Uber 'lost more than $2.2bn in 9 months in 2016'

"Even as Uber Technologies Inc. exited China, the company's financial loss has remained eye-popping. In the first nine months of this year, the ride-hailing company lost significantly more than $2.2 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. In the third quarter, Uber lost more than $800 million, not including its Chinese operation.
At the same time, the company's revenue has continued to grow even after leaving the world's most populous country. Uber generated about $3.76 billion in net revenue in the first nine months of 2016 and is on track to exceed $5.5 billion this year, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is private."

Source:  Bloomberg, 20th December 2016

Instagram has 600m momthly active users

"A lot has changed this year, but the Instagram community and the diversity of expression it provides has remained consistent. And you now have more ways to share than ever before with Instagram Stories, live video and disappearing photos and videos in Direct. Additionally, with updated safety tools that give you more control over comments and other parts of your experience, we’re working to make Instagram safer than ever for connection and self-expression."

Source:  Blog post from Instagram, 15th December 2016
Earlier - 500m MAUs announced in mid-June

Ten Trends for 2017

It's time for my annual trends presentation.

This year it seemed to me that lots of what was happening and about to happen were comebacks - things that had been heralded a few years ago, but were finally hitting the mainstream, the most obvious being Augmented Reality, but also Live Video (remember webcams?), Web TV and more, which can all be said to have followed the Gartner Hype Cycle, and are now getting to the 'mainstream' stage.

& in the spirit of accountability, I also look at what happened to last year's trends.  enjoy!

Carat's 10 Trends for 2017 from Carat Global

Apple Music has 20m paying subscribers

"Apple has released the latest numbers for the music subscription service Apple Music. In the 18 months since the service was launched, the tech giant reveals that it has just crossed the 20 million paid subscribers mark. It last reported 17 million subscribers in September, marking a 15 percent jump in three months."
Source:  Hollywood Reporter, 6th December 2016

WPP will spend $70m wth Snapchat in 2016

"On behalf of its clients, ad giant WPP is spending about $70 million (£56 million) with Snapchat, the company's chief executive Martin Sorrell said on Tuesday at the UBS Media and Communications Conference, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The figure is just a pinch of the money it spends on other digital platforms — in October Sorrell said WPP will spend $5 billion (£4 billion) with Google this year, up from $4 billion (£3.2 billion) in 2015. That year the company spent $1 billion (£800 million) with Facebook."

Source:  Business Insider, 7th December 2016

Faster mobile ads are much more effective

"According to research released today by Google and Teads, the video tech company, mobile publishers using Google's AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) video inventory perform better than those that stick with the traditional mobile web.
Results showed publishers using AMP, an open-source Google initiative, saw clickthrough rates increase by 200 percent, completion rates increase by 15 percent and ad performance increase 18 percent. Nearly 100 publishers are now using AMP including Mashable, Rodale, L'Express and Trinity Mirror.
In a blog post detailing the findings, Eric Shih, global svp of business development at Teads, said videos by brands and publishers don't just need to be fast, they also should "engage, educate and entertain."
"If you've ever waited impatiently for your favorite site to load only to watch an annoying pop-up take over your smartphone screen, you can probably understand why user engagement decreases," Shih wrote. "That type of experience doesn't unlock the full potential of video advertising."
This year, Google and Facebook have both made big pushes to speed up the web by cutting down on ad sizes and load times. In September, a few months after Google launched its AMP program, Facebook announced it would start helping advertisers decrease load times while also potentially not delivering ads that were too big if a user's internet connection couldn't handle them."

Source:  AdWeek - 2nd December 2016

Netflix and Amazon account for nearly 2/3 of Western European SVOD subscriptions

"Netflix will remain the dominant force in Western European SVoD for the next five years, according to Digital TV Research. However, Amazon Video will provide a stiff challenge as the firm estimates that 15 Western European countries will offer Amazon Prime Video by end-2017.
Netflix’s share of Western European SVoD subscribers will fall from 51 per cent in 2015 to 47 per cent by 2021. However, Amazon’s share will grow from 14 per cent in 2015 to 21 per cent by 2021. So, these two companies control two-thirds of the region’s SVoD subs."

Source:  Advanced Television, 8th December 2016

Abandonment rates for smart watches and fitness trackers are about 30%

"The abandonment rate of smartwatches is 29 percent, and 30 percent for fitness trackers, because people do not find them useful, they get bored of them or they break, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc.
"Dropout from device usage is a serious problem for the industry," said Angela McIntyre, research director at Gartner. "The abandonment rate is quite high relative to the usage rate. To offer a compelling enough value proposition, the uses for wearable devices need to be distinct from what smartphones typically provide. Wearables makers need to engage users with incentives and gamification."
The 2016 Gartner Personal Technologies Study surveyed 9,592 online respondents from Australia, the U.S. and the U.K. between June and August 2016, to gain a better understanding of consumers' attitudes toward wearables, particularly their buying behavior for smartwatches, fitness trackers and virtual reality (VR) glasses.
According to the survey, smartwatch adoption is still in the early adopter stage (10 percent), while fitness trackers have reached early mainstream (19 percent). Only 8 percent of consumers have used VR glasses/head-mounted displays (excluding cardboard types)."
Source:  Gartner, 7th December 2016

American smartphone owners spend an average of 133 minutes a day using apps

Source:  Flurry Insights, 2nd December 2016

In 2015 AWS deployed almost enough server capacity every day to support Amazon in 2005

In 2015 AWS deployed almost enough server capacity every day to support Amazon in 2005. James Hamilton #reInvent pic.twitter.com/Ux1KTSaSXm

— AWS re:Invent (@AWSreInvent) November 30, 2016