2017 was a great year to be an Internet professional.
While it certainly had its ups and downs, Website Magazine readers who spent wisely and developed and designed in a conscientious way were those who likely experienced the highest levels of success. In the final Stat Watch of 2017, explore some interesting data points showing how far the industry has come, how far there is to go and where it is all headed.
CONTENT MARKETING
$412 Billion: The worldwide content marketing industry will grow in value from $195.58 billion last year (2016) to $412.88 billion by 2021, driven by advertisers using the strategy to increase conversions and brand awareness (and at a consistently lower cost than traditional advertising) according to a recent Technavio post. The report also indicates sponsored content delivers improved search engine optimization (SEO) while improving public relations and social followings as well as circumventing ad blocking.
ECOMMERCE
81%: The average consumer is expected to spend $1,226 during the holiday shopping season, with households above $100,000 in annual income expected to spend an average of $1,000 more ($2,226). As a whole, 81 percent of respondents in Deloitte's annual survey on the holiday retail environment noted their household financial situation is the same or better than it was last year, which is up by 18 percentage points from the 63 percent of respondents who noted the same back in 2012.
CYBERSECURITY
$1.8 Million: The IT security industry is expected to face a talent shortfall of 1.8 million workers by 2022, but the "Immersive Technologies & The Future of Cybersecurity" report shows virtual reality tools could attract security talent. Seventy-four percent of the survey respondents indicated they are likely to pursue an IT security career if cybersecurity tools were to incorporate virtual reality and augmented reality technologies, and 77 percent of respondents said they would enjoy using these tools if that were the case, according to the ESG study commissioned by ProtectWise.
MOBILE ENGAGEMENT
79 Seconds: Data recently released from PressBoard suggests that reading content on mobile devices now surpasses that occurring on desktops. Those reading on smartphones now spend an average of 79 seconds reading branded content. Previously, desktop users spent 71 seconds on average with branded content, while those on phones spent 66 seconds based on Average Active Reading Time.
DATA BREACHES
$3.6 Million: The average cost to recover from a data breach was $3.6 million in 2017, according to AT&T's cybersecurity insights report, "Mind the Gap: Cybersecurity's Big Disconnect." Respondents ranked malware, worms and viruses (60 percent) as the number one threat to their organization in the year ahead, followed by unauthorized access to corporate data (49 percent) and ransomware (46 percent).
ADVERTISING
18%: Digital advertising spend will grow by an expected 18 percent compound annual growth rate over the next five years, rising from $184 billion in 2017 to $420 billion in 2022 according to a new report from Juniper Research.