The app Draw Something has has more than 50m downloads in 50 days

"Zynga has released a statement that says Draw Something has passed 50 million downloads, making it one of the fastest growing apps of all time. It's likely the only app to ever hit 50 million downloads in just 50 days.
"We believe it’s not only the fastest growing original mobile game of all time – 50 days to hit 50 million downloads - but one of the fastest growing web sensations that we’ve seen.  In addition, the game just regained its spot as the #1 paid app in the App Store, knocking off Angry Birds Space," says Zynga."

Source:  Business Insider, 4th April 2012

1m Android versions of Instagram were downloaded in the first 24 hours

"Eager Android users awaiting the release of Instagram scooped up a million copies in less than 24 hours.
The free photo-sharing app made its official appearance on Google Play yesterday following a pre-registration period on March 24 that captured 430,000 interested users. Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom told The New York Times yesterday that the app was grabbing 2,000 people each minute following its debut."

Source:  CNET, 5th April 2012

Ringtones generated more revenues than music streaming services in the US in 2011

"Technology simply moves faster than consumers, and older formats die hard. Which is why ringtones still accounted for $277.4 million in revenues last year - in the US alone - according to stats just released by the RIAA.  That compares to $241.0 million in revenues from the likes of Spotify, Rdio, Rhapsody, MOG, and ilk, combined."

Source:  DigitalMusicNews, 3rd April 2012

Visitors arriving from Pinterest are more likely to spend than those arriving from other social channels

"Pinterest isn’t just driving record levels of traffic to the websites of retailers and publishers — it’s also driving sales, some early data indicates.
Wayfair (formerly CSN Stores), the second largest home goods retailer by revenue, has found that Pinterest referrals are more likely to make a purchase and spend more on average than visitors from other social channels.
Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah says that shoppers referred by Pinterest are more 10% more likely to make a purchase than visitors who arrive from other social networks, including Facebook and Twitter. They’ll also spend 10% more on average.
The statistics are in some respects even more impressive when non-social channels are added in. On average, Pinterest referrals spend 70% more than visitors referred from non-social channels, including search. They are not, however, as likely to make a purchase as those referred by other channels.
Those statistics are averaged among Wayfair’s three home goods websites: wayfair.com, allmodern.com and jossandmain.com, the latter of which is a daily deals site. Collectively, the three sites brought in $500 million in revenue last year. (Williams-Sonoma, the number one player in the category, posted revenues of $3.7 billion for fiscal 2011.)"

Source:  Mashable, 3rd April 2012

Apple's app stores generate over $5m in revenue each day

"Apple’s iPhone and iPad App Stores generated $5.4m worth of combined revenues daily in January 2012, according to new research from telecoms analyst, CCS Insight, and app store analytics firm, Distimo.
The findings are the first fruits of a new research offering, App VU Global, developed by the two companies. App VU Global combines extensive data with analysis of the performance of software stores and the global apps market, identifying trends, and offering detailed comparisons across all major app stores.
The research reveals that Apple continues to dominate in terms of download numbers, catalogue size and revenues. The iPhone and iPad app stores generated daily revenues of $3.3m and $2.1m respectively in January 2012. Google Play (formerly Android Market) saw a 31 per cent rise in daily revenue in January 2012, to $679,000, across both smartphones and Tablets. Other platforms are racing to secure third position, with Amazon and Microsoft recording the biggest growth in catalogue size."

Source:  Mobile Marketing, 4th April 2012

UK Online Ad Spend Rose to £4,784m in 2011, up 14.4% Y-o-Y

"Despite the backdrop of a depressed UK economy, advertising on the internet increased by 14.4% to a new high of £4,784 million in 2011, up £687 million year on year.
According to the latest Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB) advertising expenditure report, conducted by PwC, online advertising continues to grow at an exceptional rate, and last year experienced its biggest increase in five years.
UK ecommerce shoppers helped Retail surface as the biggest winner in terms of overall growth in the second half** of 2011, as it became the third biggest display advertiser. Consumer Goods (FMCG) moved to second place, while Finance just held on to top spot.
The top five categories, by share of display spend, in 2011 were:
Finance 15%  
Consumer (FMCG) 15%  
Retail 12%  
Entertainment & the Media 12%  
Technology 9%  
The powerhouse of display is banners and other embedded formats, which continue to drive display forward (73% share). Growth of this format was fuelled by bigger, richer and more dynamic ads that spiked display spend by 13.4% to a high of £1,128 million (£945 million in 2010) and a 24% share of online ad spend (23% in 2010).
Video advertising continued its incredible growth and now accounts for 10% of all online display advertising.  Expenditure on online video doubled year on year to £109 million (£54 million in 2010). The format has grown more than eight-fold since 2008, when video spend was £12 million.
In 2011 banner ads on social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn, increased by 75% to £240 million – an eight-fold increase since records began in 2008.
Search marketing proved to be a recession-proof staple for direct response advertisers, recording impressive growth of 17.5% to £2,767 million (£2,346 million in 2010), and a 58% share of online advertising spend (57% in 2010).
Despite a difficult market for recruitment, total Classified ads grew 5.2% to £785 million (£751 million in 2010) and a share of 16% (18% in 2010). However, consumer and B2B Classifieds (property, cars, holidays and B2B), reached the half billion milestone for the first time at £509 million (£485 million in 2010).
Advertising on mobile devices rose by 157%* in 2011, to a new high of £203million, as a result of increased smartphone ownership, the proliferation of touchscreen technology, 3G, and soaring tablet sales, which sparked a surge in interest from brands, especially in the Retail and Consumer Goods (FMCG) sectors."

Source:  Press release from the IAB UK, 3rd April 2012

Digital magazine subscriptions represent about 1% of total magazine subscriptions in the US

"Magazines more than doubled their paid digital circulation in the most recent reporting period, but print remains the overwhelming majority of their business, according to a new analysis by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Despite all that growth, however, digital remains about 1% of magazines' total paid and verified circulation."

Source:  AdAge, 29th March 2012