The results of a recent infographic came out about what happens during an “internet minute”. The numbers are at first shocking, but then you step back and ask yourself: is it really that shocking? The world has never been this connected; people continue to add new devices to their world. No longer do users have a single phone and a desktop at home; many of them have a personal smart phone, personal laptop, tablet, and then a combination of work computers and phones.
In an internet minute: 150 million emails are sent, 2.78 million YouTube videos viewed, 2.4 million searches queried, 69,444 hours of Netflix watched, 1,390 uber rides given, and $203,596 in sales done via Amazon. Two years ago marketers were discussing the benefit of driving online sales; now if you aren’t driving online sales, you’re becoming obsolete—literally by the minute. With the invention of smartwatches, users can now order from Amazon from their wrist or push a button to have a driver show up at their location. Social Media used to be a way for teenagers and young adults to communicate, but platforms like Facebook and Twitter are now considered crucial channels for any brand imaginable to communicate with audiences. It will be very important to capture the next generation of consumers as Social Media continues to evolve, with younger users foregoing Facebook more and more as their newsfeeds are overwhelmed with advertisements. Instead, they are turning to Snapchat and sending videos and pictures that get deleted after 10 seconds.
What this infographic is telling us is clear: there is a lot of data being shared across the web, a lot of purchasing behavior being tracked, a lot of emails being read with specific keywords being extracted, and a lot of content being consumed via videos and articles. As more and more data is being tracked, analytics will continue to play a bigger role in digital media (which we love here at Just Media!). But what can the data show us? With all the different devices users are connected to, the days of a linear path to conversion are nearly extinct. Users can consume content, read reviews, access a website, then buy the product at a brick and mortar store or online – all of which can be done from different devices.
As media planners, the question now isn’t how much should we allocate to each tactic, but how well can everything be integrated. There needs to be fluid budget between video, mobile, and desktop placements and that’s before getting into paid search, paid social, native, and banner advertisements. What were separate campaigns now need to speak to one another in real time.
The race is on for who can bridge and align that data from multiple devices. Google and Facebook are both working on it and so are some large players building out their tech suites (Adobe and Oracle).
Melissa Gutierrez
Just Media, Inc.
