POV: Mary Meeker Future of the Internet Report 2019

Background

Mary Meeker’s ‘Future of the Internet’ report for 2019 is out - and as usual it is packed full of insights and stats that show the continuing growth of the digital economy.

Details and Implications:

Meeker has been producing ‘Future of the Internet’ reports since 1995, when she famously said the internet had ‘lots of upside’. The 2019 edition (now from her own company Bond Capital after she left Kleiner Perkins last year) contains the usual statistics on usage and adoption of technology, as well as more detailed focus on areas such as ecommerce, the Internet of Things and Cloud computing. Below are some of the highlights:

• More than 50% of the world’s population (3.8bn) has access to the internet but it is getting harder to reach new users, which is indicated by the 4% fall in global smartphone shipments in 2018, compared to 0% the prior year.
• 53% of the world’s internet users are located in Asia-Pacific, with China the largest single internet market in the world, with 0.8bn internet users.
• Ecommerce growth in the US is 12.4% compared to the previous year 12.1% growth rate and physical retail is also still growing, although only at about 2% and Ecommerce now accounts for about 15% of US retail sales.
• Percentage of ad spend levels have now reached an equilibrium in the US when compared to time spent on device for both desktop (18%) and mobile (33%).
• 62% of display advertising is brought via programmatic means Vs direct.
• Free trial and recommendation the two biggest drivers for converting users into paying subscribers for services.
• The average US adult spends 6.3 hours each day with digital media, with over 50% of that on mobile.
• 30% of global internet users are using Facebook at least once per day. The next most popular platform is YouTube (27%), WhatsApp (25%), WeChat (23%), Instagram (19%) Facebook Messenger (15%), Twitter (11%), Snapchat (5%), Pinterest (4%) and Twitch (2%)
• There are 2.4 billion interactive game players in the world, +6% over the prior year.
• Cloud services revenues of Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are collectively closing in on $14 billion, +58% year-over-year and more data is now stored in the cloud than on private enterprise servers or consumer devices.

Summary:

The annual report (333 slides this year) is a must read for all technology investors and digital advertising professionals – not to mention being the most pillaged document for charts to add into presentations. The overall picture, in her own words, is: While Internet user growth is slowing, global innovation and competition continue to drive product improvements, new types of usage and monetisation – especially in areas of digital video, voice, wearables, on-demand + local services and traditionally underserved markets.

Further Reading:

Full Internet Trends 2019 Report | TechCrunch | AdAge | Video Presentation at Recode