The Digital Consumer
I just re-discovered (if you saw my computer ‘desktop’ you’d understand) two excellent reports — one from Nielsen on The Digital Consumer, and the other from comScore called US Digital Future in Focus 2014. These are the most exhaustive examinations I’ve seen of the digital usage habits of today’s consumer, as measured in each case by folks who really know how to measure.
Reading through these reports isn’t going to lift tomorrow’s fundraising results, but you’ll still be well-served by better appreciating the monumental shifts occurring in the way consumers — and I mean everybody — are relating to media these days.
Being ‘connected’ doesn’t begin to describe the extent to which folks are engaging via non-traditional media in real-time using multiple devices simultaneously to meet their information and socializing needs. Needs we never knew existed, what, 6-7 years ago? The first iPhone was released on June 29, 2007 … here’s the Steve Jobs launch video.
There’s so much data in these two reports I can’t really summarize them. But for instance (all figures are US) …
- Smartphone penetration is 65%, with 34 hours/month — and increasing — spent on smartphone apps/browsers (compared to 27 hours — and decreasing — spent on internet via computers).
- 84% watch online video (Millennials are 48% higher than the average) — 12-13 hours of monthly online viewing.
- Traditional television transformed by ‘two-screen’ viewing and interactivity — TV program generating the most Tweets … “Breaking Bad” — averaged 6 million Tweets per show.
- Online retail spending is growing 13% per year, with mobile accounting for 10% of online spending.
- Hispanics lead the digital curve.
So, read and absorb:
US Digital Future In Focus 2014
There’s a very simple and crucially important bottomline — you must re-think the way your organization delivers content and transacts.
Mobile … mobile … mobile!
Tom
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