The over-supply of mobile ad inventory

"For publishers, the biggest challenge around monetizing mobile audiences is still the matter of inventory oversupply. The number of mobile apps and sites is growing rapidly, but advertiser investment continues to lag, meaning even networks are struggling to fill the majority of impressions they’re handed.
According to data from publisher-side ad management platform Smaato, that problem is only getting worse. During the third quarter of the year the firm said only 18 percent of impressions were filled by the top 20 U.S. mobile ad networks, representing a decline from the 19 percent of ad slots they filled between April and June."

Source:  DigiDay, 30th November 2012

The most-followed brands on Pinterest

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Source:  DigiDay, 23rd February 2012
Note - this will be out of date very quickly, but it's a useful guide to the sorts of things that are popular at this stage.

25% of Groupons purchased in December were bought on a mobile device

"Groupon today announced record mobile performance in North America in December 2011 with one quarter of all Groupon vouchers purchased via a mobile device and both consumer and merchant app usage up significantly year over year.
December 2011 North American Mobile Performance:
25% of Groupons were purchased on a mobile device
Mobile app users increased by more than three times from last December to over nine million
More than 12,000 merchant partners used Groupon's merchant mobile app to redeem vouchers and track purchases using an iOS device or an Android phone."

Source:  Press release from Groupon, 27th February 2012

There were 3.4m comments in social media about the Oscars

"Social TV tracker Bluefin Labs counted 3.44 million “social comments” about last night’s Oscar awards. That metric, which primarily tracks Twitter usage but also includes some data from Facebook and other services, is certainly big. But it’s much smaller than two other big live-TV events this month. Bluefin counted some 12 million comments for the Super Bowl, and 13 million for the Grammys."

Source:  AllThingsD, 26th February 2012

Advertising accounts for less than 50% of the FT's revenues

"Two thousand of the FT’s new 2011 subs were corporate licenses. In the U.S., print circulation was overtaken by these digital subscribers for the first time.
[...]
Advertising is now the minority of FT revenue, with content sales 58 percent. And digital is now 47 percent of revenue."

Source:  Paid Content, 27th February 2012

850,000 Android devices are activated every day

"With a year-on-year growth rate of more than 250%, 850,000 new Android devices are activated each day, jetting the total number of Android devices around the world past 300 million. These numbers are a testament to the break-neck speed of innovation that defines the Android ecosystem.
Last year at Mobile World Congress (MWC), we announced that there were more than 150,000 apps in Android Market. That number tripled to more than 450,000 apps today, with over one billion app downloads happening every month. Think about the astonishing number of songs Shazam’ed, places Qype’ed and foursquare mayorships! To celebrate the hard work and success of our developer community, we’ve built special “app pods” into our Android stand at MWC. Many of these featured apps demonstrate the latest Android innovations, such as Android Beam, which lets you share content like web pages, videos, directions, and apps—just by touching two Android phones back to back."

Source:  Google Mobile Blog, 27th February 2012

Taobao reportedly accounts for half of all packages posted in China

"Taobao, the largest online retail platform in Asia, mirrors eBay but with an Amazon-like service tacked on. It has a user experience and engagement that puts its Western cousins to shame. Crucially, Taobao has overcome one of the biggest hurdles facing any retailer in China--a lack of trust--by not processing a payment until the consumer receives goods. It reportedly now accounts for half of all packages posted in China, something neither eBay nor Amazon have come close to claiming in the U.S."

Source:  AdAge, 27th February 2012

Caution - I can't find another source to back this up - can anyone help?

'Up to' 70% of UK smartphone users have never looked at the terms & conditions of their apps

"Companies including Facebook and Apple are gaining access to swathes of private data from individuals who agree to the terms and conditions when they download an app.
But according to a poll, up to 70 per cent of smart phone users never read such terms and conditions, leaving personal information, including text messages, their location and contacts, unwittingly exposed.
An investigation by the Sunday Times found that the data accessed via apps is often transmitted to “third party” companies, including advertisers."

Source:  Daily Telegraph, 26th February 2012

(The Sunday Times is behind a paywall, so I can't link to the original)

eCommerce levels for European countries in 2011

"E-commerce is one of the fastest growing markets in Europe. The statistics are problematic as state statistical research organisations tend to underestimate the size of the sector. Based on CRR research commissioned by Kelkoo, 2011 online sales in the UK were £50.34 billion (€59.4 billion) or 12.0% of UK retail trade. In 2008, online was equivalent to only 8.6% of retail sales.
For Europe (including UK), the total market was worth £169,880 million (€200.52 bn) in 2011 (up from £143,720 million [€169.63 bn] last year). Online retailers in only three countries, UK, Germany and France accounted for 71% of European online sales. In 2008, online sales in Europe were £101,840 million (€117.84 bn).
Online sales in Germany were £38.18 billion (€45.07 billion), 9.0% of retail sales (+13% over 2010). In France, where online retailers grew at one of the fastest rates in Europe, 2011 online sales were £32.75 billion (€38.66 billion) or 7.3% of retail sales (+24% over 2010)."
Source:  Retail Research - No date
Click on the link to see full data and a chart showing % of spend by market

US Smartphone penetration by age and income

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Data from Nielsen, reported in NielsenWire, 20th February 2012

Apple sold more iOS devices last year than Macs in the previous 28 years

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Source:  Data from Asymco, reported in their blog, 16th February 2012

Eventbrite has sold 50 million tickets

"Holy bananas, readers! We did it! Well, really, you did it.
Since Kevin and Julia Hartz and Renaud Visage founded the company back in 2006 in a Ramen-filled conference room, we have issued a dazzling 50 million tickets on Eventbrite."

Source:  Eventbrite blog, 22nd February 2012