More than a quarter of American clothing sales by value are online

"Online apparel sales accounted for 27.4% of overall U.S. apparel sales last year, up from 23.5% in 2016 and 20.7% in 2015, according to the most recent Internet Retailer Online Apparel Report published last week.
Apparel retailers dominated Internet Retailer’s 2018 Top 1000 list with 266 (more than any other category) making the list. That doesn’t include mass-merchant giants like Amazon (number one on that list) and Walmart (number three).
Many consumers say they like buying apparel online: 43.2% of respondents to a February survey of 2,535 U.S. consumers by PYMNTS.com said they prefer to shop for clothing in stores, while 26.9% prefer to shop only online and 29.9% said they prefer to shop both. But other research has found that more shoppers want to "try before they buy" clothing online."

Source:  Retail Dive, 2nd July 2018

Pokémon GO has generated an estimated $1.8bn in payments from players in 2 years

"Released two years ago today, Niantic’s Pokémon GO became an overnight sensation. While the fervor has subsided in the 24 months since that game-changing day, players worldwide continue to spend more than $2 million per day in their quest to catch those original Pokémon and the dozens that have been added since launch. This has led to the game reaching $1.8 billion in player spending, according to the latest Sensor Tower Store Intelligence estimates, having crossed the $1 billion milestone in January 2017."

Source:  Sensor Tower, 6th July 2018

Nearly 2/3 of UK kids under the age of 2 are allowed to use tablets

"Almost two thirds of children under the age of two are allowed to use tablets, and a third can open apps and turn the device on themselves, according to new data by market research specialists Parents Insights.
The findings, from Parents Insights Q2 report on a study of 2,500 parents, also shows that one in five tech-savvy babies can unlock a smart device unaided.
But the study found that parents are alive to potential problems occurring from too much tablet use, with more than half (63per cent) limiting their kids’ time on the device to less than half an hour a day.
Parents Insights’ lead analyst Nick Richardson said: “Our latest data reveals a fascinating picture about how toddlers and babies as young as six months are interacting with technology – and how much their parents are seemingly willing to allow.
"It seems that tablets are the first device that parents are happy for their little ones to use but their attitudes to social media are much less liberal. We found that just 17 per cent said they would let one of their children use social media before the legal age of 13. It’s key information for brands to be aware of as they adapt to the way that both kids and parents consume information.”
When children are allowed on a tablet, the main activities they choose are games (24 per cent), YouTube (18 per cent) and Apps (12 per cent), and the same activities are popular for smartphones."
Source:  ToysNPlaythings, 22nd June 2018

Netflix pays an estimated $100 to get a new subscriber in the US

"Netflix’s cost of adding new subscribers on its home soil in the US has rocketed in recent years, reaching $100 (€86) per net new subscriber, according to Ampere Analysis. Acquisition costs for domestic subscribers have increased significantly in recent years; from 2013-2015 the cost of a net new domestic subscriber stood at a stable figure of around $60.
In contrast, Netflix’s cost of adding international subscribers has remained relatively flat at $40-$45 for each new customer it adds. So, while headlines about content spend dominate, this report focuses on Netflix’s significant investment in marketing."

Source:  Advanced Television, 12th July 2018

At least 6,000 homes in the UK have a black & white TV licence

"The BBC’s Annual Report & Accounts states that at least 6000 homes are viewing TV on monochrome licences.  The colour TV licence was introduced as a £5 supplementary fee to the – then – £5 monochrome licence in January 1968.
The fee for a monochrome licence (for 2017) was just £49. This has risen to £49.50 for 2018."

