The US currently has the largest Internet market in the world with 181.9 million Internet users in 2006, but China with 133.5 million users is set to surpass the US by the end of the decade. Japan trails with 87.2 million users followed by Germany with 39.4 million users and the UK round out the top five with 35.1 million Internet users.

Globally the number of Internet users is set to increase. Morgan Stanley projects that by the end of 2007 there will be over 1.3 billion Internet users worldwide.

Consumers are constantly flooded with content from all different sorts of channels. Rather than picking and choosing particular methods of consumption, however, many choose to multitask between outlets, which can ultimately decrease the effectiveness of each one.

Estimates suggest that 25%-30% of total media time is spent multitasking content. While media multitasking is seemingly a common sense concept, it actually can have a significant impact on the ability to absorb and remember content, including marketing messages.

Online advertising in Europe has been seen as minimal. A new report suggests that the online ad market in Europe will see significant growth over the next three years.

Online user-generated video content was huge in 2006. 2007 has the potential to be a good year for the TV and movie industries as they enter the digital arena and hope for the success that the music business has been able to achieve with paid content.

Disney will launch a new site next week focused on social networking for kids. The site will be similar to MySpace.com but will have parental controls and feature chat and video clips. Analysts are skeptical about the success of the site despite the strong brand behind it.

Emarketer has compiled a list of 10 key predictions for 2007.
What to watch in 2007….

While online holiday shopping in the US remains robust things are different north of our border in Canada. Canadians lead the world in broadband penetration, time spent online, electronic banking and bill paying. Clearly they are an Internet savvy country but when it comes to making online purchases Canadians prefer to buy at a store.

More than a third of the total US population viewed video on the Internet in 2006 according to eMarketer. Ages 3 and up viewed video on the Internet at least monthly and in three years more than half of all Americans will compose the online video audience.

The popularity of Internet video is continuing to grow. During 2006 around one third of the US population will have viewed video on the Internet at least monthly. According to a report from eMarketer 60 percent of Internet users view videos on a regular basis. By 2010 they estimate there will be a 20 percent increase for a total of 80 percent of all Internet users watching video online. For 2006 there are around 107 million users watching online video. By 2010 the number is expected to increase to 157 million.

The Internet plays a key role in many peoples lives. It can entertain and educate. It has also changed the landscape for both job seekers and employers. In October of this year there were 2.5 million new postings for available positions on job search sites or in online newspapers according to the Conference Board. The number marks a 28 percent increase from a year ago.

Will TV become a thing of the past due to the popularity of online video? In an eMarketer article the answer is not what one would expect. They project that in the future viewers will watch more TV and online video. They will be watching in a variety of ways that include TV, Internet, the PC and portable devices.

A recent estimate by eMarketer concerning the advertising spending on social networks has the figure at $2 billion by 2010.

Time for stating the obvious: wealthier people are more likely to have computers, Internet access and credit cards with nice elastic limits.

Speakers at the Searchonomics: Serious & Fun Stats panel on day one of the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose covered ad spends, prom dresses, and the eternal surprise in retailers’ minds.

More than any other demographic group, mothers seek out their online peers for support and advice, according to a new report from eMarketer.

Is it me, or is everyone podcasting these days?

Pete Blackshaw predicted this would happen and he was right. In a new report, eMarketer is questioning whether businesses will ever blog.

I thought a post this morning from eMarketer was quite timely since I spent a good portion of time last night removing spyware from my brother-in-law’s pc.

Jupitermedia today announced it has sent cease and desist letters to eMarketer Inc. claiming inducement to breach contract and infringement of its copyright and database rights in both France and the United Kingdom.

A report done by eMarketer concerning online advertising as found that spending on this medium is expected to continue and increase over the year. The exact numbers from eMarketer’s report states that spending for advertising online will hit the $9.1 billion mark, $1 billion more than what was spent in 2000.

It’s that time of year again — time to get serious and make final decisions about 2004 online and offline marketing budgets, time to update the business plan, and time to dig up that allusive research that we all use to justify long-term decision making. Here are some figures and predicted trends from recent online-marketing studies, which are worth keeping in mind when developing 2004 proposals and internal marketing plans.