According to Mary Meeker's annual report
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| Mary Meeker |
Mary Meeker's annual Internet Trends report is one of the most closely
watched reports in the tech industry, and this year's presentation
underscores the growth of mobile, particularly on social platforms that
now control the bulk of ad spending and time spent by users.
Here's a look at seven of the most interesting stats in Meeker's more than 200-slide deck presented at Re/code's Code Conference today.
1. Desktop ad revenue is relatively flat, while mobile is exploding
Marketers are sick and tired of hearing about "the year of mobile," but
Meeker's presentation shows that mobile is indeed far outpacing
desktop-based ad revenue.
Internet ad revenue hit $60 billion in 2015, more than a 20 percent
increase over 2014. Mobile ad revenue grew by more than 66 percent,
while desktop was up just 5 percent.
Meanwhile, consumers are spending 25 percent of their time on mobile,
which grabs 12 percent of ad budgets. By Meeker's estimation, that means
there's a $21 billion untapped opportunity for U.S. brands to catch up
with how people consume media.
By comparison, consumers spend 22 percent of their time on their
desktops, and advertisers allocate 23 percent of budgets to desktop
advertising.
2. It's Google and Facebook's game to win
Like it or not, Mark Zuckerberg has created an advertising juggernaut.
Between 2014 and 2015, Facebook's ad revenue grew 59 percent, with the
bulk of ads running on mobile devices. Meanwhile, Google's ad revenue
was up 18 percent over the same time period.
While Google's increase may seem modest compared to Facebook's, consider that all other digital players collectively increased their ad revenue 13 percent.
Together, Facebook and Google controlled 76 percent of internet advertising.
3. Consumers are annoyed by online ads
Meeker's presentation included data from video company Unruly
suggesting that the boon in online advertising isn't great for
consumers.
Ninety-two percent of 3,200 internet users surveyed said that they'd
consider using an ad blocker, and 62 percent of people said that they
are annoyed by preroll ads. The study also found that 81 percent of
video ads are muted and require consumers to click to play sound.
4. Mobile rules for ad blocking
The results should be taken with a grain of salt, though, since
PageFair's technology helps publishers work around ad blockers and
mobile ad blocking has only been "a thing" for a year.
5. Shorter is better
Meeker pointed to two Snapchat campaigns—one for Spotify and one for
Universal Pictures' Furious 7—from last year as examples of how short
videos work in mobile.
Universal sponsored a Live Story for Miami's Ultra Music Festival in
March 2015 that generated more than 14 million views. And in December,
Spotify increased subscription intent by 30 percent when it ran a
campaign within the Discover section promoting its top artists of the
year.
