Global Digital Media - Key Trends and Growth for Online Entertainment  

This annual report offers a wealth of information on the worldwide development of online entertainment. Information at a regional level is also provided for the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. The report includes analyses, statistics, forecasts and trends. It provides a comprehensive perspective of the overall global and regional online entertainment industry and explores key issues and opportunities.

Subjects covered include:

Global Internet sector market overview;
Global social media market;
Global online video market;
Other key online entertainment services;
Case study on industry leader, Google;
Overview of global digital media marketing and advertising;
Analysis of impact on traditional media;
Broad regional overview of general developments towards a digital economy.

Executive Summary

In 2010 almost a quarter of the global population access the Internet, which is quite remarkable considering this has risen from around 5% at the start of the decade. More growth is expected ahead as the Internet economy and mobile broadband continue to develop, particularly in the developing markets.

We now have tools at our disposal which are revolutionising our social and economic environment. Mobile and online social media sites are a good example of how the new tools can be used and show the great potential that the Internet, Web 2.0, mobile, email and broadband infrastructure have to offer.

The Internet has become a great source of entertainment with many different services available. As well as social networks, some of the most popular online entertainment services include gambling, gaming, online dating, online music and online video. In the next few years the overall global entertainment and publishing industry (online and offline) is expected to be worth a couple of trillion dollars.

Current social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, Second Life etc have all bought new innovations to the digital media landscape and while some have been more successful than others, this type of experimentation is extremely valuable for this evolving market.

Online video in particular is becoming recognised as a powerful format for entertainment, communication and generally providing an enhanced online experience. Google’s YouTube continues to dominate in 2010 in terms of the number of viewers and broadcasts streamed. New business models are also emerging that explore different ways of generating revenue from such sites.

The leading Internet Media companies also continue to look for other opportunities presented by mobility, cloud computing, home media, infrastructure etc. The emerging markets have also not escaped attention; China in particular is seen as a growth opportunity. Google remains the most popular web property worldwide.

These companies also have a vested interest in making sure that the digital economy is developed and, like most others, are frustrated by the extremely slow pace at which the telcos are upgrading their networks. They will do anything to nudge the process along, or to kick-start developments and evidence of this emerged with Google’s announcement that is would become involved in building Fibre-to-the Home networks.

This report provides valuable insights and analysis into the key trends taking place in the online entertainment sector with a look at the broader developments facilitating change. The report includes an overview of the global Internet market including statistics on popular web properties; time spent online, search engines, Internet hosts, leading countries in terms of number of Internet users etc. The report identifies the leading online sources of entertainment, supported by broad global statistics and provides a more detailed look at the important and fascinating social media and online video sectors.

The report also provides a global overview of the digital media marketing and advertising sector. A broad regional overview of general developments towards a digital economy are provided for North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific.

Market highlights:Facebook has become one of the most popular web properties worldwide and more recently has also gained recognition for the large photo-sharing site it has become.Online games based on virtual worlds are proving popular; Zynga’s YoVille and Farmville, accessed via Facebook, now have millions of users each month. Short adverts placed at the start of humorous or popular videos are becoming more common. These short videos gain notoriety by circulating the world via sites like Facebook, YouTube and television programmes.Australian’s spends some of the largest number of hours on social networks, as do Britain, Italy and the US.South Africa has more Twitter users than Japan, China, Spain and the Netherlands.Online entertainment is growing strongly in the Middle East, despite battling for user attention and advertising dollars with the phenomenon that is Arab pan-regional FTA DTH satellite TV. The local industry gained much greater prominence in the region and world-wide with the purchase by Yahoo! of Jordanian company Maktoob in 2009.During 2009 over 1.4 million New Zealanders shopped on-line, a 2.4% increase over 2008.Online entertainment in North America continues to grow rapidly, both in terms of choice of online entertainment available and numbers of users. For instance, in early 2010 an estimated 90 million US Internet users were accessing online gaming sites on average at least once a month.Data in this report is the latest available at the time of preparation and may not be for the current year.

