US smartphone users use an average of 7-8 apps a month

"Parks Associates announced smartphone and tablet research at Mobile World Congress today showing app users regularly use nearly 8 apps on their smartphone and nearly 7 apps on their tablet. The average user spends 3.3 hours per week using social networking apps on a smartphone, while gaming and music apps score 2.7 and 2.6 hours per week, respectively. Fourteen percent of smartphone users and 26% of tablet users do not regularly use an app."

Source:  Press release from Parks Associates, 4th March 2015

1.2 billion smartphones were sold in 2014

"Worldwide sales of smartphones to end users had a record fourth quarter of 2014 with an increase of 29.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013 to reach 367.5 million units, according to Gartner, Inc. Samsung lost the No. 1 spot to Apple in the global smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2014 (see Table 1). Samsung had been in the top spot since 2012.
In 2014, sales of smartphones to end users totaled 1.2 billion units, up 28.4 percent from 2013 (see Table 2) and represented two-thirds of global mobile phone sales.
"Samsung's performance in the smartphone market deteriorated further in the fourth quarter of 2014, when it lost nearly 10 percentage points in market share," said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner. "Samsung continues to struggle to control its falling smartphone share, which was at its highest in the third quarter of 2013. This downward trend shows that Samsung's share of profitable premium smartphone users has come under significant pressure.""

Source:  Press release from Gartner, 3rd March 2015

6% of workers in the UK are in jobs that didn't exist in 1990

"The transformation of the workforce is rapidly expanding beyond London as the UK embraces the digital economy, with about 1.8m people — 6 per cent of workers — now employed in a type of job that did not even exist in 1990.
In central London 10 per cent of workers are employed in jobs that did not exist in 1990 but regional cities are rapidly embracing new careers, according to PwC’s 2015 economic outlook. Official classifications have added 1,500 job titles since then."

Source:  Financial Times, 11th March 2015

30,000 people signed a petition to have an official 'Taco' emoji created

"But brands looking to take advantage of this trend need to understand the difference between emojis and emoticons or stickers. The emoji keyboard, which now comes standard on many smartphones, is comprised of various emojis approved by the Unicode Consortium. Brands looking to create their own emoticons and stickers have to make their own apps or partner with messaging apps like Kik, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger to have their branded emoticons available for consumer use.
Taco Bell recently lobbied the Unicode Consortium to add a taco emoji to its keyboard. The brand circulated a Change.org petition that's secured 30,000 signatures. So why not create its own emoticons or stickers instead of waiting for the Unicode Consortium to add a taco emoji? "We didn't go create our own app because people use the emojis natively already," explained Taco Bell rep Ashley Sioson. "We want it to be a natural tie-in to how the user already uses emojis.""
Source:  AdWeek, 9th March 2015
See the petition here

UK TV ad spend grew 6% to £4.9bn in 2014

"The UK advertising market continues to grow from strength to strength following a 6 per cent increase in sales last year to reach £4.91bn – the fifth consecutive year of growth to be enjoyed by the sector.
Compiled by Thinkbox the latest batch of figures was boosted by the growth of online brands such as Amazon, Google and Netflix with online brands and services doubling investment in the sector to over £400m since 2010.
The market was also given a lift by 800 new and returning advertisers who took linear spots, sponsorship, broadcaster VOD, and product placement packages in 2014. Their combined output saw the average commercial TV viewer exposed to 45 ads whilst watching 2 hours and 25 minutes of content each day."

Source:  The Drum, 10th March 2015

WPP spent nearly $3bn on Google ads in 2014

"WPP, the world's largest advertising company, has just revealed Google is its biggest partner, in terms of where it plugs its clients' advertising money. And it's WPP's biggest media partner by quite some way.
Speaking on the company's fourth quarter earnings call, WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell gave some interesting nuggets about the company's media outlay last year.
"Google has become our biggest media partner," he said. Last year WPP invested $2.9 billion of its $75 billion media bookings into Google ads."

Source:  Business Insider, 9th March 2015

Nearly 50% of video viewed on TV by US broadband households is from non-linear sources

"Glenn Hower, Research Analyst at Parks Associates, will participate in the pre-event workshop interactive session “A Glimpse behind the Curtain of Connected TV” at 2015 ANA Media Leadership Conference on March 4 in Hollywood, Florida.
The session will address connected TV, pay TV, and the advertising opportunities that are arising for marketers. Parks Associates research reveals that U.S. broadband households watch on average 36.2 hours of video per week, and 65% of all video consumed was on a television.  Almost half (49%) of video viewed on the television was from non-linear sources (DVR, Internet video, VOD, PPV, DVD/Blu-ray), up from 38% in Q4 2010.
“Consumers still want the big-screen experience, and the decline in linear viewing tells us that consumers want that experience on their own terms,” Hower said. “Despite the ability to watch content on almost any connected device with a screen, the television remains the central video viewing device for consumers. However, the sources for that video content are changing pretty dramatically.”"

