India ahead of US in internet usage: Mary Meeker's Internet Trends Report

More Indians logged on to the internet than the United States in 2015. This remarkable fact was revealed by well renowned American venture capitalist and former Wall Street securities analyst Mary Meeker at the recent Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. Mary Meeker, a partner at the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, released her recent Internet Trends Report that has been the talk of the Internet today. She primarily studies the Internet and the emergence of new technologies.In 2014, Forbes listed her as the 77th Most Powerful Woman in the world.

Meeker had co-authored the first Internet Report in 1995 as an analyst at Morgan Stanley and has since then regularly presented the findings at tech conferences. Since then, her annual reports are highly anticipated to judge technology trends. She has helped find early opportunities in countries like India and China and continues to write analyst reports after she moved from Morgan Stanley to Kleiner Perkins as a General Partner.

More Indians are online than ever before: On phones, tablets, PCs ( Picture Credit: latimes.com)

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Meeker's recent report is the gospel of Internet trends. Here are a few facts from the same:

• Mary Meeker observes that the global Internet growth is flat, with the exception of India! The Internet usage is up by 40% in India as compared to 33% the last year. With the result we have surpassed US and taken the 2^nd place after China.
• According to the report, video viewership is increasing massively; especially on Snapchat and Facebook Live.
• US advertising is growing every day. Although the spent on traditional media is more than new age media; where the audience has shifted. The US Internet advertising grew by 20 percent from 2014-15; mainly owing to mobile ads. But according to Meeker, advertisers are still not advertising enough on mobile.
• Voice interfaces are on the rise, according to Meeker’s prediction. It is fast, easy and more personalized. The study suggests that 20 percent of searches on Google on Android are through voice. Amazon Echo sales are also growing.
• She has a detailed report on Snapchat ads, which is incredible. A user spends an average of 20 seconds playing with Snapchat filters. These ads on the App are growing widely, with recent Taco Bell campaign for Cinco de Mayo generating 224 million views.

Meeker suggests that there are opportunities for online shopping companies, live sports viewing, messaging, and advertising. Rest assured, these industries will be buckling up!

Feature Image Credit: fastcompany.com