Wednesday 29 July 2015

Twitter generated $452m in ad revenue in Q2 2015

"Twitter added eight million new users in total if you include what Twitter calls SMS Fast Followers, people who receive tweets as text messages instead of through an actual account. The company’s never highlighted the SMS Fast Followers total before, but said on its last earnings call that it would start to this quarter. If you include those people as part of the user base, which Twitter is obviously doing now, users jumped from 308 million last quarter to 316 million. If you exclude Fast Followers, Twitter’s user base is 304 million people.
The obvious explanation for the change is that it makes Twitter’s user base look significantly bigger. Twitter has struggled to meet Wall Street’s growth expectations since going public back in late 2013; Analysts set low expectations for the company this quarter, too. The addition of two million new core users is the smallest quarter-over-quarter jump it has ever reported.
Twitter posted profits of seven cents per share on $502 million in revenue for the quarter, up more than 60 percent over this same time last year. Analysts were looking for profits of four cents per share on roughly $481 million in revenue. Most of that revenue comes from advertising. Twitter reported $452 million in ad revenue on the quarter, a 63 percent jump from last year."
MAUs

Monday 27 July 2015

China has 668m internet users

"China’s internet is massive. How massive? According to a new report from CNNIC, more than 668 million people are now using the web in China. That means that were China’s internet a country, it would be the third-largest country on earth, behind only India and China itself. In fact, China’s internet has more people than the two next-largest countries, Indonesia and the United States, combined."

Nearly 65m people watch the BBC iPlayer abroad via proxy servers of VPNs

"Over 60 million people around the world are bypassing online restrictions to use the BBC’s iPlayer service, according to figures from research company GlobalWebIndex. It claims nearly 65 million people from abroad watch the UK licence-fee funded iPlayer service using proxy servers or virtual private networks (VPNs). In China alone it estimates that there are 38.5 million people using it.
Based on what the corporation previously charged for  global iPlayer, which closed last month,  the BBC could be missing out on many millions in potential income if it were collectable.
GlobalWebIndex carried out research interviews with more than 47,000 people from around the globe. This included people in countries such as China, India, Japan, the US, Brazil, Germany and France. Its report about the BBC iPlayer said: “Although the iPlayer is funded by the UK license fee and is therefore geo-restricted to be viewable only by people resident in the country, GWI’s data shows that the service has a huge global audience – with many turning to VPNs or proxy servers in order to access the service from abroad.”"
Source:  Advanced Television, 22nd July 2015

Online video sources in the US account for as much share of viewing as live TV & DVR

"The latest wave of Hub’s “Decoding the Default” study reveals important shifts in consumers’ go-to source for TV content. Among those who watch at least some online TV content…
Live TV is still the single most common default source. 34% say Live TV is the first thing they turn on when they want to watch—higher than any other platform.
However: that share is dropping significantly. In 2013, 50% of viewers named live TV as their default – 16 points higher than this year
Online sources now account for as much share-of viewing as live TV and DVR, combined. Across users of all TV platforms, viewers allocate 32% of their total TV viewing to live TV (down from 41% in 2013) and 15% to shows on their DVR (down from 21% in 2013).   Online platforms now account for 46% of all viewing time (up from 34% in 2013)
Among young viewers, online sources have replaced live shows as the “home base” for TV.
40% of viewers age 16-24 use Netflix as their home base. Only 26% default to live TV.
Millennials (age 18-34) are equally likely to default to live TV (33%) and Netflix (31%)"

Flipboard has 70m monthly active users

"Flipboard‘s CEO Mike McCue today revealed that his digital magazine platform now counts 70 million monthly active users as of June 2015. This is a 75 percent increase from February, when it had 40 million monthly active users — prior to launching on the Web.
On stage at the MobileBeat 2015 conference, McCue said, “We’ve had very good growth and it’s coming from a variety of places.” To give a better picture of its growth, McCue said the month prior, there were 65 million monthly active users, a 7.69 percent increase."
MAUs

