98% of online Americans aged 18-24s use social media

"Has the term "social Web" become redundant? Nearly so, it seems, as 91% of online adults - or 129 million consumers - now access social media at least once a month.
So says a new study from Experian Simmons, which, even more remarkably, finds that 98% of online 18-to 24 year-olds use social media monthly.
Narrowing the generational divide, Experian Simmons finds that the greatest growth sector for social is among older Americans.
In fact, the share of those in the 65-plus category who use social media grew a relative 50% in the past two years alone. As such, nearly 3-in-4 online seniors now use social media in a typical month, as do 82% of those ages 55 to 64."

Source:  MediaPost, 7th October 2011

Full report here

Asos' mobile sales rose 800% Y-o-Y in 2011

"Leading online fashion retailer Asos.com has launched its first apps for the Apple range of mobile devices, following strong sales growth via mobile devices.
The new service has been designed for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users, and along with the function to ‘save for later’ any item of interest sold by the trader, the app also includes a locator for local drop-off points for customers looking to return unwanted purchases.
Customer accounts are totally synchronised across all of the retailer’s platforms so whether they are using the new apps, the standard website or the mobile site all of their details will remain consistent.
James Hart, Asos E-commerce Director, said: Following year-on-year growth of over 800 per cent in mobile revenue, I’m delighted to release our iPad and iPhone shopping apps.
“We decided to take a considered approach to releasing these first apps, so that their foundations were rock-solid, thereby allowing us to now develop and improve the experiences at pace.”"

Source:  Retail Gazette, 22nd September 2011

Spotify made a loss of £26.5m in 2010

"Accounts filed with Companies House show the likely reason Spotify wanted to break America so badly.
Last year, the music service’s revenue exploded by 458 percent, but its income was more than swallowed up by growing outgoings. So Spotify finished 2010 with a deeper annual loss of £26.5 ($41.46) million.
“It is crucial that Spotify continues to penetrate existing and new markets as quickly as possible,” according to Spotify’s accounts filed at Companies House.
2010 was, however, the year when subscriptions (£45 ($70.4) million) began leaping ahead of advertising income (£18 ($28.16) million) for Spotify…
These accounts, of course, are almost a year old. In 2011, Spotify tightened available free music and got the U.S. launch it wanted. Now its path to success looks far more likely. It now has over two million paying subscribers - more than any rival service."

Source:  PaidContent, 10th October 2011

Apple achieved over 1m pre-orders of the iPhone 4S on the first day

"Apple® today announced pre-orders of its iPhone® 4S have topped one million in a single day, surpassing the previous single day pre-order record of 600,000 held by iPhone 4. iPhone 4S is the most amazing iPhone yet, packed with incredible new features including Apple’s dual-core A5 chip for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics; an all new camera with advanced optics; full 1080p HD resolution video recording; and Siri™, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking."

Source:  Press release from Apple, 10th October 2011

The first email was sent in October 1971

"It’s become a firm fixture of everyday life, loathed by some but essential to nearly all of us, and yet its future is far from certain. Email is forty years old this month, with the first message having been sent in October 1971."

Source:  The Next Web, 8th October 2011

Online coupons drive incremental business

"Online coupons and promotion codes drive incremental business: Offering coupons and deals generates new users and increases overall user spending. Active coupon users reported spending over $800 more per year with e-commerce merchants than less active coupon users ($1,850 versus $1,025). In addition, 74% of active coupon users indicated that they would be likely to try a new brand if they received a coupon or promotion code versus 54% of less active coupon users.
Online coupons and promotion codes positively influence the purchase cycle by reducing shopping cart abandonment, improving conversion rates and reinforcing positive feelings about brands. Additionally, 88% of respondents said that promo codes or coupons “close the deal” on their decision to make a purchase.
Reduced shopping cart abandonment: 60% of respondents indicated that if they received an online coupon or promotion code they would be more likely to reconsider purchasing a product that they had put in their shopping cart but had not bought.
Improved brand loyalty and reputation: 80% of respondents indicated that offering online coupons or promotion codes improves a company’s brand image, with an impressive 88% of respondents saying that they have positive feelings toward companies that offer coupons."

