Internet Users in India Cross 200 Million – A Big Milestone for India

The number of Internet users in India has reached 205 million in October this year with a 40% YOY growth. Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International have released I-Cube 2013 report on the Internet users in India. China currently has 300 million internet users while US comes at 2nd with 207 Million users. It is also expected that by June 2014 Internet users in India will be 243 million becoming the top 2nd country in the world.

This huge user base will help develop & grow the internet economy. Online shopping has become popular in India with a large number of shopping portals. 137 million urban users & 68 million rural users. With 110 million mobile internet users in October, and is estimated to reach 130 million by the end of December. More than 50% of urban internet users access internet daily & the demography includes youth, working men, older men & non-working women. Urban centers like Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai & other metros have a huge internet user base.

Indian Internet users

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Adobe’s “Digital Distress: What Keeps Marketers Up at Night?” – A Report

Adobe has released a study titled “Digital Distress: What Keeps Marketers Up at Night?” which reveals how marketers are feeling about Digital. The survey covered 1000 US marketers with a 95% confidence level & margin of error is +/- 3.1% for the sample. Some of the findings of the survey are

1) 76% of marketers think marketing has changed more in the past two years than the past 50 years.
2) Only 44% say marketing dept. have a great deal of influence over their Company’s overall business strategy
3) Only 40% think their company’s marketing is effective
4) Just one in three marketers think their companies are highly proficient in digital marketing
5) 61% of all marketers think that digital marketing approaches are a constant cycle of trial & error
6) 66% of all marketers state companies won’t succeed unless they have a digital marketing approach.
7) Cross channel marketing is a stronger driver of success among digital marketers

adobe digital marketing

comScore’s Top 50 U.S. Web Properties in June – Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, AOL & others in the List

comScore has released the list of top 50 U.S web properties, top 10 site categories, Top 30 Syndicated Ad Focus Entities & other details in its monthly ranking of U.S. web activity. Google sites, Yahoo sites, Microsoft sites & Facebook are the top 4 sites with highest unique visitors. Some others in the list include AOL, Amazon sites & Glam Media.

Among the site categories, gay/lesbian, retail (fragrences/cosmetics) & services (IM’s) occupy the top 3 position. Gay/Lesbian has seen a 10% increase with the pride month in June. Among the ad networks, Google ad network & AT&T adworks occupy the top 2 positions. Facebook, Tumblr, pinterest & Linkedin are the top social media networks in the top US web properties.

Grand Theft Auto V: Official Gameplay Video – Trending Viral Video

Grand Theft Auto V is releasing on September 17, 2013. It can be Pre-ordered now and visit www.rockstargames.com/V for more information on the game.

Google Databoard for Research Insights – Lets you Create Custom Infographics

Google’s Databoard lets you explore insights from Google vast research studies. You can share them with others and also create your own custom infographics. The research reports are currently available for categories like advertising, mobile, cross-media. The infographics once created can also shared on Google+, Facebook, Twitter. Google has not yet provided the option to embed.

Once this feature is available, it would be a great tool to create & embed. URL of the infographic is available & clicking on it would lead to the Google site. The report can also be emailed. Here is a link to the Mobile search infographic created using this tool.

#GalaxyVine – Samsung uses Twitter’s Vine for Galaxy Promo

Twitter’s Vine has become the latest to be used for marketing activities by the brands. Several campaigns have already been done on vine. Vine is a Twitter’s 6-second mobile video recording application. Recently Vine was released for Google’s Android. Samsung, world leader in smartphones, has used Vine effectively for its marketing activity.

The vine itself consists of 3 different videos on Samsung Galaxy smartphones. It also used the hashtag #galaxyvine for this creative campaign. This has been used as a part of Samsung’s marketing activity to download & share vine videos on their Galaxy smartphones.

Game of Thrones and the Role of Social Media in its Promotion

Game of Thrones is created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an American TV drama series. It is adopted from George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. The series involves the members of several noble houses in a civil war for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms. This has garnered a great fan base with wide acclaim by the critics. It has won several awards. It deals with religion, civil war, crime, Social hierarchy and punishment. It has a high fan engagement & huge fan following across the world.

Blogosphere & Social Media is agog with the Game of Thrones series. HBO utilized social Media to promote the series & also to post screening event. HBO’s Join the Realm site lets users create own Family arms. If you already have a house, you can even edit it. Its twitter handle has millions of followers & thousands of tweets. Celebrities with their gifts from Game of thrones showcased it on twitter & Instagram. This was retweeted by their followers. Its facebook account has millions of likes & great fan engagement & amplification. Several Tumblr accounts have also been created for fans to follow & share pics.

Following is a list of social media profiles of Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones Twitter
Game of Thrones Facebook
Game of Thrones Website
Game of Thrones Tumblr
Game of Thrones Google+
Game of Thrones Youtube
Game of Thrones HBO
Game of Thrones Apple itunes

YouTube Trends Map – Real Time Most Popular Videos

YouTube Trends Map provides a real time information on what videos are popular across the US by city/region & also can be filtered by shares, views, gender & age range. Videos uploaded within 48 hours may not appear in age and gender breakdowns. Hovering over the map, one can watch the thumbnail of the popular video in that region. There is also a bar graph at the bottom of the page showing number of regions where each video is #1. Right now, this is available for US. The Trends Map is based on user response to YouTube Trends Dashboard.

Apple unveils new iPad

Apple has unveiled a new iPad with sharper display & better features. This is the third version of the device & has the ability to connect with 4G Networks. The last version of iPad was called iPad 2 & the company has called the new version as the new iPad. The new iPad has four times as many pixels as the iPad 2 and more than some HD televisions. The new iPad has sharper display, higher processor speed & 4G network. With a slew of other tablets available in the market, Apple is leading the tablet market with improved versions released often. For the last few months, there was rumor of new iPad release & it has met the expectations of the market. The new iPad will be available from March 16 in the U.S.

Android Market to become Google Play

Google’s android market has grown tremondously since its launch. Google has also moved into areas where users can purchase books, music, renting movies & others online. Google is launching Google Play, combining the andorid market, books, movies & music. On the Android phone & tablet, the Android Market app will be upgraded to the Google Play Store app. This provides a great platform for Google to reach into other markets & also provides a platform to compete against Apple iTunes. Books, Music and Videos apps will become Play Books, Play Music and Play Movies, while the Android Market will become Play Store. Google Play is entirely cloud based so the music, movies, books & apps are stored online. 7 Days to Play sale campaign where Google is offering a different album, book, video rental & Android app at a special price each day for the next week.