US Digital Ad Spent hit $59.6bn in 2015

"U.S. digital advertising revenues reached an all-time high of $59.6 billion in 2015, according to the full-year IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report, released today by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and prepared by PwC US. This marks a 20 percent surge over the earlier record-breaking 2014 revenues of $49.5 billion – and represents the sixth year in a row of double-digit growth for the industry. In addition, the report shows that 2015’s fourth-quarter numbers reached $17.4 billion, a 23 percent increase from $14.2 billion in Q4 2014, and an 18 percent increase from the $14.7 billion in 2015’s third-quarter.
Other highlights include:
Mobile advertising skyrocketed to $20.7 billion during FY 2015, a 66 percent hike over the 2014 total of $12.5 billion
Digital video (non-mobile), a component of display-related advertising, reached $4.2 billion in 2015, a 30 percent rise over $3.3 billion in 2014
Social media advertising brought in $10.9 billion in 2015, up 55 percent over 2014’s $7 billion
Search (non-mobile) revenues reached $20.5 billion in 2015, up 8 percent from $19 billion in 2014
Display-related advertising (non-mobile) revenues in 2015 totaled $13.9 billion, representing 23 percent of the year’s revenues, an uptick of 3 percent over $13.5 billion in 2014
Retail advertisers continue to represent the largest category of internet ad spending, responsible for 22 percent last year, followed by automotive and financial services which each accounted for 13 percent of the year’s revenues"

Source:  Figures from the IAB & PwC reported in a press release on 21st April 2016

Full report here

BuzzFeed shares content across 45 different channels

Source:  Naytev, 22nd April 2016

More than 2,000 YouTube channels have more than 1m subscribers

"As part of the research we do for our YouTube Millionaires column, we keep close tabs on YouTube channels that have recently surpassed the million-subscriber benchmark and note others that will soon achieve that feat. Over the weekend, the list of million-subscriber channels passed a significant milestone: As YouTube analytics site VidStatsx shows, there are now more than 2,000 channels with seven-digit subscriber counts.
The value of a subscriber is a hotly-debated topic within the YouTube community, and many within the industry feel as if other measures — such as watch time — are more important indicators of digital success. Nonetheless, the increasing number of million-subscriber channels is indicative of the exponential growth YouTube has experienced since its 2005 inception. A trip in the WayBack Machine tells us that on February 23, 2010 — YouTube’s 5th birthday — there were only five channels with at least one million subscribers. Two years later, that number was up to 68; two years after that, 594; and now, two years and five weeks later, there are 2,000 “YouTube millionaires.” In the past year alone, more than 850 new channels have claimed that title."

Source:  TubeFilter, 4th April 2016

More American teens see Snapchat as their most important social platform than Instagram

Source:  Data from Piper Jaffray, reported by Fortune, 13th April 2016

Live TV accounts for 43.5% of video viewing among 16-24s in the UK

"Thinkbox started by looking at viewing of all video. Live TV accounts for just 43.5 per cent of video viewing among 16- to 24-year-olds. Add in playback catch-up and broadcaster video-on-demand, and that rises to 57.5 per cent. YouTube has 10.3 per cent of video viewing – a not insignificant amount. Facebook has 5.7 per cent. Other online sites, including XXX-rated video, have 13 per cent. Subscription VoD, such as Netflix, and DVDs account for 12.4 per cent.
However, the picture changed when Thinkbox looked at time spent watching video advertising. Even though TV accounts for 57.5 per cent of video viewing, it makes up 87.6 per cent of video advertising, in-cluding playback of linear TV and broadcaster VoD. Conversely, although YouTube represents 10.3 per cent of all viewing, it accounts for just 1.4 per cent of time spent watching video advertising."

