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Opera: Facebook Most Popular Mobile Site in Africa

admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:30:23 +0000

According to Opera, Facebook is the most popular site on the mobile web in Africa. In addition, a report from the company shows a 5% jump in global mobile Internet users. Opera Mini has garnered more than 41.7 million users worldwide showing a 5.3 percent jump compared to the previous month, according to the report. The number of page views in November went up 9.5% and data consumption increased 8.3% compared to October. In Africa, Facebook has taken a strong lead and ranks as the most popular site in six out of the top 10 countries, Opera says. The company highlights the following global trends: - In November 2009, more than 41.7 million people used Opera Mini, a 5.3% increase from October 2009 and more than 154% compared to November 2008. - Those 41.7 million people viewed more than 18.8 billion pages in November 2009. Since October, page-views have gone up 9.5%. Since November 2008, page-views have increased 231%. - Opera Mini users generated over 285 million megabytes of data for operators worldwide in November 2009. Since October, the data consumed went up by 8.3%. Data in Opera Mini is compressed up to 90%. If this data were uncompressed, Opera Mini users would have viewed over 2.6 petabytes of data in November. Since November 2008, data traffic is up 213%. - The top 10 countries for Opera Mini usage (in order): Russia, Indonesia, India, China, Ukraine, South Africa, United States, United Kingdom, Vietnam and Poland. Opera also highlights the following trends for Africa: - The top 10 countries using Opera Mini in Africa are (in order): South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Ghana, Libya, Ivory Coast, Zambia, Tanzania and Namibia. - Some numbers regarding Africa: From November 2008 to November 2009, page-views in the top 10 countries increased by 374%, unique users increased by 177%, and data transferred increased by 183%. - Since our last spotlight on Africa, Kenya jumped from #4 to #3, Ghana jumped from #11 to #5 and Ivory Coast jumped from #8 to #7. - Growth rates in Africa: Ghana and Kenya lead the top 10 African countries in terms of page-view growth. Ghana and Ivory Coast lead the top 10 African countries in growth of unique users. Kenya leads the top 10 African countries in page-views, with each user browsing 525 pages on average each month. - Facebook has taken the lead in Africa; it is the most popular site visited by Opera Mini users in six out of 10 countries and the #2 site in the three countries where it isn’t #1. Google is also very popular, and is ahead of Facebook in a few of the top 10 African countries. Yahoo and Wikipedia are also ubiquitous in the top 10 lists of the various African countries. - Nokia and Sony Ericsson handsets are extremely popular in Africa, but Samsung is a significant exception, boasting the most popular phone used by Opera Mini users in South Africa, Zambia and Namibia. "It is heartening to know that Opera Mini continues to grow consistently in all regions and categories — specially in continents like Africa where mobile phones are more likely the only way for people to access the Web," said Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner. "At Opera, we are striving to bring the most innovative and affordable way for people to access the mobile Web and expect 2010 will prove just as successful for us as the case has been in previous years." Have You Read This? > Opera Turbo Sees 60% User Growth in One Month > 40 Million Reasons You Need a Mobile Web Presence > Opera Releases Latest Version of Popular Mobile Browser

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Opera: Facebook Most Popular Mobile Site in Africa

Average Person Spends 13 Hours a Week Online

admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:55:38 +0000

Harris Interactive has released the findings of its latest poll on Internet users. This doesn't come as much of a shock, but people are spending more time online these days. According to the poll, adult Internet users are spending an average of 13 hours a week online." Of course, people's usage varies greatly; one in five (20%) of adult Internet users are online for only two hours or less a week while one in seven (14%) are spending 24 or more hours a week online," says Harris. The firm presents the following as highlights from the poll: - The age groups that spend the most time online are those aged 30-39 (18 hours) and those aged 25-29 (17 hours) and 40-49 (17 hours). - Half (50%) of all those online bought something on the Internet in the last month. Continue reading →

Online Ad Spending Up 7%

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:45:00 +0000

U.S. advertising spending in the first nine months of 2009 fell by 14.7 percent compared to the same period in 2008, according to a new report by TNS Media Intelligence. Ad spending during the third quarter of 2009 was down 15.3 percent compared to last year, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year declines. There were some bright spots with Internet display (+7%) and newspaper Free-Standing Inserts (FSIs) up 3.9 percent. Online growth was driven by telecom, travel and auto advertisers. FSIs benefited from CPG companies expanding their couponing efforts as consumers became more value-conscious. Among television media, cable TV networks audience gains led to a larger share of ad revenue. Year-to-date cable TV spending slipped by just 2.9 percent, a much stronger performance than the TV sector as a whole. Network TV saw year-to-date spending fall 11.5 percent and Q3 spending fell 25.1 percent. Magazines (-19.7%), newspapers (-22.8%) and radio (-22.8%) lagged the overall ad market during the January-September period. Third quarter losses for each of these media categories were less severe compared to the first half of the year. "The updated monthly trend line on total advertising expenditures still shows no meaningful improvement through October," said Jon Swallen, SVP Research at TNS Media Intelligence. "The slump has now passed its first anniversary and year-on-year comparisons will become easier in the upcoming months. Going forward, the timing, strength and durability of an advertising recovery will ultimately be determined by the way consumer activity rebounds." Continue reading →