Source:  Advanced Television, 12th July 2018

World Cup Stats - TV viewing, live streaming and more

The World Cup set streaming records early on - Conviva, 19th June 2018

World Cup viewing boost for the BBC - Advanced TV, 2nd July 2018

24m watched England win the penalty shoot-out against Colombia - Advanced TV, 4th July 2018

The total streams from the group stage were larger than the streams for the full tournament in 2014 - Advanced TV, 5th July 2018

England fans watching on both TV and mobile - EE, 6th July 2018

England vs Sweden set the BBC's live streaming record (3.8m) - Advanced TV, 9th July 2018

26.5m watched England Vs Croatia on TV (not including pubs etc) - Advanced TV, 12th July 2018

App downloads grew 15%, driven by the World Cup - App Annie, 23rd July 2018

The World Cup increased loyalty for gambling companies - Advanced TV, 9th August 2018

There were over 40,000 links to illegal streams over the course of the tournament - Advanced TV, 7th September 2018

More than 85% of US adults born since 1982 subscribe to a paid streaming service

"New video research from Parks Associatesfinds more than 85% of millennials in U.S. broadband households subscribe to at least one OTT video service. This research comes from Parks Associates’ OTT Video Market Tracker, which includes an exhaustive analysis of market trends and profiles of OTT video service providers in the U.S. and Canada, such as Netflix, HBO, YouTube, and Amazon. The Tracker features a new way to blend company profiles with industry research data and analysis of competing players’ strengths and weaknesses in the space.
“Overall penetration of subscription OTT video services among millennials has topped out, suggesting that those households that want such a subscription already have one or more. The more interesting and important question is how many subscriptions they will keep,” said Brett Sappington, Senior Director of Research, Parks Associates. “More than one-fourth of millennials subscribe to three or more OTT services, and more than 50% subscribe to at least two.”"

Source:  Parks Associates, 21st June 2018

96% of American households have a TV, 87% have a smartphone

"Smartphones continue their meteoric popularity and are now owned in 87 percent of U.S. homes, second only to televisions at 96 percent ownership, according to new Consumer Technology Association (CTA) research. CTA’s 20th Consumer Technology Ownership and Market Potential Study also shows that for the first time, the top three most-frequently owned tech products are now screen devices, as laptops – trailing only TVs and smartphones – reached their highest ownership level ever at 72 percent.
[...]
Among new, emerging tech categories, smart speakers including the Amazon Echo and Google Home have nearly tripled in ownership rate to reach 22 percent of American households, making it one of the fastest-adopted technologies since tablets. Smartwatch adoption continues to grow, with 18 percent of U.S. households now owning at least one of the devices – an increase of six percentage points over last year. Additionally, ownership rates of drones and virtual reality (VR) headsets were measured at ten and 11 percent of households, respectively.
Consumers Remain Focused on The Big Screen
Next-gen screen technologies and the availability of larger screen sizes drove more U.S. consumers to buy technology in and around the TV. 4K Ultra High Definition televisions experienced the largest growth in household ownership rate, rising 15 percentage points year-over-year to reach 31 percent households ownership, and one in five (19 percent) households owns a TV with a screen size of 60 inches or bigger. Ownership of digital media streaming devices rose nine percentage points since last year to 45 percent of households."
Source:  Press release from the Consumer Technology Association, 25th June 2018

Facebook referrals to Slate have fallen by over 85% since January 2017

Source:  Data from Parsely, reported by Slate, 27th June 2018

300 ATMs are closing in the UK each month

"Doubt has been cast over the future of cashpoints in the UK as it was revealed that 300 ATMs are closing every month.
Consumer champion Which? analysed data from ATM network manager Link to find that 1,500 ATMs had closed between November 2017 and April 2018 - which represents a six fold increase from 2015.
The closures also ramped up after Link announced changes to fees that ATM operators can charge banks to use cash machines.
Link is introducing a phased 20 per cent reduction over four years to the so-called interchange charge, with the first 1p cut down to 24p per withdrawal set to come in on Sunday. Though this seems like a small amount, operators claim the rise will lead to some machines being financially unviable to run.
The firm which oversees cash machines argues the changes will provide an incentive for operators to put more machines in rural and less affluent area to keep the network sustainable.
But the ATM Industry Association told Which? the move had triggered the network on a "path to disaster" and had simply led to the number of cash machines decreasing."

Source:  CityAM, 29th June 2018