Half of the world population, or 3.6 billion people, are now on the internet, thanks to falling prices for Android smartphones and a doubling of the total Wi-Fi networks since 2015. But the internet’s user growth rate is slowing, as we still need cheaper data plans and more education about why people need the web. As the internet approaches saturation, apps will see tougher growth because there are fewer fresh users to sign up.
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U.S. adults now spend 5.9 hours per day on digital media, up from 5.6 in 2016. That’s largely driven by increases in mobile usage. But we’re starting to see the “Time Well Spent” movement igniting backlash against apps that purposefully maximize how long we use them, so businesses will have to focus more on creating meaningful interactions and value rather than designing dark patterns that trap our attention.
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Big screens and fast connections are unlocking new types of mobile experiences like the wildly popular battle royale shootout game Fortnite. Twitch streaming and total mobile video viewing hours continue to rise, unlocking potential for new game streamer tools and teen content factories.
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Thanks to speech recognition reaching 95 percent accuracy in some cases, the mainstream is now rapidly adopting smart speakers and assistants. Amazon Echo’s install base went from more than 10 million to more than 30 million units in 2017, while developers are seizing on incentives to build voice skills. New ways to shop, listen to music and get news will emerge from this natural interface.
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Meeker only devoted a single slide to crypto, showing Coinbase has nearly quadrupled its user base since the start of 2017. Yet much of the necessary blockchain infrastructure to legally derisk the space so hedge funds and private equity and pour in remains unbuilt, creating opportunities for new startups like crypto auditors and custodians.
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Attention is shifting to mobile faster than ads, with 29 percent of time spent there but only 26 percent of ad dollars, creating a $7 billion gap. But ad-hosting platforms, specifically the Google-Facebook duopoly, are increasingly becoming responsible for policing the content their ads sit next to.
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More U.S. product searches now start on Amazon than Google. The giants are converging as Google pushes Shopping results and Amazon ramps up sponsored product ads. But Amazon still relies on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube to inspire demand, showing it could use its own visual product discovery feature.
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Users are increasingly willing to pay a monthly fee for easy access to content, driving subscription growth of 25% for Netflix, 43% for The New York Times, and 48% from Spotify which benefits from using an ad-supported limited access tiers to upsell subscriptions. For cross-promotion, more services are joining bundle alliances that give users discounts for subscribing to multiple apps at once.
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The freelance workforce grew 8.1 percent since 2014 while the total workforce has grown just 2.5 percent, as people are using the internet to find jobs and earning opportunities on Uber, DoorDash, Etsy and Airbnb. The on-demand workforce is expected to hit 6.8 million jobs in the U.S. in 2018 as unemployment sank to 3.9 percent compared to the 5.8 percent 70-year average. People crave flexibility, meaning there are plenty to staff new on-demand startups.
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Americans are spending less on car ownership and replacing their cars less often as more spending goes toward on-demand transportation. Uber’s gross bookings roughly doubled in 2017, while it saw 50 percent driver growth. In dense cities like New York and Chicago, it’s often cheaper to commute by Uber than personal car.u00a0
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