1. Global Internet Entertainment Market Overview
1.1 Global internet market overview
1.1.1 The Internet and the web
1.1.2 Internet traffic continues to grow
1.1.3 Internet users and penetration
1.1.4 Internet hosts
1.1.5 The World Wide Web
1.1.6 Search engines
1.1.7 Websites
1.1.8 The ISP market
1.1.9 Other developments
1.2 Key online internet and entertainment services
1.2.1 Digital media and entertainment
1.2.2 Key online entertainment services
1.2.3 Other key online services
1.2.4 Digital Rights Management (DRM)
2. Social Networks and Virtual World Market Overview
2.1 Global social networks and virtual world market overview
2.1.1 Insatiable appetite for communication
2.1.2 Social media after the financial crisis
2.1.3 Emerging social media trends
2.1.4 Second Life, Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook, MySpace, Wikipedia
2.1.5 Mobile social networking
2.1.6 Online gaming beyond virtual worlds
2.1.7 In-game advertising
2.1.8 Personalising social media
2.1.9 Personal social networks
2.1.10 Incorporate social media within the organisation/group
2.1.11 Open Social Foundation
2.1.12 Conclusions
3. Global Online Video Media Market Overview
3.1 Global online video media market overview
3.1.1 Introduction: the power of online video media
3.1.2 Killer applications
3.1.3 Delivery trends
3.1.4 Online video media statistics and forecasts
3.1.5 Backgrounder: video streaming and P2P
3.1.6 Conclusion: The future of video in telecoms
4. Google and Leading Internet Media Companies
4.1 Google, the leading Internet Media company
4.1.1 Introduction and analyses
4.1.2 Internet media companies
4.1.3 Key trends for digital media companies
4.1.4 Google
4.1.5 Brief case study: eBay
4.1.6 Brief case study: Skype
4.1.7 Other issues
5. Digital Media Advertising and Marketing
5.1 Key global trends and statistics for digital media advertising
5.1.1 Digital marketing
5.1.2 Online advertising
5.1.3 Online advertising models
5.1.4 Key online advertising categories
5.1.5 Mobile advertising
5.1.6 TV advertising to struggle
5.1.7 Dubious advertising tactics
6. Impact On Traditional Media
6.1 Impact of digital media on key media segments
6.1.1 Introduction
6.1.2 Continental shift in competition
6.1.3 Whatever happened to media convergence?
6.1.4 TV broadcasters
6.1.5 Radio broadcasters
6.1.6 Newspaper publishers
6.1.7 The video and DVD rental companies
6.1.8 The anomaly of the mass media
7. Regional Overviews
7.1 North America
7.1.1 Market overview
7.2 Latin America
7.2.1 Internet market overview
7.2.2 Argentina
7.2.3 Brazil
7.2.4 Chile
7.3 Europe
7.3.1 Overview
7.3.2 TV shows on the Internet
7.3.3 Digital cinema
7.4 Africa
7.4.1 Overview
7.4.2 Online video media
7.4.3 Digital social media
7.4.4 Online advertising
7.4.5 Google in Africa
7.5 Middle East
7.5.1 Overview
7.5.2 Online Entertainment
7.5.3 Online advertising and marketing
7.5.4 Online media and traditional media
7.6 Asia
7.6.1 Market overview
7.6.2 Advertising and marketing in selected Asian markets
7.6.3 On-Line advertising in Hong Kong
7.7 Pacific Region
7.7.1 Australia
7.7.2 New Zealand
7.7.3 Guam
8. Glossary of Abbreviations

Table 1 – Worldwide fixed Internet users and annual change – 2000 - 2010
Table 2 – Worldwide Internet penetration by region – 2009
Table 3 – Top ten ranking by country for Internet users – Q3 2009
Table 4 – Households with access to a home computer and the Internet – selected countries – 2008 - 2009
Table 5 – Selected country comparison of monthly at-home Internet usage – 2007; 2009
Table 6 – Top online activities – 2008
Table 7 – Growth in the number of Internet hosts – every two years – 1991 - 2010
Table 8 – Number of domain names worldwide – 2007 - 2009
Table 9 – Internet users by top languages – 2002; 2005; 2007
Table 10 – Worldwide market share of top 5 browsers – 2007 - 2008; 2010
Table 11 – Web server market share top 4 developers – various months - 2004 - 2008; 2010
Table 12 – How people find websites
Table 13 – Worldwide search engine market share – January 2010
Table 14 – Number of websites worldwide – 2004; 2006; 2008 - 2009
Table 15 – Visitors to top ten web properties worldwide – 2008 - 2009
Table 16 – Worldwide Internet users and annual change – 2000 - 2010
Table 17 – Worldwide broadband subscribers and annual change – 2005 - 2010
Table 18 – Worldwide digital music revenue – 2007 - 2009
Table 19 – Number of online banking users worldwide – 2009; 2012
Table 20 – Number of consumers using health monitoring – North America; Western Europe – 2008; 2012
Table 21 – US online travel spending – 2006; 2008 - 2009; 2013
Table 22 – Unique monthly users – Facebook versus MySpace – 2008 - 2009
Table 23 – Top 3 countries using Facebook by unique monthly users – 2009
Table 24 – Time spent on social networks by top countries – 2009 - 2010
Table 25 – Worldwide market share of mobile social network users – 2008; 2013
Table 26 – Worldwide online gaming revenue and annual change – 2000 - 2008; 2012
Table 27 – Online gaming revenue market share – leading regions – 2012
Table 28 – Worldwide mobile gaming revenue – 2004 - 2009; 2013
Table 29 – Worldwide mobile game users – global monthly averages – 2005; 2010
Table 30 – Worldwide online gambling revenue – 1997; 2001; 2004; 2006; 2008, 2010
Table 31 – Total value of bets placed via mobile gambling worldwide – 2006; 2009; 2010
Table 32 – Online game advertising spend worldwide – 2007 - 2008; 2012
Table 33 – Growth of Hulu video streams – various months - 2008 - 2010
Table 34 – Worldwide revenue from online video – 2008; 2012
Table 35 – Online video streams – top online video properties in the US – 2007; 2009
Table 36 – Worldwide advertising spending – all mediums – 2008 - 2010
Table 37 – Worldwide online advertising spending – 2007 - 2010
Table 38 – Worldwide advertising spending- all mediums – 2008 - 2010
Table 39 – Most popular forms of online advertising
Table 40 – USA online advertising spending – 2000 - 2009
Table 41 – Worldwide online game advertising spending – 2007 - 2009; 2013
Table 42 – Worldwide social network advertising spending – 2008 - 2010
Table 43 – USA social network advertising spending – 2008 - 2009
Table 44 – Online advertising revenues of top four portals in the US – 2008 - 2011
Table 45 – Western Europe mobile ad spending – 2009 - 2012
Table 46 – Asia-Pacific mobile ad spending – 2009 - 2012
Table 47 – Worldwide advertising spend versus online advertising spend – 2009 - 2010
Table 48 – Most popular formats for receiving news in the USA – 2010
Table 49 – Top 10 US online gaming sites – March 2010
Table 50 – Online US video usage – January 2010
Table 51 – Top US online video sites statistics – January 2010
Table 52 – Ten largest US social networking sites & forums – February 2010
Table 53 – B2C sales in Argentina - 2003 - 2007
Table 54 – E-commerce transactions in Chile – 2001-2009
Table 55 – Online advertising revenue in South Africa – 2003; 2006 - 2009
Table 56 – China advertising market – Q3 2008
Table 57 – China advertising expenditures by medium – 2005 - 2009
Table 58 – Online advertising activities in Hong Kong – 2008 - 2009
Table 59 – Top 10 online advertising brands in Hong Kong – Q4 2008
Table 60 – Japan advertising expenditures by medium – 2007 - 2009
Table 61 – Online shoppers in New Zealand – 2006 - 2010
Table 62 – Top 5 online sales by category in New Zealand – 2009

