Mary Meeker’sInternet Trends 2016: Key Points

INTRODUCTION

Mary Meeker (the oracle) has unveiled her Internet Trends for 2016 - if you don’t know who Mary Meeker is, what she predicts in these annual trend reports normally have a big impact on how we do business years’ down the line, for example, in previous reports she correctly foresaw the moves toward mobile video, messaging apps and China’s dominance.

If you want to read the entire study (all 213 slides) it’s here http://www.slideshare.net/kleinerperkins/2016-internet-trends-report , but if you want just the top line points, it’s these:• In 5 years at least 50 percent of all searches are going to be either

images or speech • Advertisers Remain Over-Indexed to Legacy Media (missing an

opportunity with mobile)• 420 million people now use mobile ad-blockers, up 94 percent in the

past year• Social Networks want to be your new TV• 55% of US users find, or shop for products on Pinterest• Messaging apps are growing rapidly, opening up the way for

conversational commerce• Generation Y (Millennials) aren’t interested in reaching a brand through

the telephone, it’s social messaging and the internet, or web chat

In the slides ahead I’ve put a bit more context to these key points (with the relevant slides) and some thoughts

50 PERCENT OF ALL SEARCHES ARE GOING TO BE EITHER IMAGES OR SPEECH

The headline takeaway is the prediction that in five years, at least 50 percent of all searches are going to be either images or speech. Meeker points towards the success of Amazon.com’sEcho smart-speaker, a device powered by artificial intelligence that is “always listening” for voice commands and Google’s word accuracy rising to 90%.

Takeout: it feels like we are currently at the crossroads of search, with the growth of messaging apps (more of which later) there is an argument that the future of search will actually sit within messaging apps, with chatbots as personal assistants (the soon to be released Facebook M and Google Assistant, for example). Whether it’s voice controlled, or chatbots, or both, as Meeker argues how we think of search will certainly not be the same in the next five years

ADVERTISERS REMAIN OVER-INDEXED TO LEGACY MEDIA

Takeout: Somewhat surprised to see that legacy media still holds such a broad sway in the US- TV remains one the most effective mediums to achieve mass awareness, but for example Ad-buying firm Magna Global shifted $200 million of the clients' money it usually reserves for TV ads over to YouTube. Magna Global explained the decision as one based on price: watching live TV is on the decline (particularly with young people), but TV ads keep going up.

YouTube has been banging this drum for a while now, telling advertisers they would need to shift 24% of their TV budgets over to YouTube if they wanted to reach young people and providing research suggesting that YouTube ads generate a better return on investment than TV ads most of the time.

420 MILLION PEOPLE NOW USE MOBILE AD-BLOCKERS, UP 94 PERCENT IN THE PAST YEAR

Takeout: According to Mary Meeker’s data 93% of consumers consider using ad-blocking software. A separate study found Ad blocking is expected to reduce US display advertising by some $3.9bn in 2016, a figure that is forecast to treble over the next four, with a total of $39bn being lost over five years. As Meeker said "If ever there was a call to arms to create better ads, this is it“. Will it continue the precipitation towards social advertising on Facebook, Instagram and other social channels that currently remain immune to Adblocking

THE PROBLEM WITH VIDEO ADVERTISING AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE VIDEO FORMAT

Takeout: Meeker argues that the best Video Ads are Authentic/Entertaining/In-C0ntext/Often Brief, or Hyper-Targeted. All hail Snapchat and Facebook (and Instagram too) then. (if you’re interested in a hyper-targeting case-study this one is good)https://www.facebook.com/business/success/deutsche-telekom

Takeout: social networks want to be your new TV. Reinforces that this is the culture of now/the culture of creators where an ordinary person has the opportunity to become a celebrity via social media. By-the-by, on social influencers, recent research from Twitter found that that 40% of those surveyed said that they've purchased an item online after seeing it used by an influencer on Instagram, Twitter, Vine or YouTube. Further to this 49% said that they rely on recommendations from influencers

SOCIAL COMMERCE VIA PINTEREST

Takeout: a powerful argument to be investing and using Pinterest if you’re a retail brand; traditionally social has not been thought of as a commerce channel. Social is used for inspiration, browsing, discovering yes, but not shopping. In the most part, unsurprisingly, it is thought we are using social networks with how they’re intended to be used: posting pictures, giving updates, consuming content

Pinterest has flipped the script to become a visual search engine for users

CONVERSATIONAL COMMERCE VIA MESSAGING

Takeout: messaging apps are the social networks for the smartphone era. Meeker argues that Messaging apps in general are becoming a second home screen for many people, acting as their entry point into the internet. According to eMarketer, more than 1.4 billion consumers were using messaging apps by the end of 2015; that’s 75% of all smartphone users and an increase of 31.6% over the previous year. Ben Eidelson put it succinctly: “Messaging is essentially the child of the social and mobile platforms and can bring with it the best from both.”

Takeout: Conversation threads within these messaging apps will provide a seamless experience. You never lose context, and the business never loses context about who you are and your past purchases. Gone will be the traditional e-commerce journey of going to the website to create an account and the countless notification emails thereafter. Now we will have an experience that is made for the smartphone, significant because Smartphones are replacing computers for internet use, for example two-thirds (65%) of all adults use a smartphone to go online(Ofcom, 2016)

GENERATION Y (MILLENNIALS) ARE CHANGING HOW WE COMMUNICATE TO BRANDS

Takeout: Generation Y (Millennials) aren’t interested in reaching a brand through the telephone, it’s social messaging and the internet, or web chat. This is a particular consideration for Customer Service, if you’re a Telecoms brand, for example, don’t expect your Twitter channel to be full of complimentary @ replies, commenting on the outstanding content you’re producing, but rather irate millennials using it as a resource for customer service