Source:  Brand Republic, 14th April 2016

Apple Music has 13m paying subscribers

"Today (April 26th) Apple announced that it has now surpassed 13 million subscribers.
The news was revealed by CEO Tim Cook via a conference call.
What’s surprising about this milestone is just how quickly the service has managed to rack up millions of users.  It was only in February of this year that DMN announced Apple Music hitting 11 million subscribers.  To put Apple Music’s growth into perspective, Spotify took 6 years to hit 10 million paying users.
Apple Music has added another two million users in just two months.
The platform entered the music streaming market in July of last year, and has managed to hit 13 million subscribers in just 10 short months.  If Apple Music keeps growing at this rate, we will see it hitting at least 15 million subscribers by its first birthday."

Source:  Digital Music News, 26th April 2016

Facebook's Quarterly Revenues rose 52% Y-o-Y in Q1 2016

Source:  Facebook's Q1 2016 Monthly Earnings, 27th April 2016
Earnings Release
Charts

Twitter's Quarterly Revenue rose 37% Y-o-Y in Q1 2016

Source:  Twitter's Q1 2016 Results, released 26th April 2016
Shareholder Letter
Charts

UK digital ad spend grew 16.4% in 2015

"UK digital adspend grew 16.4% in 2015 to over £8.6bn with the average home now owning 8.3 internet devices.
Advertisers spent a record £8.61 billion on UK digital advertising in 2015 – up 16.4%¹ – as ownership of internet devices increases, according to the latest Internet Advertising Bureau UK Digital Adspend report, conducted by PwC. The report is accompanied by online YouGov consumer data.
The 16.4% year-on-year rise in spend was the highest rate since 2008 (17.1%), as the number of internet-enabled devices per household increased 12% in a year to 8.3² per UK household. Connected TVs saw the biggest rise in ownership (27%) followed by smartphones (21%), whilst laptops (18%) outgrew tablets (16%). Smartphones are the most popular internet device (2.1 per household) followed by laptops (1.6) and tablets (1.4).
Fastest-growing digital ad formats
Mobile accounted for the vast majority (78%) of digital ad spend growth, increasing 60.3% year-on-year to £2.63bn – or 30.5% of all digital advertising.
Video ad spend, overall, grew 50.7% to £711 million whilst video spend on mobile alone increased by 98% to £353 million due to the increasing numbers of people watching video, TV and film on smartphones.
Content and native advertising spend – which includes ‘advertorials’ and ads in social media news feeds – increased by 49.9% to £776 million.
Ad spend on social media sites grew 45% to £1.25bn – now accounting for 41% of banner/video display ad spend. Over 71% of social media spend goes on mobile.
“The increasing array of devices people use to go online has helped digital ad spend hit another gear as advertisers look to reach them and time spent online increases,” says Tim Elkington, Chief Strategy Officer at the UK’s Internet Advertising Bureau. “Smartphones are the major driving force behind this, as people increasingly use them for activities they used to do on desktop, from searching and shopping to social and watching video.”
Majority of display now programmatic
Display ad spend rose 24.5% year-on-year to reach a 35% share (£3.03bn) of digital ad spend. The share traded programmatically rose from 47% in 2014 to 60% (£1.60bn) in 2015.
Direct sales – where ads are bought at fixed prices directly from media owners using manual processes – now represent just 37% of display ads (down from 47%) while ad networks make up the remaining 4%.
“We’re seeing a three-pronged change in media owner strategy when it comes to selling display ads,” says Dan Bunyan, Senior Manager at PwC. “There’s a shift in sales from networks to Real-Time-Bidding exchanges, a shift from direct to programmatic direct, and one from open to private market places. It’s almost gone full circle in terms of the desire for a more controlled environment to sell in. We predict programmatic will account for 80-90% of display ad sales by 2019.”
Consumer goods are biggest display advertisers
Consumer goods, such as food, toiletries and clothing, companies spent the most on banner and video display ads in 2015, responsible for 18% of spend, followed by travel & transport (13.4%) and retailers (13.3%).
Paid-for search grew 15.3% to £4.36bn – a 51% share of digital ad spend. Classifieds, including recruitment, property and automotive listings, grew 5.2% to £1.11bn (13% share).
Advertisers spend nearly another billion through ‘deal’ websites
In addition to the £8.61bn going on ad spend in 2015, advertisers spent a further £953 million to attract customers via activities on ‘shopper’ websites such as price comparison, voucher, cashback, loyalty and product review sites.
Known as ‘online performance marketing’, 75%² of adults online have undertaken at least one of the OPM activities listed in the last six months, with usage of price comparison sites (40%) the most popular activity, followed by entering a competition (35%) or using a voucher code site (26%).
Spend³ on OPM generated £17.7 billion in sales – a return of £13 for every £1 spent – equivalent to around 10%⁴ of all UK e-commerce retail sales and 1%⁵ of GDP."

