Today, the Internet has become a universal means of communication between people and businesses. The trend will only experience further growth: people will spend more and more time with their devices and find more ways to use them.

People are increasingly reading digital media

The audience for digital media has been growing at an increasing rate. Thus, the demand for digital media increased by 7% in 2018 and 5% in 2017. In the States, the average adult spends 6.3 hours using digital devices, including 3.6 hours on mobile devices. It’s worth noting that this is the first time in history that people started spending more time on their mobile devices than watching television. (226 minutes against 216 minutes)

The podcast audience is experiencing particularly rapid growth: over the past 4 years, people have started listening to 2.5 times as many podcasts as before. Podcasts are no longer reserved to niche audiences: today, they have 70 million listeners in the States alone.

Visual formats including ‘stories’ are showing incredible growth. Use of visual platforms like Instagram and YouTube is growing rather actively. Digital video watchtime takes up 28% of total watchtime in the States, with the rest going to television.

The market for voice devices and assistants is also growing at a higher speed. Amazon Echo speakers are already installed in 47 million households, this indicator has increased twofold over the last year.

Delivery services, transportation, financial services and online marketplaces are experiencing the fastest growth

In just two years, these markets have grown from 25 to 56 million. A report notes dozens of examples of rapid growth in a variety of fields — from Indian mobile ecosystem Reliance Jio to European Revolut by Nikolay Storonsky, who achieved a twofold increase in the number of personal banking clients in just 10 months.

Games and entertainment

The number of gamers and consumers of interactive entertainment has increased by 6% in 2018, reaching 2.4 billion.