Mary Meeker ranked one of the most powerful women in the world by Forbes is an American Venture Capitalist and former Wall Street securities Analyst. Born in Indiana, United States she primarily focuses on the internet and new technologies. Meeker is currently working as a partner in the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers. Mary Meeker mostly focuses on investments in the firm’s digital practice and helps lead KP’s digital growth funds.
An Insight into the Internet Trends of 2017
Every year Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers and Mary Meeker prepare a report on the year’s Internet trends. Mary Meeker’s Internet Trend Report is a 355-page report focusing on the different trends noticed on the Internet on a global scale.
The Internet Trend Reports proved to be relevant to the tech sector as they showed the growth and evolution of the technological industry in the world.
Internet Trends 2017 Reportfrom Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Following is a breakdown of this years Internet Trend Report:
Massive Growth in the Online TV Streaming Industry:
With the arrival of Online TV streaming platforms such as Netflix, general TV viewing has considerably slashed down with Netflix accounting for nearly 30 percent of the home entertainment revenue in U.S. alone. This can be considered as a positive change in the Internet usage in U.S.
The rise in the Global Interactive Gaming Market:
The Global Interactive Gaming Market is becoming conventional. 2017 saw an increase in the number of gamers from 100 million in 1995 to a whopping 2.6 billion gamers. ‘Entrepreneurs are often fans of gaming’ Meeker said quoting Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Reid Hoffman. The Global Gaming Market is estimated to earn a revenue of around $100 billion in 2017 with China holding the top position in the Interactive Gaming Market.
Sluggish Growth in the Smartphone Market:
Meeker discussed in her previous report that Internet growth has been degrading. With effect to a slow Internet growth, the Smartphone Market has also seen a slow growth as the Smartphone shipment in 2016 has only increased 3 percent from the previous year, while 2015 saw a growth rate of 10 percent from 2014.
Internet Growth in India:
According to Mary Meeker’s report India, the fast growing economy in the world has shown a rise in the number of Internet users accounting for more than 28 percent in 2016. Amounting to only 27 percent of Internet penetration, this means that there is much room for Internet users to grow in India. The major hike in Internet usage in India is owing to the lowered cost of data which was previously inaccessible.
However, the report also adds that data and Smartphone prices are still too high for a majority of the 1.3 billion citizens. A steady decrease in the Smartphone prices will ensure that the next 200 million users connect to the online world.
A rise in the Online Retail Market:
Over 60 percent of the high valued tech companies in U.S. in 2016 were founded by first or second-generation Americans and produced over 1.5 million employment opportunities. The companies included are tech giants like Apple, Amazon, and Facebook. The Online Retail Industry has seen a growth in such a short span of time Amazon India, which had less than 30 million Stock Keeping Units and 35,000 sellers in 2015, now accounts for 80 million Stock Keeping Units and 1,20,000 sellers.
An increase in Internet Advertising:
According to Meeker’s report, the amount spent on Global TV advertisements in 1995 was around $75 billion, whereas it has skyrocketed to around $190 billion in 2016. In a bigger picture, the Global advertising spend has gone from less than $1 billion in 1995 to more than $200 billion in 2017. The report predicts the rise of Internet advertisement in a way that it will be able to take over TV ads in the next six months.
An increase in Ad Blockers:
With the growth of Internet Advertisements, ad blocking has also significantly grown over the last eight years. In 2009, desktop ad blockers amounted to less than 20 million, but the figure has increased ten times in 2016. Mobile ad blocking has doubled from 200 million users in 2015.
Expansion in Business:
Internet Penetration has been a major factor in the expansion of firms. A good example of this expansion would be that of Google, being hardly 20 years old, Google has gone from being an Online Search Engine to a web browser, a software manufacturer among others. India’s online penetration has also risen from 4 percent in 2009 to more than 27 percent in 2016.
Conclusion:
Mary Meeker’s Report shows positive changes in the Global Internet Market for the current year. While India ranks seventh in the world based on its GDP exceeded by US, China, Japan, France, Germany, and the UK. India ranks second after China with Internet users increasing from 54 million in 2009 to 355 million in 2016. If Meeker’s predictions are considered to be true, a new phase of Internet Revolution in India has already begun taking shape.
