Goldman Sachs published the results of their eighth annual internet usage survey on Monday. Here are a couple of the highlights (data for the US except where otherwise stated):
- Time spent online on the desktop is flat at 22.5 hours per week
- Time spent online on a mobile (i.e. smartphone) is rising at a ‘teens rate’
- More people would consider cancelling their Pay TV service to save money than their ISP (21% to 10%)
- Consumers age 18-29 visit Facebook as much as Google on their mobile phones
- The dominant activities on social networks are messaging (72% of respondents), photo sharing (55%) and games (27%)
- and 20% of those gamers spend money, averaging at $35 per month
- The percentage of people who download or stream video content doubled to 25%
- Two thirds of consumers prefer pay per use revenue models, one third prefer subscription services
- Global ecommerce spend forecast to rise 21% this year due to a 14% increase in number of shoppers and single digit increase in spend per shopper
- 2009 global ecommerce spend was 2% down on 2008
- Average online spend per shopper in 2009 was $399
- Shoppers buy online for price (younger folk) and convenience, and buy offline for immediacy and to avoid shipping costs
- Shoppers choose between online sites based on price, free shipping, ease of use and selection
