Spain is the European Leader in Smartphone Use and More Great Digital Trend Data

ComScore's new report, "Spain, Digital Future in Focus 2013", provides some great insights into the Spanish digital market that are quite interesting.

Below are some of the highlights; you can find the full document in Spanish on Comscore's Website.

• More and more content consumed on various devices – mobile has become a very popular way to view content
• Spain is the European leader in Smartphone use with 66% market penetration (followed by the UK with 64% and Italy and France with 53%)
• The number of consumers with a smartphone or tablet has increased 70% in one year
• Tablet use has increased 11% in one year, with over 4 million users
• Social media usage on PC decreased, while access via mobile increased 45%
• Consumers now experiment with buying via mobile – 10% for purchases and 16% to compare products. Apple is the most popular smartphone with which to do so.
• Europeans spend 26.9 hours online per month
• Over 35% of mobile users in Spain are under 35 years old
• 17 million Spaniards use their computer to access the internet per day, a 9% increase over last year
• Online audience:
• Most users between 25-44 years old
• Ages 15-24 and 45-54 same number of users; over 45 is the age group that most grew versus the previous year
• 52% male / 48% female
• Google is the most popular operating system by far with nearly 60% of market share
• Online categories with most growth are Women’s Magazines and Automotive
• Video from PC only increased 0.6% but watching video via mobile increased 164% over the past year. Google leads the sites by far.
• Most online display impressions dominated by Proctor & Gamble with 202 million, Carlsberg with 45 million, L’Oreal with 36 million
• Most impressions come from Social Networks (31%) followed by News (14%)

Why don't more B2B companies use social media?

Dipping a toe into social media is often a difficult decision for companies in the business to business (B2B) space. Concerns about ROI, coupled with a complex decision-making process, and competing views on the use and value of social engagement, can grind even the most motivated marketer’s social media strategy to a halt before the first tweet is tweeted.

Whirlpool Galaxy
(Smithsonian Institution, Flickr)

I’ve spent a number of years working in social media for large B2B companies. I have seen that while there are always employees who understand the potential benefit of engaging in social media and have the desire to do so, most companies find it difficult to make the definitive decision to move forward into uncharted territory. The inaction is driven by fear of the unknown.

Some of the main reasons a company chooses to forego an active and robust social presence follow:

• Accountability concerns - ownership of the message and accounts
• Perceived lack of content
• Concerns over how customer service will be handled
• Competing objectives between divisions, regions and/or departments
• Low understanding of social media
• Not knowing how to track ROI

The above concerns are valid and should be addressed in the social media strategy before engagement begins. Appropriately addressing such important areas before launching can be determining factors to success - both in securing internal buy-in and in benefitting from social media.

Choosing to stay out of the conversation means the conversation will go on without you.

What would you add to the list above?

The Teamwork Trend

I read an article in Wired recently (March 2013) that I keep coming back in my professional life. It's a short one-page interview with the authors of the book Nurture Shock (2009) who have written a new book called Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing. In the article -- and in the book -- they discuss competition, stress and performance, teamwork and competition.

The points that stood out in the article, that come to mind frequently as I try to be a corporate "team player" (when did everyone start including "team player" on their CVs...?), are thus:

"...coordinating teamwork -- organizing meetings and such -- causes about a 40% loss in productivity. [...] And there's another problem. There's this concept that teams need to have good relationships between members in order to be high-performing... Teams are going to be challenged, and they have to perform... Discord can be more associated with performance than harmony is."

Team work has it's place, of course, and it is very important to many aspects of business - both long term and day to day. But the above ideas have value, too, because sometimes we get very caught up in being inclusive. Yet, I think we are often afraid to say that there are some tasks/projects that require teamwork and others where it would be a benefit to work individually.

Is Facebook participation declining in Spain?

According to SocialBakers, Facebook membership has increased to 15.9 million as of March 2012 (that’s a penetration of 34% of the population and 54% of Internet users). I predict, however, that actual participation on the network may have started to wane.

A number of people have recently commented that, although the stats show Facebook gaining members in Spain, members are interacting with the site far less than they used to. Many are opting to spend more time on Twitter instead. The main reasons for this are among the following:

• The Timeline is not user-friendly and there is no choice in making the switch over; and as a side note, why do some people have it and others don’t?
• People prefer not to share all their personal experiences online; they’d rather share this stuff in person –it’s strange to meet up and find friends already know all the news you have to share
• Twitter is more interesting because you can follow a specific topic. People’s focus seems to be shifting to Twitter.

