Attitudes about the role of news media, cord cutting, newspaper industry employment, ad fraud, and more are covered in this installment of TFP’s Media Metrics roundup.
To help you keep up with trends and prepare for changes just around the corner, every quarter we compile excerpts from some key reports covering issues affecting the publishing and media industries. Here are our top picks.
- Pew research shows 45% of adults in the U.S. “often” get news on their mobile devices, an increase from 36% last year and 21% in 2013. Among consumers who get their news on both desktops and mobile devices, 65% said they prefer to use mobile.
- It also found Americans are following national news more closely now, particularly among Democrats: 49% vs. 33% in 2016.
- However, the research revealed a big gap in how Democrats and Republicans view the role of media: Nine out of 10 Democrats (89%) said they believe the news media “keeps leaders in line” (acting in a “watchdog” capacity), while only four out of 10 Republicans (42%) said the same—reflecting a 47 percentage point difference.
Another half-million Americans cut the cord last quarter (Recode)
- According to research firm MoffettNathanson, the pay TV industry lost 762,000 customers in the first three months of the year—making the quarter its worst ever.
- A Recode post said the loss means the industry shrank by 1.3% to 2.4% in just one quarter.
- Taking into account the healthy housing market and the resulting number of people who would typically sign up for pay TV when moving into a new home, “nearly a million homes either cut the cord or chose not to take one in the first place in Q1,” according to MoffettNathanson.
Newspaper publishers lose over half their employment from January 2001 to September 2016 (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
- According to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Labor, the newspaper industry’s workforce shrank by more than half from January 2001 to September 2016, with the number of jobs falling from 412,000 to 174,000. The number of companies in the newspaper business fell from 9,310 to 7,623 (18.1%) in the same period.
- Meanwhile, employment in digital publishing and search rose from 67,000 jobs in January 2007 to 206,000 jobs in September 2016. The number of companies in those industries increased from 5,532 to 13,924 (more than 150%) in the same period.
- When it comes to pay, the data shows a wide gap between newspapers and digital publishing: In 2015, annual pay in the Internet publishing and web search industry was $197,549 on average. That compares with $48,403 in newspaper publishing and $56,332 in radio broadcasting, the report said.
Businesses could lose $16.4 billion to online advertising fraud in 2017: Report (CNBC)
- A recent report from agency group The&Partnership indicates global ad fraud will cost companies $16.4 billion globally this year, up from $12.5 billion in 2016. It noted 20% of total digital ad spending was wasted last year.
- Programmatic advertising is at higher risk of fraud, the research found: In 2016, invalid traffic accounted for 29% of the $27 billion spent on programmatic ads globally, reflecting $7.8 billion in losses.
- Some 12% of ads bought directly from digital publishers were subject to fraud, totaling $4.65 billion.
Well now: Mobile usage is even bigger than you think (Media Life Magazine)
- According to comScore data, millennials now spend more time on their mobile devices than they do watching TV, with usage doubling in the past three years.
- In the same time frame, tablet usage increased as well (26%), while desktop use declined 8%.
- On average, consumers spend two hours and 51 minutes a day on mobile, which now accounts for 70% of total time spent on digital media.
Mobile captures more than half of all U.S. Internet advertising revenue for the first time ever (Interactive Advertising Board)
- Mobile advertising accounted for 51% of the record $72.5 billion advertisers spent last year, the IAB reported.
- Total ad spending rose 22% from $59.6 billion in 2015, and mobile reached $36.6 billion—a 77% increase year over year.
- Digital video accounted for a record $9.1 billion in ad revenue in 2016, a 53% increase over the previous year. Mobile video revenue more than doubled year over year to $4.2 billion.
Apple Watch sales have nearly doubled since last year (The Verge)
- In its latest earnings call, Apple said sales of the Apple Watch have almost doubled over the same period last year. The company did not offer specific sales numbers, however, as it now includes watch sales in its “other device” category along with Beats products, AirPods, Apple TV, and accessories, according to a recent report.
- The report also noted that CEO Tim Cook said year-over-year revenue from Apple’s wearables (the Apple Watch, Beats headphones, and AirPods) was equivalent to that of a Fortune 500 company, which took in about $5.1 billion in revenue last year.
- Apple now has a 40% share of the Bluetooth headphone market and an 11% share of the total headphone market, the report said.
Android overtakes Windows for first time (Business Wire)
- For the first time, Android pulled slightly ahead of Windows—37.93% vs. 37.91%—in worldwide operating system Internet usage across platforms, according to data from StatCounter. Five years ago, Android held just 2.4% of Internet usage share globally.
- The report attributed increased use of the Android OS to “growth of smartphones to access the Internet, a decline in sales of traditional PCs, and the impact of Asia on the global market.”
- When it comes to the worldwide operating system desktop market, however, Windows remains well in the lead: In March it held 84% of the Internet usage market.
Instagram Stories tops 200M daily users, now bigger than Snapchat (Marketing Land)
- Instagram Stories, a clone of Snapchat’s Stories feature, now has more than 200 million daily users versus Snapchat’s 158 million, according to reports.
- The Facebook-owned photo and video app, which has 400 million daily users, has been consistently adding 50 million Stories users every quarter: Stories had more than 150 million daily users in January 2017, an increase from 100 million in October 2016.
Media Metrics is a monthly feature from Technology for Publishing, aimed at keeping you armed with the latest industry data. If you’d like to share something you’ve read, drop us a note. And keep up with the latest industry news coverage by signing up for our This Week in Publishing emails and our Publishing Innovations newsletter.
Posted by: Margot Knorr Mancini