Wednesday 22 July 2015

Apple's app store revenues hit $5bn in Q2 2015

"Apple announced iPhone sales of 47 million for the fiscal third quarter, falling slightly short of analyst expectations of 48.8 million.
Still, this is up from the 35.2 million iPhones sold in the year-ago quarter, no doubt owing to the popularity of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
Cook also said during the earnings call that "Android switchers are at an all-time high", following reports that a third of iPhone buyers in Europe switched from Google's rival operating system.
Mac sales were also up, coming in at 4.7 million for the three-month period compared with 4.4 million in the year-ago quarter, and 4.5 million in Q2, adding weight to IDC's recent report placing Apple as the world's fourth largest PC maker.
Apple Macbook Pro with Retina display 2014
Apple's Q3 results don't paint such a pretty picture for the iPad, which sold 10.9 million units during the quarter, down from 13.27 million this time last year and 12.6 million in the previous quarter.
However, Cook seemed pretty pleased with the numbers, and lauded the fact that App Store revenues grew 24 percent during the three-month period to $5bn.
"We had an amazing quarter, with iPhone revenue up 59 percent over last year, strong sales of Mac, all-time record revenue from services, driven by the App Store, and a great start for Apple Watch," he said."
Note - They didn't reveal any figures for the Apple Watch - it's their 'other' category

Monday 20 July 2015

Uber taxis are the most-expensed form of ground transportation in the US

"In the three months ended in June, Uber overtook taxis as the most expensed form of ground transportation, according to expense management system provider Certify. Uber accounted for 55 percent of ground transportation receipts compared with taxis at 43 percent.
That’s a big jump from just the beginning of the year. In the first quarter, Uber Technologies had 46 percent of receipts tracked by Certify compared with 53 percent for taxis."

An average of 8 billion dollar US-based technology companies were created each year between 2005 & 2013



"1) We found 84 U.S.-based companies belong to what we call the “unicorn club,” a jaw-dropping 115% increase from our last post. The increase is driven largely by “paper unicorns” – private companies that have not yet had a “liquidity event.” But, these companies are still a super-rarity: our list is just .14% of venture-backed consumer and enterprise tech startups.
2) On average, eight unicorns were born per year in the past decade (versus four in the 2003-2013 era). There’s not yet a super-unicorn ($100 billion-plus in value) born from the 2005-2015 decade, but there are now nine “decacorns” ($10 billion-plus in value), 3x our last post.
3) Consumer-oriented companies drive the majority of value in our set: more companies and higher average value per company. They raise a lot of private capital.
4) Enterprise-oriented companies are fewer and raise less private capital; and increased enterprise fundraising has reduced their return on private dollars raised.
5) In terms of business models, e-commerce companies drive the majority of value in our set, but have the lowest “capital efficiency.” Enterprise and audience companies have decreased in market share of our set, while SaaS companies have grown in market share significantly. We’ve also added a new category: Internet of Things/consumer electronics.
6) It’s a long journey, beyond vesting periods: it has taken ~7 years on average before a “liquidity event” for the 39% who have ‘exited’ – not including the 61% of our list that is still private. The capital efficiency of these “private unicorns” is surprisingly low, which will likely impact future returns for founders, investors and employees.
7) Take heart, “old people” of Silicon Valley: Companies with educated, tech-savvy, experienced 30-something, co-founding teams with history together have built the most successes. Twenty-something founders and successful pivots are the minority; dedicated CEOs who are able to scale their companies for the long haul are not.
8) San Francisco maintains dominance as the new epicenter of the Bay Area’s most valuable tech companies; cities like NYC and L.A. are growing in importance
9) Immigrants play a huge role in the founding and value creation of today’s tech companies.  We wonder how much more value could be created if it were easier to get a work visa.
10) There’s still too little diversity at the top. There is movement in a positive direction on gender from a zero base; and not enough data on race and other underrepresented groups."

The daily volume of Bitcoin transactions, 2011-2015



Source:  Blog post from Coinbase, 15th July 2015

Approx 100,000 merchants offer farming equipment for sale on Taobao

"Millions of farmers are increasingly taking to the Internet to buy affordable goods for farming activities, according to Taobao. By removing middlemen, farmers can find more options and better deals through e-commerce, the company said.
Currently there are some 100,000 Taobao merchants offering farming products on the platform, and overall sales for the category has grown at an annual rate of 180 percent over the past three years.
Taobao said by launching the specialized “vertical” site, it aims to support the entire agriculture supply chain, by not only providing farmers with access to quality inputs and advanced farming technology, but also by helping them to sell farm produce through Internet."
FYI - no definition of what 'farming products' are, but I guess it's more than just spades & pruners...