40 Million Reasons You Need a Mobile Web Presence

cgseo — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:20:46 +0000

Opera is reporting that usage of its Opera Mini mobile browser has jumped 11% in just a month, around the world. In addition, they say data transfers have gained 16%. About 40 million people used Opera Mini in October, according to the company. That's an 11.3% increase from September 2009 and more than 155% compared to October 2008. page-views and data transfers increased at an even more impressive rate. Opera says that because of this, consumers can save 9.4 billion USD per year just by using Opera Mini. If you want to know how this translates to you personally, Opera has a cost calculator in its new State of the Mobile Web report . "Because Opera Mini compresses data by up to 90%, people everywhere can reduce the amount they pay each month for mobile data," says Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner. "By making the Web accessible and affordable on mobile devices, we can usher in a communications revolution on an unprecedented scale. Opera Mini is helping to spur this change — potentially affecting the lives of billions — not just by making mobile browsing possible, but by making it affordable, as well." The 39.6 million people using Opera Mini in October viewed 17.2 billion pages. From September, page-views increased 14.8%. From October 2008, they increased 238%. A few more interesting stats from Opera's report include: Continue reading →

Walmart Wins Thanksgiving, Amazon Wins Black Friday

admin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:06:34 +0000

You may have read about the online price wars going on this holiday season between Walmart and Amazon. It looks like both companies are doing quite well as a result (not that that is much of a surprise). According to data from Experian Hitwise , Walmart was the top retail site on Thanksgiving Day, and Amazon was the top retail site on Black Friday. Where did you spend your dollars on Thanksgiving/Black Continue reading →

Online Shoppers Have Bigger Holiday Budgets Than Offline Shoppers

admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:37:37 +0000

Compete has shared some findings from a new study on consumer holiday shopping behavior. According to the firm, active online buyers (consumers who intend to spend over 30% of their holiday budgets online) have bigger budgets than other shoppers. Furthermore, they are more likely to spend that money on Black Friday. The study shows that "active online buyers" plan to spend twice as much ($912 on average) throughout the holiday season as other consumers. 37 percent of the online buyers also say they'll shop on Black Friday, compared with 33 percent of other consumers. "Many retailers are bracing for lower online sales, but our research shows that not all shoppers are created equal," said Debra Miller, associate, Retail and Consumers Products at Compete. "While most consumers say they'll spend less this year, online shoppers seem to have deeper pockets and they'll be looking for deals starting on Black Friday. Smart retailers should take a much closer look at online shopping segments relevant to them to capture a larger share of wallet among online consumers." Other findings from Compete include: - 86 percent of shoppers have completed less than half of their total holiday shopping; 41 percent have not yet begun. - 90 percent of consumers will spend at least some portion of their holiday budget online this year, up from 84 percent in 2008. - 42 percent of consumers reported that they are likely or extremely likely to select an “in store pick up” option if available for holiday purchases. - 44 percent of consumers plan to spend less this holiday season compared to last year, while only 12 percent of shoppers anticipate spending more. The report was compiled from a survey of over 2,900 consumers this month. What are your holiday spending plans? Are you an "active online buyer?" Related Articles: > Continue reading →

Does an Organic Search Presence Help Paid Result Performance?

admin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:57:32 +0000

A study from a couple of NYU Stern professors has found that organic search engine results can play a direct role in whether or not a paid listing is clicked. Basically, if this research is any indication, if your business has both a paid result and an organic result appear at the same time, you have a better chance of your paid result getting clicked than if the organic result had not appeared. Professors Anindya Ghose and Sha Yang have highlighted the following findings: - On average, the impact of organic listings on paid advertising is 3.5 times stronger than vice-versa, possibly because of the tendency of consumers to trust organic listings more than paid ads. - The positive association between paid and organic listings increases advertisers’ profits by at least 6.15% when compared to profits in the absence of either of them. The positive association is strongest when advertiser-specific keywords are used and weakest when brand-specific and generic keywords are used. - Click-through rates, conversion rates and total revenues are higher when both paid and organic listings are present simultaneously than when paid search ads are absent. - The combined click-through rates are 5.1% higher when paid and organic listings are present simultaneously than when only the organic listings are present. - The combined conversion rate increases 11.7% when paid and organic listings are present simultaneously than when organic listings alone are present. - Paid search advertising drives up to 54% of total revenue growth. The professors used "a unique panel dataset of consumer responses to keyword ads on Google" to conduct their research. The complete findings from the study are evidently available in a paper entitled " Analyzing the Relationship between Organic and Sponsored Search Advertising: Positive, Negative or Zero Interdependence? " It's 52 pages long. "These findings have important implications for the incentives of search engines to strategically modify the rankings of their organic search listings in order to boost their revenues from paid search advertisements," says Professor Ghose. Ghose's point is an interesting one. Nobody's making any accusations here, but would search engines tweak organic results specifically with the goal of increasing the performance of paid results, and bringing in more revenue? What are your thoughts on the subject? Comment here . Related Articles: > Google and Heineken Study Search for Branding > Report: Paid Search Spend Up 10% > Search Ads Convert Better with Display

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Does an Organic Search Presence Help Paid Result Performance?