Exhibit 1 – Examples of Web 2.0 developments
Exhibit 2 – Top 10 most popular domain name suffixes worldwide – Q1 2009
Exhibit 3 – The phenomenon of the 1990s
Exhibit 4 – Examples of alternative search engines
Exhibit 5 – Examples of popular web properties – Japan; USA; Germany
Exhibit 6 – Difference between Grid Computing, Utility Computing and Cloud Computing
Exhibit 7 – Examples of popular online dating sites
Exhibit 8 – Apple iTunes – key statistics
Exhibit 9 – Online music sector – key statistics
Exhibit 10 – Advantages of e-learning
Exhibit 11 – Popular health related websites in the US
Exhibit 12 – Applications of Microsoft’s Virtual Earth
Exhibit 13 - Online travel sector market summary
Exhibit 14 – Brief company profile – Social game developer – Zynga
Exhibit 15 – Twitter usage facts
Exhibit 16 – Teenagers use social media to belong
Exhibit 17 – Facebook and Nielsen’s marketing alliance
Exhibit 18 – Interesting social media developments in South Africa
Exhibit 19 – Wikipedia
Exhibit 20 – Examples of key players in gaming industry sectors worldwide
Exhibit 21 – Examples of top online games sites in the US
Exhibit 22 – Examples of popular mobile games
Exhibit 23 – Anarchy Online by Funcom
Exhibit 24 – The Obama campaign
Exhibit 25 – Examples of online VoD sites
Exhibit 26 – Equivalence between access modes and traditional audiovisual use
Exhibit 27 – Tata Communications and Cisco’s telepresence solution
Exhibit 28 – BBC iPlayer and ABC iView
Exhibit 29 – Definition: Content Delivery Networks (CDN)
Exhibit 30 – The International Webcasting Association (IWA)
Exhibit 31 – Key areas of focus for Internet media companies
Exhibit 32 – Definition: Cloud computing
Exhibit 33 – Amazon Web Services
Exhibit 34 – Online ad deal between Google and Yahoo aborted
Exhibit 35 – Google’s mobile operating system – Android
Exhibit 36 – Other key Google’s activities – 2006 - 2007
Exhibit 37 – Interesting items sold on eBay
Exhibit 38 – Digital advertising cost considerations
Exhibit 39 – Examples of large global advertising groups and subsidiaries – 2010
Exhibit 40 – Examples of digital advertising agencies
Exhibit 41 – Top sectors for online advertising spending
Exhibit 42 – Digital media marketing commandments
Exhibit 43 – Pay-per-view football on the Internet in Europe
Exhibit 44 – Overview of top 5 New Zealand Internet sites – 2010