The Play store gets more app downloads, the iOS app store gets more revenue



Source:  Data from App Annie, reported by Next Big What, 17th July 2015

There are 280m 'mobile addicts' - people who launch apps 60+ times a day



Source:  Blog post from Flurry, 15th July 2015

Netflix has 65m subscribers

"In Q2, we eclipsed 65 million members, with over 42 million in the US and 23 million internationally.  We are at the forefront of a wave of global Internet TV adoption and intend to make our service available throughout the world by the end of 2016.
We added a Q2 record 3.3 million new streaming members, compared to 1.7 million in the previous year quarter. As a reminder, the quarterly guidance we provide is our actual internal forecast at the time we report and we clearly under-forecast in Q2 (forecast was 2.5 million net adds). We strive for accuracy in the forecast and our Q3 estimates are based on everything we know up to today.
We gained 0.9 million members in the US and added 2.4 million members internationally in Q2. We believe the higher than anticipated level of acquisition was fueled by the growing strength of our original programming slate, which in Q2 included the first seasons of Marvel’s Daredevil, Sense8, Dragons: Race to the Edge and Grace and Frankie as well as season 3 of Orange is the New Black. US revenue growth was also driven by a 5% year over year increase in ASP due to uptake in our HD 2-stream plan. We continue to target a 40% US contribution margin by 2020, even though we are running ahead of plan given stronger than expected top line performance and lower content and other streaming costs. We are forecasting Q3 US net adds of 1.15 million, slightly higher than the year ago period.
Our international segment is growing at a rapid pace. We did not add additional markets in Q2 but saw continued improvement across existing markets, including a full quarter of additions from our successful March 24, 2015 launch in Australia/New Zealand. We project Q3 international net adds of 2.4 million.
International revenue grew 48% year over year, despite an -$83 million impact from currency (+5% ASP growth x-F/X). As we expected, international losses increased sequentially with a full quarter of operating costs in AU/NZ. We expect this trend to continue in the second half as we launch additional markets (Japan in Q3 and Spain, Italy and Portugal in Q4) and prepare for further global expansion in 2016, including China as we continue to explore options there."
Source:  Netflix Q2 2015 results, 15th July 2015

Tuesday 14 July 2015

47% of phones sold in Q1 2015 in Africa were smartphones

"Regional smartphone shipments will total 155m units in 2015 after increasing by 66% year on year during the first quarter, according to the technology research and consulting firm’s Q1 2015 Mobile Phone Tracker report. During the quarter, 47% of cellphones sold during the first quarter in Africa were smartphones. Feature-phone sales on the continent slumped by 20% year on year, according to IDC.
“The growth in smartphones in the Middle East and Africa region is being spurred on by Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS, with the two platforms accounting for over 95% of the smartphones shipped in the first quarter of 2015,” the company said. “Shipments of devices featuring these operating systems increased by a combined 67% year on year.”
In Africa, Android has 89% market share in smartphones, with Apple a distant second at 7%. Android is particularly dominant in the low- to mid-priced bands, while Apple is found in the US$450-plus category.
“The strong growth in the region’s smartphone market is largely being driven by the emergence of low-priced devices that are primarily powered by Android,” IDC said. “Indeed, almost half of all the smartphones shipped across Africa (45,1%) in the first quarter of 2015 were priced below $100, while almost 75% fell under $200.”
Nigeria accounted for 14% of all smartphone shipments across Africa during the first quarter, while South Africa was responsible for 12%.
Samsung, Tecno and Apple were the leading smartphone vendors in Africa during the quarter, with Huawei being ousted from the top three. The three leading vendors accounted for a combined 55% share of Africa’s smartphone shipments in the first quarter."
Source:  Data from IDC, reported by TechCentral, 12th July 2015

Instagram has 14m monthly active users in the UK


(He confirmed in a later tweet that it was MAUs)

Monday 13 July 2015

Video ads work more efficiently than image ads on Facebook in driving game app installs

"Mobile App Install (MAI) ads are often one of the most effective ad unit options for mobile gaming companies advertising on Facebook. Initially only supporting images, Facebook has now rolled out support for video—a content feature that has already driven higher CTRs for some Nanigans clients.
Like their image-based counterpart, MAI ads using a video asset also incorporate a great deal of functionality in terms of managing ad reach and viewability. But the question for advertisers is whether video is effective within the MAI unit."

