40m people have used the Apple News app

"Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed Apple News usage numbers for the first time during today's fourth quarter earnings call, announcing the service has approximately 40 million users.
Cook did not specify whether that number represented people who use the Apple News app on a regular basis or if it simply measured the number of people who have accessed the app at one point or another, so it's still difficult to gauge the popularity of Apple News."

Source:  Mac Rumors, 27th October 2015

Note - I'm very, very, very convinced that 40m is the 'ever used' number...

Google receives 3.5bn daily searches, Facebook receives 1.5bn

"Each day, Facebook handles 1.5 billion searches against the 2 trillion posts in its index. They’re still a ways off from Google’s 3.5 billion daily searches, but it’s an impressive figure nonetheless and puts Facebook right up there as far as search giants go.
Of course, Facebook is only indexing content within its own ecosystem, while Google, Bing, Yahoo and the like make much of the web’s content available to searchers."

Source:  Larry Kim on Medium, 26th October 2015

Facebook stat - Facebook, 22nd Oct 2015

Google stat - Internet Live Stats - no official figures from Google

Twitter has 320m active users

"Third Quarter 2015 Operational and Product Highlights
Monthly Active Users – Total average Monthly Active Users (MAUs) were 320 million for the third quarter, up 11% year-over-year, and compared to 316 million in the previous quarter. Excluding SMS Fast Followers, MAUs  were 307 million for the third quarter, up 8% year-over-year, and compared to 304 million in the previous quarter. Mobile MAUs represented approximately 80% of total MAUs."

Source:  Twitter's Q3 2015 results, published 27th October 2015

Note - Excluding 'SMS Fast Followers' the number is 307m

MAUs

Apple shipped 48m iPhones and 10m iPads in its Q4 2015

Source:  Apple financial docs, published 27th October 2015
Units are in thousands, revenues in millions
Note that Apple's Q4 2015 ended 26th Sept 2015

Indian ecommerce site Flipkart sold $200m worth of mobile phones in its 5 day Big Billion Days sale

"Flipkart, the country's largest online retailer and marketplace, sold more than $200 million worth of mobile phones during the five-day Big Billion Days sale, with most consumers demanding 4G-backed devices, a top executive said.
Mobile phones made up two-thirds of the $300 million worth of products purchased by consumers during the sale, which started on October 13. Flipkart sold 250 mobile phones every minute, of which 190 were 4G phones, during the five days, chief business officer said.
"Today, three of four phones, which we sell on Flipkart are 4G phones," said Nagori. "About 80 per cent of sale of mobile phones that happened during Big Billion Days were actually 4G phones. Overall, 80 per cent of the phones sold would be under Rs 10,000 range." "

Source:  Economic Times, 26th October 2015

Smart TV ownership in broadband homes in Europe

Source:  Parks Associates, 20th October 2015

About 3m people a day look at Cosmopolitan's channel on Snapchat Discover

"Most millennials probably don’t know who Helen Gurley Brown is, but the Cosmopolitan brand Brown built is resonating with the young set — on Snapchat, at least.
Cosmopolitan says it’s averaging 3 million viewers a day on Snapchat Discover, a milestone that could appeal to some advertisers who wonder whether these media channels on the messaging app are desirable places to run their spots. Cosmo, which has been a Discover partner since the service launched in January, has seen traffic go from about 1.8 million a day to 3 million viewers since the summer, according to Kate Lewis, vp and editorial director of digital at Hearst Magazines, which owns Cosmo.
When asked whether the app is worth the editorial effort, she replied: “Oh my god yes. It’s been amazing, and we have about 3 million people a day on the Discover platform.”"