Source:  Press release from Parks Associates, 3rd March 2015

5% of US broadband households use a smart watch with health & fitness tracking

"Research firm Parks Associates announced today that 5% of U.S. broadband households use a smart watch with health and fitness tracking functions, while 8% use a digital pedometer or fitness/activity tracker. Tejas Mehta, Parks Associates’ research analyst covering the mobile and wearable markets, is attending Mobile World Congress next week in Barcelona to support the event and share the firm’s insights in wearable technology adoption trends and mobile consumer research.
“Though increased adoption of smartphones is fueling the mobile revolution that includes wearable devices, consumers' all-encompassing desire to use smartphones in all aspects of their lives is creating a dilemma for wearable OEMs,” Mehta said. “In the case of smart watches, these devices are regularly marketed as companion or ‘tethered’ smart products. Companies need to rally consumer interest in smart watches by educating them on the unique experiences and benefits of these and other wearables. Otherwise, the majority of consumers may not see the reason to purchase another device that has similar, if not the same, capabilities as their smartphone.”"

Source:  Parks Associates, 26th February 2015

Note - I'm not completely sure that there are enough smart watches in circulation for 5% of broadband homes to use one...

The iPhone accounts for 89% of all smartphone hardware profits

Source:  Strategy Analytics, reported by Apple insider, 26th February 2015

One quarter of newly installed Android apps are uninstalled within 10 minutes

"The make-or-break phase for a newly installed app on an Android device is the first 10 minutes, according to Kantar mobile behavioral data. One-quarter of Android users who installed new apps proceeded to uninstall them within that brief stretch of time. Once the 10-minute mark passes, the inclination to uninstall becomes much more diffuse, happening over days.
Of Kantar's total sample of 12,971 Android users whose mobile behavior was tracked (anonymously and with consent, of course) between January and October 2014, 26% installed, then uninstalled the same app within 10 minutes. Another 6% did so during the next 50 minutes, meaning a total of 32% installed then uninstalled within an hour. And yet another 6% installed then uninstalled within the following 23 hours, for a total of 38% who ditched that new app within one day of installation.
For games specifically, Android device users hang on far longer to games they paid for, an average of 31 days, than they hang onto games they downloaded for free: an average of 15 days.
KEY NUMBERS
31 days - Average lifespan of a paid game app
15 days - Average life span of a free game app"
Source:  Kantar US Insights, 26th February 2015

Facebook has 2 million active advertisers

"This is a moment to celebrate all the incredible entrepreneurs like you who are creating value for their communities.
Courtney, a mom in North Carolina who started The Produce Box, a company delivering fresh food that now provides a market for more than 40 farmers across the state.
Shubhra and Vivek, married Indian entrepreneurs who sold their house to raise the money to start Chumbak, an accessories company that now employs more than 150 people.
Thiago, a Brazilian man in the Amazon who turned his passion for making chocolate into Brigadore Brigadeiros Gourmet, a chain of stores and a national brand.
KaYoung, a young woman in South Korea who used her law school tuition money to launch HotelNow, a service for finding last-minute hotel rooms, that is now expanding across Asia.
And there are more than two million other inspiring stories of people working to grow their businesses. You’re creating jobs, sharing new ideas and inspiring all of us to dream big."

Source:  Facebook News, 24th February 2015
Earlier - 1 million reported on 18th June 2013

YouTube 'breaks even on revenues of $4bn a year'

"Google Inc. nurtured YouTube into a cultural phenomenon, attracting more than one billion users each month. Still, YouTube hasn’t become a profitable business.
The online-video unit posted revenue of about $4 billion in 2014, up from $3 billion a year earlier, according to two people familiar with its financials, as advertiser-friendly moves enticed some big brands to spend more. But while YouTube accounted for about 6% of Google’s overall sales last year, it didn’t contribute to earnings. After paying for content, and the equipment to deliver speedy videos, YouTube’s bottom line is “roughly break-even,” according to a person with knowledge of the figure.
By comparison, Facebook Inc. generated more than $12 billion in revenue, and nearly $3 billion in profit, from its 1.3 billion users last year."

Source:  WSJ, 25th February 2015