Friday 10 July 2015

TV is now the second screen for kids with tabelts and smartphones in the US

"In a majority of US family households with tablets and smartphones, TV is no longer the kids’ first choice for entertainment, according to a study by strategic research, marketing brand consultants Miner & Co Studio.
The firm found 57 per cent of kids prefer watching video on portable devices like smartphones and tablets as opposed to on traditional television screens.
Additionally, Miner & Co.’s study found 41 per cent of children are more than willing to give up treats in exchange for more time with mobile devices. Thirty-nine per cent of the parents said their children regularly watch the same content on not just one, but multiple devices at the same time.
Mobile devices offer versatility, simple user interface and a ‘personal’ viewing experience. As such, in households where tablets and smartphones are accessible, they’ve now taken the lead with kids as the preferred way to enjoy and explore video content. TV has become the ‘second’ or even third screen for many of these kids.
Parents in nearly half of these households say that when their kids misbehave, they take away their tablet and make them ‘watch TV instead’ as punishment – creating a generation of kids for whom ‘TV is punishment’."
Source:  Advanced Television, 7th July 2015

Password sharing 'will cost the video content industry $500m in 2015'

"OTT video service credential sharing will cost the industry $500 million in direct revenues worldwide in 2015, according to research from market research and consulting company Parks Associates examining video piracy, credential sharing, and its impact on OTT revenue.
The report – The Cost of Piracy – shows 6 per cent of US broadband households use an OTT video service that is paid by a person living outside of the household. It also analyses usage and impact of live-streaming applications such as Meerkat and Periscope, which are used to ‘share’ broadcast events such as Game of Thrones episodes and the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight."

Thursday 9 July 2015

13.3m people in the US watched the Women's World Cup Final

"The Women’s World Cup final which saw USA defeat Japan in an eventful 5-2 clash drew in a record 13.3 million viewers on ABC.
Featuring a hat-trick from US star Carli Lloyd, the figure was close to doubling the 8.6 million viewers drawn into the previous final in 2011 which aired on ESPN, showing a growing interest in the sport in the states.
On the ad front, Fox, which broadcasted 37 matches from the 52-game tournament, generated an impressive $26.8m in ad sales, AdAge quotes from iSpot.tv figures.
Nationwide, Fiat, Visa, Ford, Bud Light. Audi and Nike were among the biggest advertisers of the Women’s World Cup on Fox."

The series 5 finale of Game of Thrones set viewing records for Sky in the UK

"More than 3.1 million Britons tuned in to the see the conclusion to the sprawling fantasy series – making it the most watched Sky entertainment program of all time.
According to the satellite broadcaster, the unbelievable figures include the live audiences for both the 2am US simulcast and 9pm UK broadcast on June 15.
Sky says the record breaking figures also include the customers watching their Sky+ recordings and catching up on-demand over the seven days following the broadcast."

Mobile (& tablet) accounts for 56% of time spent online in the UK


Source:  comScore, 11th June 2015

Friday 3 July 2015

Netflix is now 28% of US TV viewing time

"This past year has seen OTT ‘broadcaster’ Netflix grow its viewing 87 per cent in the US, and in the process take itself to the third-biggest broadcaster in the country according to ad-company blog Alphonso. For the established broadcasters in the US, there’s worse to come: Alphonso says that next year could see Netflix occupy the Number 1 spot in terms of hours viewed.
[...]
The ad-blog also says that US linear TV viewing is down 15 per cent y-o-y, which Alphonso says is the fastest one-year decline ever in broadcast or pay-TV.
In actual numbers Alphonso quotes Netflix as having 15 per cent of all US viewing in 2014, which grew to 28 per cent this year (year-over-year data), while live broadcast and ‘conventional’ pay-TV viewing tumbled from 52 per cent to 44 per cent of all viewing hours."

Wednesday 1 July 2015

Nearly 500 advertisers have used Sky AdSmart; 69% were new to TV or Sky

"Eighteen months after Sky AdSmart went live on TV, nearly 500 advertisers have used the service – 69% of them new to TV or Sky Media, Sky’s media sales house. During that time, there have been 2299 campaigns on the targeted ad insertion platform, more than 700 of them post-code-based, with a total of 1.9 billion ad impressions served.
Graeme Hutcheson, Head of Sky AdSmart, unveiled his latest set of statistics at the Connected TV Summit in London, saying “we're really, really happy about the new-to-TV or new-to-Sky Media stats. It's really pulling in loads and loads of advertisers who never considered TV before. That was really the ambition at the start and early signs are saying we're delivering on that.”
One of major drivers  was the availability of post-code targeting, he said. “Being able to go to a double-glazing firm in Exeter who never have considered a TV campaign before, purely because it's too broad and too expensive as an entry cost, we can go to a company like that and say ‘Look, we can target consumers or your customers in your particular area – and actually the entry cost, the capital costs for going into that aren’t massive because you're only talking to 30,000 homes.’""
Source:  VideoNet, 30th June 2015