Source:  Research by Forrester Consulting for Whaleshark Media, reported in a press release, 5th October 2011

Advertising is more effective if seen on multiple platforms

"In the group that was exposed to TV ads alone, 50 percent of people correctly attributed the ad to the correct auto brand. For groups that saw the ad across all screens – TV, computer, smartphone and tablet – the ability to remember the brand jumped dramatically to nearly three-in-four (74%).
Similarly, only 22 percent of the group exposed to just the TV ad was able to correctly remember that the ad was for a 4-door sedan versus 39 percent of the group that saw the ad across all screens."

Source:  Research from Nielsen, commissioned by Google, reported on Nielsen's blog, 29th September 2011

Online buzz can drive ratings for TV shows

"An analysis conducted by NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey Company, and Nielsen looked at the correlation between online buzz and television ratings and found a statistically significant relationship throughout a TV show’s season among all age groups, with the strongest correlation among younger demos (people ages 12-17 and 18-34), and a slightly stronger overall correlation for women compared to men.  Men over 50 showed the weakest buzz-to-ratings connection leading up to a show’s premiere through the middle of the season, but that relationship strengthened by the finale as all age groups were actively discussing a TV show via social media.
Among people aged 18-34, the most active social networkers, social media buzz is most closely aligned with TV ratings for the premiere of a show.  A few weeks prior to a show’s premiere, a nine percent increase in buzz volume correlates to a one percent increase in ratings among this group.  As the middle of the season approaches and then the finale, the correlation is slightly weaker, but still significant, with a 14 percent increase in buzz corresponding to a one percent increase in ratings."

Source:  Research by NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey Company, and Nielsen, reported in Nielsen's blog, 6th October 2011

Smartphone penetration in APAC by market

I created this chart with Google's new online mobile data too.  Data comes from Google and Ipsos.

Click to Enlarge

There are lots of other markets & measures.  Create your ownhere.
Source:  Google, Ipsos & MMA 2011.  Full info here

Smartphone penetration in Europe by market

I created this chart with Google's new online mobile data too.  Data comes from Google and Ipsos.

Click to Enlarge

There are lots of other markets & measures.  Create your own here.
Source:  Google, Ipsos & MMA 2011.  Full info here

Coca Cola spends more than 20% of its media budget on social media

"It’s not just that you can’t control it—when you try, it backfires. You have to understand consumers: They would like to be heard. It’s a question of cocreating content. Five years ago social media was 3% of our total media spend. Today it’s more than 20% and growing fast."
Source:  Coca Cola CEO Muhtar Kent, reported by Harvard Business Review, October 2011

The BBC news sites send over 6 million click-throughs to other sites per month

"Last year we were tasked with doubling the number of click-throughs to external sites from the BBC News website by 2013, as part of the BBC's Strategy Review.
This was something I discussed at a panel session I was taking part in at yesterday's News:Rewired conference, organised by Journalism.co.uk, and I wanted to write briefly here about our ongoing efforts to improve the ways in which we link externally from our news articles.
Having asked for the figures from our research team for my presentation, it was great to hear that we appear to be well on track to achieve the goal set for us.
Looking back at the third quarter of 2010, we had an average of around 2.9m external click-throughs per month from UK users. That period - last year's July, August & September - was around the time of the redesign of the News website. That meant, among other changes, that the 'From other news sites' and 'Related internet links' sections moved from the right-hand side to the bottom of news stories. And we have also been doing more linking to external sources from within the text of story pages.
The figures for the third quarter of this year show that all this has had an effect, and it looks as though we've been getting something right. The monthly average is now around 6.1m click-throughs i.e. more than double what it was last year. One caveat is that there have been some big news stories over this period, including the August riots, Norway shootings and Amy Winehouse's death. Another caveat is that we are using a different method to measure the figures now, so whilst the comparison should be pretty accurate, there's a small margin for error."

Source:  BBC News blog, 7th October 2011