5 Takeaways from Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends Report 2019

5 Takeaways from Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends Report 2019

Cover Image Source: AdAge

Mary Meeker released her annual Internet Trends Report last week, and, as always, we can all agree on one constant in this fractious world: technology and internet use is growing. In that sense, nothing was “groundbreaking,” but there were some definite recurring themes, like growing internet and device use, privacy, the gig economy and China’s general dominance in internet and retail. Also, Fortnite made it in. Below, we round up our Top 5 Takeaways from the 333 slide deck.

1. The Mobile Advertising Spend Gap is Now Closed

Everyone listened up: there was no glaring $7 billion mobile advertising spending opportunity in this year’s Report. In 2018, the percentage of advertising spend in desktop and mobile channels was even with the percentage of time consumers spent in those channels-18% for desktop and 33% for mobile.

Overall Internet ad spend was up 22% (only 1% higher than 2017). Platforms that gain ad share are doing so with better targeting, new creative, commerce and high relevance. (Sooooo, Native and Content Marketing?)

2. Multi-Channel Approach…With TV…Leads to Success

Ever wondered how often people look up stuff on their phone what they are watching? Meeker measured it. 88% used a second digital device while watching TV and 71% look up content related to the content they are watching. Combine that with these statistics from Cell Phone Deal which say that more demographics are increasingly using their phones to purchase and what you have may be a unique opportunity for marketing.

3. Data and Personalization Make for Happy Customers

Despite your friends groaning about being “followed” by ads, Meeker found that, in fact, users do prefer it. 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.

Read more: How To Drive Awareness and Sales: E-Commerce + Native Best Practices

4. Adults Are Spending an Unprecedented Amount of Time in Digital…Which is Great for Advertisers.

E-commerce contributed to 15 percent of all retail sales (slide 20), meaning advertisers have a captive audience ready to click ‘buy.’ It is important for e-commerce websites to keep this going by appealing to their audience, using digital marketing techniques as well as look into things such as Search Engine Optimization Services so they are able to produce the results needed for their business. They want to appeal to their customer base in the best way possible to hopefully bring in more foot traffic and have returning customers, that is why designing their website to suit their needs is an essential component of being noticed as well as being able to sell their products. They will also look at how they can best ship their products using shipment resources like AfterShip and others within a similar line, to help their customers keep tabs on their orders which can promote brand loyalty.

5. China Dominated

The number of internet and retail users in China continues to soar, despite restrictions in China. This is an interesting thing to see in the key internet statistics that are put out around this time of year While the government in China blocks Netflix, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google, they’ve built their own versions like iflix, Baidu, WeChat, and the population consumes them. And seven Chinese companies in the top-30 spots for internet market cap leaders, namely Alibaba, Tencent, Meituan Dianping, JD.com, Baidu, NetEase and Xiaomi.

Of note…

Also noted was the importance of Free Trials as the leading way services gained subscribers. The “free trial” model helped companies like Spotify and Zoom account for 60% of paid subscribers. In a similar vein, the “freemium” model of offering free use with extra cost add-ons (as Fortnite does) has proven successful, especially in gaming (slide 102).

Want more from the Bidtellectual? We have a monthly newsletter!


4 Easy Ways to Ignite Your Summer Content Marketing Strategy

4 Easy Ways to Ignite Your Summer Content Marketing Strategy

In honor of the 4th of July (Happy Birthday, America!), we have four easy ways to ignite your content marketing strategy this summer. Shouldn’t we all make our content work harder so we can enjoy this nice weather? Summer Fridays, anyone?

1. You Have Content – Yes, You Do!

Check your website, your company bios, your snazzy marketing materials, your recent blog posts and articles. Got them? Great! You have content. Now just plug them into your Native programmatic platform of choice (we can help you choose one ;)) and bring future clients to you. Another tip? For copy and image suggestions to really make that content shine, go to experts. Our award-winning [b]+studio can turn your content assets into eye-catching image and copy for maximum engagement – presto! Of course, when it comes to engagement, there is no harm in getting a little extra help when it comes to this, especially if you are new to a particular platform or going in a slightly different direction with your new campaign (maybe you’re targeting a different group than you normally do). In these situations, there’s no harm in seeking out a great place to buy cheap views on Instagram videos, or whichever platform you are looking to use, in order to give yourself a boost that will help your natural, organic audience find you in the long run.

2. Optimize that Creative, Baby

If you’re not optimizing in real-time, are you even optimizing? But seriously, utilize Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) to optimize towards best-performing images and copy in real time, based on factors like location and season. You can also take the help of a specialized marketing team that can help you target geo-specific customers to improve the ROI from the promotional strategies. For instance, if you are marketing for restaurants or other similar businesses, you might need to target people from that particular location, for which, hiring a marketer could be a better option. Moreover, a professional can aid you to make the most out of your content placements (rainboots while it’s raining, anyone?).

3. Teamwork Makes the Dream Work (Make this the Summer of Content Love)

Our VP of National Sales, Terah Bocchi recently penned a piece on the importance of keeping communication between the content creation teams and the content distribution teams open. If your two teams are siloed, why not make Summer the time of love and friendship? After all, you need each other – content distribution can’t distribute nothing, while content without eyes is arguably not content at all! Work together to determine your content needs, distribution goals, and get that engagement poppin.’

4. Mobile, Mobile, Mobile

Our CEO, Lon Otremba, recently penned a piece in Forbes about the importance of creating content specifically for mobile. If you caught Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends Report this year, you probably noticed that the mobile advertising spending gap closed since last year, but mobile usage is still growing! The average user is spending 226 minutes on mobile (more than TV!). So make sure your videos, creative, and optimization capabilities are all formatted for mobile. A good platform will make sure of that for you.

Want more Mobile? Download our Mobile is the Move Infographic here!

Download Infographic

Want more from the Bidtellectual? We have a monthly newsletter!