17 Must-View Slides from KPCB’s “Internet Trends” Report
The annual report on Internet trends of 2015 prepared by KPCB is an absolutely must-see. It captures the major changes in the Internet world and expands to various other industries and verticals. I decided to highlight the most important slides and conclusions in case you don’t have time to go over 195 pages.
Slide 4. From 1995 to 2014 the number of Internet users grew 80 times, from 35M to 2.8B. Nowadays this number represents 39% of the world’s population. Slide 116 supplies some data about the US: here over 80% of people have access to the Internet.
Slide 10. However, the growth rates are slowing down both for Internet User Growth and Smartphone Subscription growth.
Slide 14. Time spent using Digital Media is increasing: while in 2008, the average adult was online only 2.7 hours a day, in 2015, according to the forecast, this number will be closer to 5.6 hours, which will be equally divided between mobile and desktop devices.
This slide accounts for only digital media, while overall consumption of media is closer to 15 hours a day. It happens because an individual can use more than one media stream at a time (listen to the radio and read Twitter). Analysts agree that approximately 20 hours a day is what we can expect to see in a couple of years.
Slide 20. Emerging mobile platforms lead to the revision of conventional video formats. “Vertical” videos are gaining popularity. Video clips are seamlessly embedded into applications, while Pinterest introduced another interesting feature: video moves as the user scrolls the feed. Not only videos are refitted for vertical screens (in 2015, around 29% of views will happen on a vertical screen, slide 24) but they are becoming shorter, funnier and easier to digest. Even a 3 min Youtube clip seems to be too long in 2015.
Slide 21. Major mobile platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Google and Pinterest in future) have introduced a native “Buy” button. Retailers might expect more and more of impulsive purchases (and probably returns later).
Slides 31–44 demonstrate how usual office applications (from business analytics to customer payment platforms)
have changed in the last couple of years. Minimalism rules in design, all data is kept in the cloud, and, most importantly, these apps become more affordable for small firms both in terms of pricing and further technical support.
Slide 47. Messaging apps rule our phones. 6 out of 10 most used apps are programs helping us to stay in touch with friends and colleagues. Does anyone still believe that technologies make people less sociable?
Slide 60. Users are more willingly upload and watch videos. Just in one quarter of 2014 the viewership on Facebook rose up from 1 to 3bn of video views per day.
Slide 61. The emergence of web sites like twitch.tv (users upload videos of how they play video games) proves a point about the growing popularity of “lazy” mediums. Playing video games is a luxury nowadays, very few people have enough time and are willing to concentrate on building armies of orcs. Shorter clips can help one submerge into action without having to sacrifice their money and attention; they can be consumed partially when in traffic or heading over to the water cooler.
Slide 68. Among 12–24 year olds, the “visual” applications (read Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest) are the most popular. It resonates well with an assumption above that because of lack of time (or attention) users opt out to apps that provide the fastest and most visually compelling access to information and updates.
Slide 69. 87% of millennials state that “my smartphone never leaves my side, day or night.” Do you need more comments?
Slide 76: Year over year growth of healthcare expenditures in the USA amounts to astonishing 11%. Probably it’s been driven by the recent healthcare policy nurtured by President requiring citizens enroll in a healthcare plan. “Cash contributions” shows the second largest growth with 8% YoY.
Slide 97: America is a driver of the service industries. Nowadays 80+% of jobs are found in the service sector compared to 60% in the 1960s. The goods-producing industry is in the middle of decay: from 40% to less than 20% in the same period of time.
To add to it, some historically “intellectual” jobs are already taken by robots.
Slide 105. Urban population is steadily growing (however, in the last year the growth has been almost flat). Probably in the next 30 years states like Oklahoma, Texas and Tennessee will become friendlier to people not willing to drive 20 minutes to the closest grocery store.
Slide 153. Quiet a few slides are about China only, but an intriguing one is this: through WeChat, a messaging platform, the Chinese government accepts payments for water, energy and even some of the taxes.
Slide 166. India is not overlooked as well. It happens to be the third largest market in terms of Internet users. In 2014, for example, it added 63M people bringing the number of connected to 232M.
In any case, the report is needed to be read from top to bottom. But hopefully this list will be helpful in any case, and not only if you are a millennial who never has enough time (see slide 61).
Disclaimer: any images and content (taken from the report) present in this article are prepared by KPCB unless stated otherwise. The author of this material doesn’t assume any ownership or responsibility for information taken.
