7 quick takeaways from Mary Meeker's report on internet usage
- China and short-form video content
China's mobile data usage grew by 189% year-on-year. A key driver for this is short-form videos. Users spent a total of nearly 600 million hours per day watching short-form videos on mobile in April 2019, more than in any other category. Short-form video leaders included Douyin (known as Tik Tok in international markets), Kuaishou and Haokan.
2. TV vs Mobile
The average daily time consumers spend on mobile in minutes surpassed TV in 2019: 226 minutes for mobile versus 216 minutes for TV. YouTube and Instagram are gaining the most online platform time (up 27% and 19% respectively in Q4 2018) and digital video is now up to 28% of average daily watching time.
3. Interactive games, the new social network?
There were 2.4 billion interactive game players globally in 2018, which is growth of 6%, versus 5% the year prior. Meeker asked if interactive games are the new social networks.
4. Personalization, consumer data and AI
In a survey of retail customers, 91% said they prefer brands that provide personalized offers and recommendations; 83% said they are willing to passively share data for personalized experiences; and 74% said they are willing to actively share data for personalized experiences.
5. Privacy and digital overload
Consumers are more aware of digital overload and are taking steps to reduce screen time. At the same time, consumers around the world are less concerned about internet privacy than they were four years ago
6. News and negative content
Consumers generally prefer negative news. In 2018, 43% of respondents to a Pew survey said they got their news headlines from Facebook, 21% from YouTube and 12% from Twitter.
Algorithms can amplify users’ own patterns as newsfeeds are curated using search history (Google), reading history (Apple), followed accounts (Twitter) and followed interests (Reddit). Internet platforms, however, are driving efforts to reduce problematic content, Meeker noted.
7. Smart phones
Despite the high-profile releases of $1,000 iPhones and Samsung Galaxy Notes, the global average selling price of smartphones is continuing to decline. Lower costs help drive smartphone adoption in less-developed markets.
References: https://www.vox.com/2018/5/30/17385116/mary-meeker-slides-internet-trends-code-conference-2018
https://www.adweek.com/digital/10-takeaways-from-mary-meekers-2019-internet-trends-report/