|
|
| The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) today announced that Internet advertising revenues reached a new record of $3.9 billion for the first quarter of 2006. The 2006 first quarter revenues represent a 38 percent increase over Q1 2005 at $2.8 billion and a 6 percent increase over Q4 2005 total at $3.6 billion. |
 |
|
In the past year, the number of adults who are online has increased by 5% to an estimated 172 million, according to the latest Harris Interactive poll. Approximately 77% of Americans are now online, up from 74% in the previous poll in 2005, and compared with 57% back in 2000. When Harris first began to track Internet use in 1995, only 9% of U.S. adults reported they went online. |
|
|
The latest survey of 2,032 adults, shows 70% are now online at home, up from 66% in 2005 and 55% in the spring of 2002.
|
|
The poll also gives a demographic look at who is online in the U.S.: More younger people are online than older people, and the affluent are more likely to be online than those with lower incomes. Those with less education are also less likely to be online, the poll shows. |
|
Integrated message management firm Postini found that out of 22 billion messages evaluated last month, 18.5 billion were considered unwanted. That means unwanted e-mail, or spam, accounted for 84 percent of e-mail in April. It is, however, 1 percent down from March. Read The Deadly Duo: Spam and Viruses, April 2006 posting at ClickZ for more details.
U.S. Department of Commerce reported total U.S. non-travel online spending at $24.5 billion for the first quarter of 2006. comScore’s previously published non-travel online spending figure was $23.9 billion for the first quarter of 2006, representing a year-over-year growth rate of 22 percent.
Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore Networks said, “If, as we expect, e-commerce spending continues to grow at a rate in excess of 20 percent for the balance of the year, online spending for 2006 will eclipse the $100 billion threshold for the first time. The growth in consumers’ online buying during the past five years has been quite remarkable, with e-commerce now well integrated into Americans’ shopping behavior.”
After speeding past the $100-billion mark just three years ago, online sales will top $200 billion this year. According to The 2006 State of Retailing Online, the ninth annual Shop.org study conducted by Forrester Research, Inc. of 174 retailers, 2006 online sales (including travel) are expected to rise 20 percent to $211.4 billion. Sales excluding travel will reach $138 billion.
The largest non-travel categories this year will include computer hardware and software ($16.8 billion), autos and auto parts ($15.9 billion), and apparel, accessories, and footwear ($13.8 billion). Pet supplies and cosmetics and fragrances are expected to experience growth rates over 30 percent, more than any other categories.
According to the report, online sales last year rose 25 percent to $176.4 billion. Excluding travel, online retail sales rose 28 percent to $113.6 billion, representing 4.7 percent of total retail sales in 2005.
More than two-thirds of retailers have consistent pricing across channels (79%) and almost half (46%) allow their customers to buy and redeem gift cards online and in stores. Additionally, a notable number of companies give customers the ability to accrue loyalty program points across channels (33%) and offer in-store product information online (26%).
According to the report, 63 percent of retailers surveyed require card verification value (CVV) codes at checkout. For payment, 25 percent of retailers accept private-label cards, 12 percent offer third-party email payment options, nine percent accept eChecks, and seven percent offer third-party credit accounts.
|
Google is seeking to take the pay-per-click model it leveraged for text ads and apply the approach to video. Google will begin distributing online video ads for the first time later this week. Separately, comScore Networks today released an analysis based on its newly launched Video Metrix service, the monthly reporting of consumer video consumption of both content and ads across the Web. “Video consumption on the Web is rapidly approaching the tipping point for advertisers,” said Peter Daboll, president and CEO of comScore Media Metrix. |
|
|
Among notable trends was the marked increase in the number of consumers viewing video online, which grew 18 percent from October 2005 to March 2006. In total, consumers viewed 3.7 billion video streams in March and slightly less than 100 minutes of video content per viewer per month, compared to an average of 85 minutes in October. During March, approximately 42 percent of all U.S. Internet users streamed video through an entertainment site, and more than 33 percent did so from a portal. |
|
The Internet ad market grew 30 percent in 2005 to $12.5 billion. But that represents only 5 percent of the budget that U.S. marketers spend on all media, including newspapers, radio and TV, according to Internet Advertising Bureau data. U.S. ad spending on cable TV alone totaled $18.9 billion last year. |
|
|
Nielsen//NetRatings announced that April’s top 10 social networking sites collectively grew 47 percent year over year, increasing from an unduplicated unique audience of 46.8 million last year to 68.8 million in April 2006, reaching 45 percent of active Web users. |
|
|
MySpace had 38.4 million unique visitors and a remarkable year-to-year growth rate of 367%. Blogger at No. 2, garnered 18.5 million unique visitors and grew 80% yoy, followed by Classmates Online with 12.9 million unique visitors and a 10% yoy increase. YouTube was in fourth place with 12.5 million unique visitors. “Social networking sites are the reality television of the Internet,” said Jon Gibs, senior director of media, Nielsen//NetRatings. |
|
|
|
|
At last count, Google had 12 of the Global Top 100 sites ranked by Alexa, while Yahoo had only 4. |
|
|
Yesterday Bill Tancer at Hitwise posted a very interesting data point on Google properties. Google is on target with its 80/20 Rule! 80% of all visits to Google properties are to Google Search, its bread, butter, and billions! All other Google services including Google Image Search, Google Mail, and Google Maps account for the rest 20%. It would be interesting to see if Yahoo is maintaining a more diversified portfolio of properties!! |
|
According to comScore Media Metrix April monthly report, the notable trends during April were the marked increases in traffic to real estate sites, which grew 12% from the previous month and 23% in the past year. Another noteworthy trend borne out online in April was Americans’ intense interest in tracking ever-rising gas prices. Yahoo! Sites retained the number one spot in the U.S. with 128 million visitors, while MSN-Microsoft Sites regained its number two position, attracting more than 120 million visitors. On a worldwide basis, MSN-Microsoft Sites ranked highest in unique visitors in March, followed by Google and Yahoo! Sites, according to comScore’s World Metrix. Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking: Advertising.com extended its reach to more than 83% of Americans online and retained the number one position for the 24th consecutive month. WebMD Health Network moved up five spots to number 30, reaching more than 5 million more Americans in April than in March. Tremor Network entered the Ad Focus ranking for the first time at number 15, reaching 40% of the U.S. population online. |
| Yesterday Google introduced Google Trends to provide insights into broad search patterns. Search Trends on the hottest tech/net properties says it all. Wikipedia is becoming a big force online, led by Germany. |
|
|
|
Search Google Trends for the latest trends: |
