Technology

Baird Out With 10 Incredible Internet Trends and Themes for 2018

Lee Jackson

Published: January 8, 2018 8:05 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 4:44 am

Needless to say, the internet has become a ubiquitous and integral part of our lives, and with the applications and innovations spiraling higher every year, the parabolic growth rate looks to continue far into the future. One of the amazing attributes of the internet is the incredible growth each year over a multitude of platforms, and while one would sense there is a degree of oversaturation in the cards, the fact of the matter is that seems very unlikely.

In a fascinating new research report from the technology and services team at Baird that covers the internet, they present their 2018 Book of Lists for the internet. The list contains an incredible group of trends, statistics and other data that we at 24/7 Wall St. found fascinating and thought our readers would as well.

1. Here are the five top apps currently used by consumers:

• Amazon Prime Video
• Netflix
• YouTube
• Hulu
• ESPN

The Baird team also notes that while not currently ranked in the top five, games are emerging as one key segment of Apple TV apps. That just may end up being your gaming console in the future.

2. Spotify announced last week it had reached 70 million subscribers. That’s up from 60 million in July of 2017 and 50 million in March. Meanwhile, Pandora users declined to 74 million in the third quarter from 81 million subscribers at the end of 2016.

3. In a survey conducted before the holidays, of the 1,000 U.S. consumers who already owned digital assistants like Alexa and Google Home, 38% said they would consider using their assistants for holiday shopping. That was up from 17% in 2016. The analysts make the case that conversational commerce and advertising are on the way, given those trends.

4. Out of the 369 conference sessions scheduled for the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the topics with the most sessions are:

• Marketing and advertising
• Alternate reality/virtual reality
• Artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning
• Smart cities
• Digital health

5. Expected to be the top keynote addresses/fireside chats at CES:

• Google on shopping assistants
• Facebook on a video/watch tab
• Intel on the AI revolution
• Baidu on 5G innovation
• Hulu on reimagining television

6. Pinterest says the company’s “taste graph” has hit its $500 million goal. That amount is expected to grow to $700 million or more this year. For a comparison to other companies, that means Pinterest is about 25% the size of Twitter and 35% as large as Snapchat. It is just a tiny 1% the size of Google and Facebook.

7. The Baird team posts a video of the Meltdown Bug, which shows a demonstration of stealing a password by exploiting this vulnerability.

8. E-commerce companies respond to the recent tax reform package. Out of 67 companies surveyed, 22% expect higher revenues, 48% see no change and 30% plain just don’t know.

9. The blockchain stat of the week: Bloomberg notes that the number of corporate press releases thus far concerning the subject has already reached 110. Last year there was a total of five.

10. The quote of the week is from eBay CEO Devin Wing who says “The biggest earthquake in the Valley since I moved out. Let’s all write some code at 2:43 in the morning.” The recent 4.4 magnitude earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area was the first one felt in several years.

There you have it. Musings, trends and tidbits about the internet and things to come at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. The CES is significant each year, as it often is the time and place where companies unveil new products, technologies and applications. Because of the vast coverage and large attendance, it often provides a forum for a company looking to make a big splash.