One thing is membership, and another is interaction. The average American Internet user spends approximately 13 minutes per day on Facebook, compared to just over 4 minutes in Spain. This still beats Google+! 

In my opinion, Facebook is moving toward being a brand-focused network. The new timeline is great for companies in many ways, but what about users who just want to see what their friends are up to?

And where does Pinterest fit into this? It’s been slower to take off here, but is now becoming quite a popular topic of discussion in blogs and Twitter, etc. Concepto05 highlighted Pinterest as a huge hit in Spain, showing how it has grown rapidily in a short time, but they caution waiting a few months before determining it the next big social media phenomenon.

What’s your opinion? Are you becoming disenchanted with Facebook? If so, where are you spending your social networking time these days?

Video On Demand in Spain: 3 Major Players Weigh In

The fall of the giant Megaupload, Netflix’s entry into Spain and copyright issues were the main topics of discussion at last night’s Cava&Twitts event at the Old Moritz Factory, which has recently reopened on Avenida Parallel in Barcelona (as a side note, it is awesome and definitely worth a visit!).

Cava&Twitts

Cava&Twitts is a periodic event started in 2008 in which people come together to discuss the latest in online and social media. The event is complimented with a glass of cava, though last night we received a free glass of Moritz (or, better said, un chupito de Moritz).The session “Video on Demand: The Future of Cinema?”  was hosted by Marc Cortes (@marccortes), founder of Cava&Twitts and Professor of Online Marketing at ESADE.  

Three speakers discussed their industry and their business models: Jordi Miró (@jordimirobruix), CTO of Wuaki; Juan Carlos Tous (@jctous), CEO of Filmin; and José Pacheco, Marketing Director of Youzee (pronounced “you see”). This interesting line-up of speakers brought together three competitors of the same market, although Filmin sets itself apart by specializing in Indie films.  I did not see much difference in the offers of Youzee and Wauki, in fact, they seemed to have the same elevator pitch. I left the event thinking that Wauki and Youzee really should join up and attack the market together.

The event was packed with mostly young people who work in or are very interested in social media. Information overload bombarded attendees - a large screen showed Cava&Twitts’ HootSuite interface while a community manager tweeted the discussion in real-time. Most attendees were using their smartphones to join in the conversation, find friends and take photos.  Speakers answered questions as they came in through Twitter and occasionally took their own photos of the audience with their smartphones. By the end I felt an overwhelming need to attend a Yoga class and re-center myself.

The hour-long discussion was quite interesting. It became clear that these companies are looking to Netflix and the US market for a business model to replicate, while simultaneously complaining that the US market is so much easier to succeed in as it consists of 300+ million consumers. I disagree with this assumption; the larger the market, the greater the competition.  It’s never been easy for Netflix. They carved out a niche in 1997 and went at it with all they had to become the market leader. Companies in Spain should spend less time comparing this market to the US and focus their expert knowledge on a unique business model for Spain.

Spain’s video on demand market is one with low entry risk and high commoditization (see analysis). There are a lot of competitors, but none has the vast offering at a low price that consumers are looking for – besides piracy, of course. It’s time to think beyond replicating a business model that worked in one country and tailor the offer to this market, where it is surely possible to be successful.

As I’ve written in the past, piracy is a huge detriment to the success of video on demand companies in Spain. And although Netflix recently had plans to enter the market, they have put that on hold while they focus on the UK. 

Megavideo is proof that people will pay for high(er)-quality streaming – to the tune of 10 EUR/month in the case of Megavideo – a case that still surprises me as people were paying for pirated content. It’s a matter of finding the right balance between offer and price, which I understand is not easy with the difficulties in negotiating copyright and use of intellectual property here. I appreciated the discussion on the topic of intellectual property as I learned a great deal from the speakers, who are clear experts in this area.

All three gentlemen expressed a desire for Netflix to come to Spain. They said Netflix would bring the visibility and publicity necessary for this offer to become main-stream. I disagree with this reasoning in the case of Wauki and Youzee; if Netflix launches here, their businesses will be eaten up. Filmin, however, has a niche offering that could nicely compliment Netflix’s catalog.

The sold-out event was a success, with 683 mentions, 451 of #candt, 126 RTs, a total audience of 398,867 and 1.305.713 impressions. And, as they tweeted last night:  “mil millones de gracias a todos”.

Some lucky attendees received Filmin gift codes for a free movie rental, t-shirts and even a free one-month subscription to Filmin, which was so nicely packaged in a lovely blue box with the Filmin logo; inside was a VHS tape (What’s on it? We’ll never know because no one has a VHS player anymore) with the gift code attached.

