consider the value of higher-end, higher-priced stuff.  These premium goods carry great margins, and for artists with serious fans, it can all add up.  "You can definitely add a lot of money to any campaign by just adding some limited edition goods that are at a higher price point," Rogers continued."
Source:  Report in Digital Music News, 9th November 2010
[Note - presumably if a ticket is sold, and it's a physical ticket, then this counts as 'physical']

Justin Beiber earns a minimum of $300,000 per show

"Justin Bieber earns a minimum of $300,000 per concert, placing him near the top of the summertime tour earnings list, contract records show.
The 16-year-old performer earns more per gig than established acts like Sheryl Crow ($146,500), Weezer ($150,000), and Bret Michaels ($64,000). Bieber, though, does not command as much as Rascal Flatts ($702,500), Kiss ($500,000), or Keith Urban ($487,500).
A review of dozens of concert contracts shows that Bieber outearns all of his young contemporaries, banking twice as much as Drake ($155,000), three times that of Disney star Selena Gomez ($100,000), and four times as much as “American Idol” winner Jordin Sparks ($75,000).
Source:  The Smoking Gun, 28th September 2010