Mary Meeker, ex Morgan Stanley Managing Director, internet analyst and current Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers released the annual 2016 Internet Trends reports. You can see the entire 213 slide presentation below :


2016 Internet Trends Report from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Below are few observations and implications for a marketing professional in India

1. India internet user growth is at 40% YOY

india internet growth

Image Source : Youtube screen grab of Aircel Ad

India showed great hope and promise for e-commerce companies and other internet/app related businesses by growing at 40% YOY. This is a significant increase from 33% YOY growth witnessed last year.

India with just 22% internet penetration and 277 million internet users, surpasses USA to become #2 Global User Market behind China. All of this when global internet user growth is flat at about 9% year on year. This global growth number becomes 7% when you exclude India from the picture.

So what?

Things are changing as we speak and the environment becomes more dynamic in a country that is experiencing a tectonic shift in internet trends, usage and consumer behavior.

The recent pull back of funding in India’s dream internet story is also indicating a focus shift towards profitable growth. CEOs of today’s biggest e-commerce companies are also now looking at NPS (Net Promoter Score) to measure customer loyalty and lifetime value more than anything else to achieve sustainable growth going forward.

A great challenge lies ahead for the Indian marketer to be
insightful, aggressive yet frugal.

2. Video Advertising is growing, but certain rules need to be followed

video advertising

Image Source : Youtube screengrab of Idea Ad

Google has reported an increase in revenues from video advertising in USA. However, in a survey

  • 81% said they mute video ads
  • 62% annoyed by pre roll ads, video ads that you are forced to watch before the start of the actual video content
  • 93% considering using ad blocking software

So what?

There is no longer space for differentiation between offline marketing and digital marketing. There is just marketing which needs to happen both online and offline. Marketers in charge should make content which will fly on both media or customize accordingly. Similar to recent trends of branded content and long form video content, Mary Meeker’s report says that video ads could still work if they meet the below criteria,

  • Authentic,
  • Entertaining,
  • Evoke emotion,
  • Personal/relatable,
  • Useful,
  • Viewer control,
  • Work with sound off,
  • Non interrupting ad format

3. Ad blocking is soon going to become a thing

ad blocking

Image Source

According to the report, global ad blocking users are increasing on the web, both mobile and desktop, at 94% and 16% YOY respectively.

Out of the ~640 million users on desktop and mobile combined, that use the ad blocking software, most are in India/China/Indonesia.

So what?

As the internet population of India increases rapidly, a whole new chunk of users are also getting smarter by the day. These are the users who will voice and see through a brand’s ulterior motive, recognize a normal content from a sponsored branded content also know how to get their way using social media to avail the best customer service against the slightest discomfort.

Marketer’s need to get smarter too.

A good marketing campaign will thus be recognized when it will be able to reach the news feed of a user who uses an ad blocking software.

The strategy needs to change from push to pull by increasing focus on product, meaningful conversations. Temporary spike as a result of ad spends will have be replaced by sustainable, long-lasting growth.

4. Call to understand millennials better and get ready for Gen Z

millennials gen x india

Image Source

The report mentions the below characteristics of Millennials with respect to USA

  • Grew up in digital era
  • Experiencing time of rising globalization
  • Globally minded, optimistic, tolerant
  • Expanded view on work-life balance, self-development, community service
  • Early adopters who move Technology forward
  • Earn to spend
  • Wants to be discovered

India boasts of the world’s fastest-growing economy with the biggest millennial population in the world. 70% of this population are living in villages where the attributes might be really diverse than the ones living in cities and different from their global cousins.

But some of the characteristics mentioned above are shared by Indian millennials as well.

So what?

As we experience a rapid internet boom, it becomes inevitable to go one level deeper to understand consumer behavior, user personas and audience attributes.In the pursuit of this, the biggest mistake an organization can make is to ignore the role of millennials, their conflict with Gen X and embracing Gen Z.

All said and done, India’s millennials will be a catalyst for consumption riding on increasing smartphone shopping. While millennials are the current growth drivers, it becomes imperative to start considering the characteristics of future growth drivers as well (Gen Z)

millennials vs gen z