MaxxoMedia Digital Media and Entertainment Trends

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Global Mobile Phone Shipments

Global mobile phone shipments grew a healthy 25% year-over-year, to reach an all-time record total of 1 billion units in 2006. It has taken the industry 23 years to reach this milestone according to Strategy Analytics. Mobile phone sales have exploded from less than 100,000 units in 1983 to 100 million units in 1997 and have now passed the 1-billion level in 2006. During that time, mobile phones have become a critical driver of innovation and profit for the world’s semiconductor, memory, battery and display industries. 300 million cellular handsets were shipped worldwide in Q4 2006, up a healthy 22% year-on-year. Nokia and Motorola continued to dominate volumes, but it was Sony Ericsson who shone brightest. Growth, volumes, revenues and total profits are all at their highest ever levels for the Japanese-Swedish firm.

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Almost one in three of frequent YouTube users say they are watching less TV as a result of the time they spend there. However, 73% of frequent YouTube users say they would visit the site less if it started including short video ads before every clip. 42% of online U.S. adults say they have watched a video at YouTube, and 14% say they visit the site frequently, according to Harris Interactive.

Of all frequent YouTube users:

* 66% claim they are sacrificing other activities when on YouTube
* 36% say their visits to the site are most likely to have been at the expense of visiting other websites
* 32% say their time spent watching TV is next most likely to have taken a hit
* 20% think that YouTube also pre-empts email and other online social networking
* 19% defer work/homework
* 15% aren’t playing video games
* 12% are not watching DVD(s) and not spending time with friends and family in person

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Visits to MySpace accounted for nearly 12% of all time spent online by US Internet users, according to Compete Inc. The study shows traffic data put US Internet user time spent at MySpace over other sites including eBay, Google, AOL and YouTube. Yahoo! came in second, accounting for 8.5% of time spent online by US Internet users.

The amount of time spent at MySpace suggests that people are leaving the site open during the day to see when new instant messages or e-mails arrive from friends. The multitasking habit is especially strong with teen Internet users. Several of the sites could easily be used simultaneously: MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and AIM all appeal to the younger generation of Internet users, and this group is also most likely to multitask when online.

 

 

 

Sales of mobiles phones in China rose by 40%, to 120 million handsets reported the official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, citing the deputy chief of the China Mobile Communications Association Xie Linzhen.

Xie also stated that sales are expected to rise further this year, to 150 million handsets. China manufactured some 450 million handsets last year, with 350 million being exported.

According to the Ministry of Information, foreign handset vendors such as Nokia and Motorola hold the lion’s share of the market, while local mobile phone makers sold only 50 million handsets to domestic and overseas markets.

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According to BIGresearch’s latest Simultaneous Media Usage Study of over 15,000 consumers, marketers in 2007 are faced with the new reality of a consumer controlled communication model, with the advent of the Time Magazine selection of “you” as the Person of the Year in 2006, and “the consumer” having been selected as the Agency of the Year by Ad Age. With media multitasking growing as consumers have less time and more media options. The intermittent usage of media which occurs during simultaneous consumption creates a serious problem for marketers who rely on exposure to media models since the anticipated exposure is being shared with many other media options and may never occur.

By Mark Levy CEO MaxxoMedia

The Camera and Imaging Products Association announced today that growth in digital camera shipments by Japanese makers in 2007 is expected to slow to 7.5 percent from a year earlier, when lower prices and a wider variety of models with interchangeable lenses spurred growth to 22 percent. The association did not provide any indication of why the slowdown will occur, but a likely culprit is the increase in sales of mobile camera phones. Projected shipments for camera phones by 2009 is over 900 million units.

A recent study by the Consumer Electronics Association says that 9% of pictures taken today are taken with a camera phone. So far, people seem to be switching between their camera phone and digital camera — taking photos at different times with different cameras.

However, this might change. The article says Tim Herbert, senior director of market research at CEA, predicts that as camera phones improve with three megapixel (and better) resolution, better storage and additional features, more people might use only camera phones for taking photos.

A third of frequent visitors to the YouTube video-sharing site say they watch less TV as a result of their online video habit, according to a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive.

Forty-two percent of U.S. online adults say they have watched a video on YouTube, with 14% saying they visit the site frequently. Of these, 32% said they are watching less TV as a result of the time they spend on the site.

“[YouTube] has really emerged as a major force in, and problem for, the traditional entertainment industry,” said Harris senior research manager Aongus Burke.

Digital music sales are jumping.
New reports from two major research sources indicate that worldwide digital music sales are continuing to climb.

Nielsen SoundScan captured more than 675 million digital track sales worldwide in 2006, with nearly 600 million digital track sales in North America alone, up from 359 million in 2005.

The IFPI “Digital Music Report 2007″ estimates that worldwide digital music sales revenues doubled in 2006 to around $2 billion.

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Rutberg & Company has reviewed and analyzed the venture capital activity for the digital media sector in 2006. Their key takeaways include:

• Venture financings in digital media totaled $4.4 billion in 2006, as compared to $2.6 billion in 2005. The 2006 growth rate of 66 percent far exceeds the growth rates for the overall venture industry. Notably, though, the growth in venture financings for digital media has moderated over the past six months.
• The curbed growth of investment activity is consistent with Rutberg’s conversations with venture capital investors. On an anecdotal basis, they believe that investor sentiment is becoming more rational rather than exuberant, as was seen in the beginning of the year.
• The percentage of transactions with a financing size of $20 million or greater has increased, from 6 percent in 1H05 to 13 percent in 2H06. These larger transactions are driven, in Rutberg’s view, by activity in the capital-intensive Semiconductors sector and in the late-stage Advertising Infrastructure sector.
• The sector with the greatest increase in 2006 was Provisioning & Delivery Infrastructure, driven by both an individual $130 million financing by Limelight Networks and the overall investment growth in the CDN and Internet-delivered video infrastructure subsectors. Strong increases were also experienced in the Advertising Infrastructure and Applications sectors.
• The most active digital media venture capital investors during 2006 included: Intel Capital, Sequoia Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Benchmark Capital, Menlo Ventures, and Oak Investment Partners.

For More Details…

IFPI has released a report on the state of Digital Music in 2006. Digital sales now account for around 10% of the music market as record companies experiment and innovate with an array of business models and digital music products, involving hundreds of licensing partners. Get the whole report – Download Key Facts

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• Digital music sales estimated to double to around US$2 billion in 2006
• Single track downloads estimated up 89% at 795 million
• Available tracks double to four million, via 500 online services in over 40 countries worldwide
• Portable music players help drive digital music consumption
• New revenue streams and business models emerge
• Lawsuits impact illegal file-sharing, but “gatekeeper” ISPs must act to curb digital piracy

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