McKinsey released a report on The Social Economy earlier this week. Below is a chart that opened my eyes. Though 25% of time on the Internet is spent using social media, only 5% of all time communicating or consuming media is social media time.
TV represents the largest time pool to be socially integrated. Next are telephone voice conversations and SMS. Phone and SMS are already fighting social media’s inexorable integration. TV however has remained relatively untouched.
The company who socially enables television will reap disproportionate rewards. The TV ad market totals $70B, just under twice the size of online ad market of $40B.
YouTube is the ostensible winner. With as nearly as many monthly actives as Facebook, and just about the same amount of time spent (5h per month compared to 7.5h for FB), it’s clear YouTube has the traffic and engagement to win. And perhaps YouTube’s success will drive Google Plus’ engagement numbers. Perhaps, they already are.
Thank you Tom for making this point! I like your data backed opinions so much. It’s a pity, that they are so rare in other places…
Thanks, Jarek. I’m lucky to have you as a reader.