You can find all the Tweets from the event in Spanish here: https://twitter.com/#!/cavaandtwitts

Time Spent on Social Networking Sites: Spain #10

ComScore's recent report on time spent on social networking sites worldwide shows that Spain ranks #10 with an average of 5.7 hours per month, ranking above the USA (5.2 hours). The top 5 are: Israel, Russia, Argentina, the Philippines and Turkey. See the graph below for details.

Netflix to Launch in Spain in 2012

The other day I saw the great news - Netflix will launch in Spain in 2012! After my recent post on Netflix, you can imagine how thrilled I am that they will be entering the Spanish market. Strangely, the news is hard to locate in English, but here is a translation of the El Mundo article on the topic which appeared on 9 June 2011.

   Netflix, which provides an online streaming service for movies, is preparing to launch in Spain at the beginning of 2012.
   According to LeFigaro.fr, the online platform for renting movies and series, which recently expanded into Canada and is preparing to arrive in South America at the end of this year, plans to initiate its entrance in Europe through the Spanish market.
   In just two years, Netflix became the market leader in distribution of movies and series via streaming, proving that the business can be profitable.
   Thanks to the success, the company wants to expand into other countries, despite the inconveniences that managing content copyrights can present. 
   The Internet Association revealed in January that Netflix is having issues entering the Spanish market due to the widespread copyright abuse, which represents a cost of two to three times greater than the same copyright in other countries in Europe such as France and Germany. 
   Nevertheless, according to Le Figaro, the company could be close to getting the copyrights it needs.
The Netflix business model is based on a monthly subscription payment of as low as $8 (less than €6), through which the member can stream any available title as many times as they want, without time limits. The service is similar to Seriesyonkis and Cinetube, although Netflix is 100% legal, because Netflix has the license to transmit the content. 
   Part of Netflix’s success is due to their ability to offer content of high interest, many times exclusive content, such as the series “House of Cards”, a series consisting of 26 episodes directed by David Fincher and starring Kevin Spacey, for which Netflix paid $100m (€68m).
   Today Netflix generates more than 20% of all online traffic in the USA, and has more than 23 million subscribers. 
For the moment, Netflix’s priority this year is South America, where they hope to launch at the end of 2011. According to Le Figaro, the launch in Spain will occur at the beginning of 2012, tabling England for the end of 2012 and France for the beginning of 2013.





Netflix prepara su desembarco en España para 2012
ELMUNDO.es | Madrid
Actualizado jueves 09/06/2011 14:15 horas


Netflix, el servicio en línea para ver películas vía 'streaming', prepara su desembarco en España para principios de 2012.


Según adelanta Le Figaro, la plataforma 'online' de alquiler de películas y series, que hace poco se extendió a Canada y tiene previsto llegar a Sudamérica a finales de año, pretende iniciar su entrada en Europa a través del mercado español.


Netflix se ha convertido en dos años en el líder en la distribución de películas y series por 'streaming', demostrando que es un negocio que puede ser rentable.


El éxito ha llevado al portal de alquiler de vídeo 'online' ha desear expandirse a otros países, pese a los inconvenientes que pueda suponer la gestión de los derechos de autor de los contenidos.


Según desveló en enero la Asociación de Internautas, Netflix está teniendo problemas para entrar en nuestro país debido a que los "abusivos derechos de autor" representarían "un coste de 2 a 3 veces mayor que esos mismos derechos en los países de nuestro entorno, como Francia o Alemania".


Sin embargo, según se desprende de la información de Le Figaro, la compañía podría estar cerca de conseguir los derechos necesarios.


El modelo de negocio de Netflix se basa en el pago de una suscripción mensual de 8 dólares (menos de 6 euros) a cambio de poder ver en 'streaming' cualquier título disponible sin límite de veces o tiempo de uso. Su servicio es similar al de portales como Seriesyonkis o Cinetube, aunque totalmente legal, pues Netflix tiene licencia para emitir esos contenidos.


Su éxito radica en ofrecer contenidos de alto interés, algunos en exclusiva, como la serie 'House Cards', una serie de 26 episodios dirigida por David Fincher y protagonizada por Kevin Spacey por la que pagó 100 millones de dólares (68 millones de euros).


Actualmente Netflix genera más del 20% del tráfico de Internet en Estados Unidos, y cuenta con más de 23 millones de suscriptore


Por el momento, su prioridad para este año es América del Sur, donde se espera que Netflix llegue a finales de 2011. Según Le Figaro, el salto a España se produciría a principios de 2012, dejando Inglaterra para finales de ese mismo año y Francia para inicios de 2013.
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2011/06/09/navegante/1307621705.html