The Top 10 Digital Media Trends of 2010

Here are the highlights:

1. E-commerce is back, but is morphing: In total, US ecommerce grew 10% to $142.5 billion, and the 2010 shopping season delivered the first ever billion dollar shopping day -- on Cyber Monday. Price incentives and deals such as coupons, free shipping, group buying, and daily deals of all sorts continue to grow in importance, and are likely to become a permanent part of the e-commerce fabric going forward, even as economic conditions improve. So yes, online sales are alive and kicking, but deals are a big part of it.
2. Digital couponing comes alive: 2010 saw the rise of group buying and flash deal sites such as Groupon, LivingSocial and Gilt.com as heavy discounts and local offers attracted consumers across the country. The number of visitors to Groupon and LivingSocial each experienced triple digit growth (712 percent and 438 percent, respectively) as a good deal has proven too hard to resist for many Americans.
3. Facebook now leading the mindshare battle: In Q4, Facebook widened the lead it took earlier in the year vs. Google and the three major portals, and now accounts for just north of 12% of time online—and it seems to be climbing. Three out of every 10 internet sessions includes a Facebook visit, and Facebook accounts now accounts for 10% of all pageviews in the US. “Facebook” was also the top organic search phrase in 2010 with nearly 2 billion searches on that term–3 times greater than the next most searched for term. In short, it’s a behemoth--and getting bigger.
4. Web-based email is waning: Total usage of web-based email dropped 9% in 2010 with more precipitous declines occurring among younger age groups, particularly teenagers. It’s clear that communication is shifting not only to other platforms, but to other devices. (If you plan to email your kids and you want a response, be sure to send them a text and tell them, like I have to.)
5. The Search battle gets bigger and wages on: The search market grew by 12%, driven both more people searching, and existing searchers searching more. Google remains the clear leader, receiving more than 2 of every 3 searches, with Yahoo! in second at 16%. Innovations such as Google Instant and contextually driven search ended the year with Google and Microsoft making share gains of .6 share points and 1.6 share points, respectively.
6. Display ad growth continues, and more big brands join in: An all time high of 4.9 trillion display impressions were served in 2010, up 23% from last year. More than 1 in 3 was served from a social networking site; 1 trillion were on Facebook—a first for any publisher. Big brands are starting to think bigger in digital—the number of brands that served over a billion impressions was up 30%, from 80 to 104. Telco giants AT&T, Verizon and Sprint were all in the top 10 as they’ve historically been, but some of the traditional branded players such as Disney and Mastercard also stepped up significantly. Will 2011 be the year that the brand dollar floodgates open? Time will tell.
7. Video adoption continues to climb, and online TV is now mainstream: More people watched video, and those that did watched more of it. The video audience grew by 32%, and time spent grew by 12%. The average American watched 14 hours of video in December. Hulu continues to be a big story, attracting twice as much viewing as the Top 5 broadcast sites (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CW) combined. The proliferation of both publishers and platforms is contributing to changing behavior—creating not only more video users, but more and more ‘cord cutters’ (people who consume TV content solely online.) Based on activity in the back half of the year the rate of change is likely to continue or increase, making video an increasingly important part of the digital experience.
8. Video ad market takes shape, but still pales in comparison to TV: As a percent of online video consumption, video ads continue to climb. At year end, 16% of videos viewed were ads--a significant increase vs. 12% just six months earlier. However, as a percent of total time spent, video is still in its infancy. In TV, commercials make up 25% of viewing time; in online video, it’s just 1.6%. That suggests that while video has clearly become integral to mainstream internet usage, the video ad market is still just a whisper of what it’s likely to become.
9. Mobile market getting ‘smarter': U.S. smartphone penetration surpassed 25% in September, helping to usher in a new era of mobile media consumption. As smartphones begin to take over the mobile marketplace, behaviors like email usage, music and video consumption, and mobile commerce are beginning to emerge in a meaningful way.
10. Android vs. iPhone battle heats up: 2010 was a big year for Google Android devices with the platform now accounting for 28.7 percent of all smartphones (up 23.5 percentage points from just last year), as it bypassed Apple in the last part of the year to become the #2 smartphone operating system (RIM is still #1). With the Verizon/iPhone deal kicking off 2011, watch for competition between Google and Apple to heat up even further as they vie for the loyalty and dollars of smartphone consumers.

So go ahead, rattle off a few of these fun facts off at your next cocktail party, office get together or romantic Valentine’s dinner. (Being married to an internet guy myself, I will probably do the latter!) Better yet, if you haven’t already downloaded the entire 2010 U.S. Digital Year in Review Report, you can do so here. Clearly, in 2010, digital proved resilient, progressive, and competitive. I can’t wait to see what this year brings.

We hope you enjoy and that it gives you a few things to think about to maximize your success in 2011!