Source:  Data from the IAB & PwC, reported 14th April 2016

Articles written by women attract more abusive or disruptive comments

"Articles written by women got more blocked (ie abusive or disruptive) comments across almost all sections. But the more male-dominated the section, the more blocked comments the women who wrote there got (look at Sport and Technology). Fashion, where most articles were written by women, was one of the few sections where male authors consistently received more blocked comments."

Source:  The Guardian, 12th April 2016

10% of desktop internet users in the US use an ad blocker

"Ad blockers are now used by 10% of US desktop internet users, according to a new report from comScore (which we first spotted on The Wall Street Journal.)
The level of ad blocker usage has remained steady over the past six months, comScore says.
The research house, which provides the universally-accepted data used for website and advertising traffic, compiled its latest report from from a panel of around one million internet users in the US."

Source:  Business Insider, 1st April 2016

Instagram users miss 70% of the pictures in their feeds

"You may be surprised to learn that people miss on average 70 percent of their feeds. As Instagram has grown, it’s become harder to keep up with all the photos and videos people share. This means you often don’t see the posts you might care about the most."

Source:  Instagram's blog, 15th March 2016

72% of Pinterest users have seen a product on Pinterest and then made a purchase in a store

"Pinterest also influences purchases when people step away from the comfort of their couch. 72% of Pinners have seen something on Pinterest and made a purchase offline, according to Millward Brown.
In fact, Pinners are twice as likely to buy products in-store after engaging with certain types of Pins. Internal studies have shown that after viewing a relevant Pin:
61% of Pinners made a food purchase (43% of those purchased online and 82% purchased in-store)
42% of Pinners made a beauty purchase (49% of those purchased online and 69% purchased in-store.)
And when they’re on the go, mobile Pinterest helps seal the deal. Ahalogy found that 45% of active mobile Pinners use Pinterest to look for inspiration while shopping, especially in topics like clothing, food, and arts and crafts. People also turn to Pins they’ve already saved—Millward Brown found that 64% of Pinners look at items they’ve Pinned while they’re at a brick and mortar store."
Source:  Pinterest's blog, 3rd March 2016

Netflix' US catalogue is 30% smaller than in 2014

Source:  AllFlicks, 23rd March 2016

Tesla's Model 3 recieved 180,000 pre-orders within 24 hours of launch

"Tesla’s Model 3 car drew huge numbers of reservations ahead of its official launch, an auspicious start for the car that aims to make driving electric go mainstream.
The Model 3 received 134,000 reservations on Thursday—it was unveiled that evening—Bloomberg reports, each with a $1,000 deposit. On Friday, after the car was revealed, Tesla Chairman Elon Musk announced 46,000 more reservations.
According to MONEY, this accounts for more than the total number of Tesla cars sold to date, and even more than the sales of all electric cars in 2015."

Source:  Time, 1st April 2016

Nearly half of the 'mobile' screens in use in China are Phablets or larger

Source:  Flurry's Insights blog, 29th March 2016

Time spent with digital media in the US by screen, 2013-15

Source:  comScore data, reported by Social Media Today, 31st March 2016
Lots more stats in the full report, and in the link above