New viewing peaks for Netflix
This week’s 5 stories include some - possibly contentious - numbers on streaming and search, how AI is transforming Pinterest, and lots of practical uses of AI.
According to BARB data, Netflix was the most watched TV service in the UK in September, October and November 2024, with an average monthly audience of 43.2m viewers, compared to 42.3m. Clearly this is not a like for like comparison - an online, on demand platform vs a single TV channel - and BBC1 took the lead again in December - but it does give an indication of both Netflix growth and the normalisation of streaming in recent years. Netflix’ evolution has included - it seems to me - trying to appeal to as many people as possible through a mix of both high and low profile commissions, plus lots of licencing, particularly old shows and movies.
Another potentially contentious number; according to StatCounter, Google’s global search market share was under 90% during each of the final three months of 2024. It scored 89.34% in October; 89.99% in November; and 89.73% in December - the first time this has happened since 2015, when it was under also 90% for 3 months in a row. We cannot attribute this to AI, or searches within social - StatCounter does not measure that traffic - but it seems to be shifting to other, traditional search engines like Bing, Yandex, and Yahoo. Again, be super cautious of this data, but it is another possible example of how search is a more dynamic area than for the past few years.
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An interesting interview with Pinterest’s Chief Revenue Officer: AI and a shift to performance are making a difference for them, with most revenue now from lower funnel campaigns, compared to ? from upper funnel 5 years ago. AI in targeting and engagement is also making an impact - users are staying longer and going from one category to another, while ad impressions are up over 40% year on year and advertisers are seeing great efficiency gains. A good example of how platforms are using technology to improve the experience for both users and advertisers.
Previously published with 101 use cases, this compendium from Google has been updated to include lots more, around areas like customer agents and data, and split into verticals like Retail and Consumer Goods, Financial Services, and Media, Marketing and Gaming. Lots of the examples are pretty technical, but there should be lots of inspiration here, for example ‘Telecom Italia (TIM) implemented a Google-powered voice agent to address many customer calls, increasing efficiency by 20%.’
Every year VC & tech expert Steven Sinofsky walks around all the halls at CES and write about it. This year is big on AI (obviously) but also health, wearables, glasses, robots and more. It’s a 30 minute read, but it’s easy to navigate to the bits you are interested in.