US retail e-commerce spending reached a new peak of $161.5 billion in 2011, representing a 13% increase from $142.5 billion in 2010, according to February 2012 figures from comScore. Online retail spending reached $49.7 billion in Q4, marking a 14% increase from $43.4 billion in Q4 2010, and a 27% rise from $39 billion in Q4 2009. In fact, Q4’s growth rate was the 9th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth and the 5th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates. Read More »

Prices for primetime commercials on the Big 4 broadcast networks rose year-over-year during the second, third, and fourth quarters of 2011, according to February 2012 data from TargetCast. Using data from SQAD, the agency determined that the price of an average 30-second spot rose 2% in Q2 to $127,291, while in Q3, prices rose 4% year-over-year to $82,951. Pricing growth slowed in Q4 to 2%, with spots averaging $116,122. Read More »

Facebook ad budgets grew 109% month-over-month in Q4 2011, according to February 2012 data from Kenshoo, which analyzed 100 billion ads delivered on Facebook worldwide by its customers through Kenshoo Social. And while the company notes that some of the growth can be attributed to seasonality, the increase in global Facebook ad budgets compared well to search channels like Google, Bing, and Yahoo which, in aggregate, saw paid search ad budget growth of 27% globally on a quarter-over-quarter basis.
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75% of US organizations say that competition with social media for recipients’ time and attention is either “very challenging” or “somewhat challenging” to their future success in email, according to [download page] a report released in February 2012 by Econsultancy in partnership with the Email Experience Council of the Direct Marketing Association. Other challenges to email’s success include young people abandoning email as their primary channel (69%), getting the deserved budget and attention (65%), and integrating email with other marketing channels (61%).
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Pinterest now drives more referral traffic (3.6%) than YouTube (1.05%), Google+ (0.22%), and LinkedIn (0.2%) combined, according to Shareaholic’s January 2012 Referral Traffic Report. Pinterest grew 44% from 2.5% of referral traffic in December 2011, after owning just 0.17% of the traffic in July 2011. Facebook remained the top referral source, growing 3% month-over-month from 25.6% to 26.4%. StumbleUpon also maintained its second ranking, though it dropped 22% from 6.5% to 5.07%.
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During the three-month average ending December 2011, 47.6% of US mobile subscribers used downloaded applications on their mobile device, up 12% from the three-month average ending September 2011, according to comScore Mobile Metrix data. For the period, downloaded applications remained on par with browsers, which were used by 47.5% of subscribers (up 10.7% from 42.1%).

Texting remained the most common activity, used by 74.3% of US mobile subscribers, up 4.5% from 71.1%.
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The online merchants who comprise the MarketLive Performance Index made significant year-over-year gains in areas such as visitors and revenues during Q4 2011, according to [download page] a February 2012 report from MarketLive. Results from “The MarketLive Performance Index Vol. 17″ indicate revenue among year-over-year sites rose 20.3% compared to Q4 2010, while visits increased more than 12%. According to January analysis from comScore, retail site categories boasted 5 of the 10 top-gaining web categories by percentage change of unique visitors in December 2011.
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The average US consumer celebrating Valentine’s Day this year will shell out $126.03 on traditional merchandise, up 8.5% from last year’s $116.21, and marking the highest average in the NRF Valentine’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey’s 10-year history, according to the February 2012 survey, conducted by BIGinsight.

Total spending for the day is expected to reach $17.6 billion, up 12% from $15.7 billion last year.
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Facebook advertising revenue reached $3.15 billion in 2011, representing an increase of almost 69% from $1.87 billion in 2010, and more than tripling from $764 million in 2009, according to the February 2012 prospectus it filed in conjunction with its initial public offering (IPO).

The $3.15 billion in advertising revenue equaled 85% of the social network’s $3.71 billion in 2011 revenues, with the remaining $557 million derived from payments and other fees revenue, more than quadruple the $106 million derived from those sources in 2010. The proportion of 2011 revenue accounted for by advertising was down from 95% (of $1.97 billion) in 2010 and 98% (of $777 million) in 2009. Read More »

Visitors to CPG brand websites buy 37% more in retail stores than non-visitors to the brand website, and complete 41% more transactions, according to [download page] a comScore, Accenture, and dunnhumbyUSA study released in January 2012. Website visitors are also heavier buyers within a brand’s product category, spending 53% more category dollars than non-visitors. And they have more purchase occasions than non-visitors for both the brand and the category, making 35% more purchase trips for the brand, and 39% more in the overall category (3.2 vs. 2.3). Read More »