Source:  Digiday, 16th October 2015

Trust in advertising in the US by demographic and format

Source:  Research by Nielsen, reported in a press release, 13th October 2015

Adele's 'Hello' received 23.2m views in 24 hours on YouTube

"The Adele video, released on Friday, surpassed 23.2 million views within the first 24 hours on YouTube.  That edges out Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood,” which reached 20.1 million within its first 24.  Other first-day heavy hitters include ‘Anaconda’ by Nicki Minaj, which cleared 19.6 million on day one.
‘Hello,’ released on YouTube subset Vevo, has already surpassed 70 million views as of Monday morning.  Incidentally, the track is also available on Spotify, and early Nielsen data suggests a record-breaking iTunes download figure as well.  Looking ahead, it remains unclear if Adele’s upcoming album, 25, due in November, will be serviced to Spotify or other streaming services.  In the case of Apple Music, a hand-in-glove relationship with streaming and downloads could complicate any withholding strategy."

Source:  Digital Music News, 26th October 2015

US digital ad spend rose 19% to $27.5bn in H1 2015

"Internet ad revenues in the United States reached a landmark high of $27.5 billion in the first half of 2015, according to the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report released today by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and prepared by PwC US. This marks a 19 percent rise over the $23.1 billion in ad revenues for the first-half of 2014.
Accelerating the pace of already impressive growth in the half-year, 2015’s second quarter internet ad revenues rose by 22.5 percent to $14.3 billion, up from $11.7 billion in Q2 2014. This also reflects 8.5 percent growth from the first quarter of 2015.
Other highlights from the report include:
Mobile revenues climbed to $8.2 billion in HY 2015, up 54% from $5.3 billion reported at HY 2014
Mobile now represents 30% of the revenues generated by the entire internet advertising marketplace, up from 23% at HY 2014
Digital video, a component of display-related advertising, reached $2 billion in the first half of 2015, a 35% year-over-year jump from $1.5 billion in the first half of 2014
Search revenues in the first half of 2015 reached double digits, surpassing $10 billion, marking an 11% increase over the $9 billion in revenues achieved during the same period in 2014
Social media revenues – which encompass advertising delivered on social platforms including social networking, and social gaming websites and apps – reached $4.4 billion in HY 2015, a 51% hike over the same period in 2014, at $2.9 billion
The same top three advertising verticals continue to account for nearly half of advertising revenue (48%), including retail (22%), financial services (13%), and automotive (13%)
Display-related advertising revenues in the first half of 2015 totaled $6.8 billion, a 5% uptick from $6.5 billion in the first half of 2014, and accounted for 25% of digital advertising revenue overall
“Advertisers are more committed than ever to connect with audiences on digital screens,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO, IAB. “Content is key to winning consumer attention – on mobile, in digital video, on desktop, and more – throughout the day."
“We’re witnessing a seismic shift in consumer behavior to the always-on, connected consumer,” said David Silverman, a partner at PwC US. “As a result, we’ve seen social continue to fuel the growth of digital, particularly with respect to mobile and video.”
"Internet ad revenue growth is being driven further than ever before, as advertisers continue to invest in new ways to reach consumers," said Sherrill Mane, Senior Vice President, Research, Analytics and Measurement, IAB.  "Audiences have rapidly altered their media and purchasing habits and made digital media and mobile devices an integral part of their lives."

Source:  Figures from the IAB & PwC, released 21st October 2015

Note - Click on the link to see tables etc

Apple Music has 6.5m paying subscribers

"Apple Inc. said it has 15 million users on its streaming-music service, including 6.5 million paying subscribers.
Speaking at WSJDLive, The Wall Street Journal’s global technology conference, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said the company has 6.5 million paying customers for Apple Music and 8.5 million customers on three-month trials.
Apple launched Apple Music on June 30 and offered every user a three-month trial period. After the trial period, users pay $9.99 a month for individual subscriptions or $14.99 for families. The first batch of customers came off the trial period at the end of September."
Source;  WSJ, 20th October 2015

Social media use in the US, 2005-2015

Lots more charts in the full report
Source:  Report by Pew Internet & American Life Project, 8th October 2015
Full report here