Smartphone Sales Up 12% In Q3

cgseo — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:11:32 +0000

Global mobile phone sales reached 308.9 million units in the third quarter of 2009, a slight increase of 0.1 percent from the third quarter of 2008, according to a new report from Gartner. Smartphone sales showed solid growth with more than 41 million units sold for a 12.8 percent increase from the same period last year. "The third quarter of 2009 saw the announcement of many new mobile devices, including several Android smartphones ready for the holiday season in the fourth quarter, but hardware commoditisation and the growth in open platforms will make it harder for them to stand out," said Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner . "Many devices will reach the market in time for Christmas, and mobile carriers will run incentives for consumers during the holidays. We expect sales of mobile devices in the fourth quarter of 2009 to show year-over-year growth," said Ms Milanesi. "As many vendors and industry watchers call for a decrease in sales into the channel, our sell through data is showing that 2009 performance will be flat rather than down over 2008." Nokia led the mobile market in Q3 with 36.7 percent of the share, followed by Samsung at 19.6 percent and LG with 10.3 percent market share. Nokia also ranked at the top in smartphone sales with 39.3 percent of the market, followed by Blackberry maker Research in Motion with 20.8 percent and Apple with 17.1 percent. "Smartphones continued to represent the fastest-growing segment of the mobile-devices market and we remain confident about the potential for smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2009 and in 2010," said Ms Milanesi. Continue reading →

Consumer Online Spending To Grow 24%

admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:16:06 +0000

Online retailers can expect to see an increase in consumer spending compared to the previous quarter, according to a new survey by Javelin Strategy & Research and released by eBillme. Online shoppers predict they will spend an average of $281 online during Q4 2009, a 24 percent increase over last quarter. This is the first increase in spending since last year, but an 18 percent decrease in the overall spending rate compared to Q4 2008. "This quarter's uptick in spending is evidence of improving consumer optimism as we head into the holiday shopping season," said Marwan Forzley, President and CEO of eBillme . "While consumers are planning to loosen their financial constraints this quarter, they are still holding on to recession spending habits. "This includes changing the way they shop and pay to better control debt. Forty percent of consumers plan to use their credit cards less often in favor of non-credit payment options this quarter. We have seen this significant shift in attitude towards credit carry over from previous quarters, and it will definitely impact consumer spending decisions this holiday season." Consumers were also surveyed about projected holiday spending this year. Eleven percent plan to do most of their holiday shopping on Cyber Monday, while 48 percent plan to avoid Black Friday shopping in favor of shopping online. When it comes to how much people plan to spend this holiday season, 27 percent said they would spend more online this year for gifts compared to last year. "This quarter's Index shows some visible signs of improvement in the online retail sector," says Beth Robertson, Director of Payments Research for Javelin Strategy & Research. "We haven't seen a projected increase in anticipated spending since this time last year. And it comes just in time for retailers during the most important quarter for capturing sales and customers. "Although consumers are still spending with caution, 51 percent are delaying purchases because of continued uncertainty in the economy. This increase is a positive sign that consumer confidence is on the rise." Related Articles: > Online Retailers To Focus On Facebook And Twitter During Holidays > YouTube Videos In AdSense Could Drive Clicks > More People Plan To Shop Online During The Holidays Continue reading →

Twitter is for Old People?

admin — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:15:00 +0000

I heard a story on NPR yesterday where they talked to kids about social networks. The popular opinion (at least among the kids talked to for the piece) was that Facebook was "in" and Twitter was for old people. Research released from Pew Internet , however, seems to contradict the notion that Twitter is just for the old. In fact, according to Pew, three groups of Internet users are mainly responsible for driving the growth of tweeting and status updating. These are social network users, those who connect to the Internet via mobile devices, and younger Internet users (under 44). Of course, what kids consider to be old, may often be well below 44, so they may still have a point. Pew does say that the more devices someone owns, the more likely they are to use Twitter, and adults are far more likely to own more devices than kids who haven't entered the workforce yet. Going by median age, Twitter looks a little younger than Facebook, but not by much. The median age of a Twitter user is 31, while the median age for Facebook is 33 (In May 0f2008 it was 26). So young Facebook users may start worrying (if they're not already) that the old folks are crashing their "in" party. The median age for MySpace, according to Pew, is 26, and for LinkedIn it is 39. "It will probably become more difficult to track status updating as an independent activity as social network updates feed into Twitter and vice versa," says Pew. "For now, it is clear that a 'social segment' of internet users is flocking to both social network sites and status update services. This segment is likely to grow as ever more internet users adopt mobile devices as a primary means of going online." One thing's for sure. No matter what age you are, if you are using sites like Twitter and Facebook, you better be careful of what you are posting publicly even more so now. Updates are going to start appearing in major search engines .