Posts Tagged ‘reports’
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
 WASHINGTON, DC – Startups hired 16 percent more people in the first quarter this year than in the last quarter of 2009. While the total number of people hired, 13,314, is not large, it suggests they are poised for growth, says Mark Heesen, National Venture Capital Association president.
NVCA and StartUpHire released the figures, saying growth is on the way in the IT, life sciences and clean tech sectors.
“Despite ongoing economic and market challenges, the venture capital community continues to invest and grow companies that are poised for growth as evidenced by their consistent hiring pace,” said Heesen.
“The start-up company engine continues to churn, serving as a critical source of new jobs and opportunities for thousands of Americans. Our country’s entrepreneurial spirit combined with access to risk capital will continue to drive this economic recovery.”
StartUpHire founder and Grotech Venture partner Steve Fredrick said that venture-backed job growth is actually “perhaps double what StartUphire cureently captures.”
Tags: NVCA, reports, StartUpHire, startups hiring
Posted in IT, Studies, surveys, reports, TechJobs | Comments Off
Monday, April 19th, 2010
 While mobile phones still generate the most impressions for advertisers, connected devices without phones, such as the iPad, iPod touch, Sony’s PSP and the Nintendo DS climbed to 21 percent of U.S. impressions in March.
So says Millennial Media, a mobile ad network that is creating a new tracking category it calls “The Mobile Mix,” to report statistics on connected devices monthly. Millennial says its network reaches 83 percent of U.S. mobile users.
The largest share of impressions across Millennial’s network in March were generated by Apple devices, which accounted for 40 percent.
The iPhone led in smartphone impressions at about 27 percent, followed by the BlackBerry Curve with a mere 6 percent.
The iPod posted a respectable showing, with impressions soaring 713 percent a week after its launch, although it creates only a small portion of overall traffic so far.
Nevertheless, with several other device makers ready to leap into the tablet market and devices and the success of netbooks, which led PC sales last year, the non-phone mobile device market is poised to grab a larger share of mobile ad pie.
“We felt that it was now time to spotlight this data for industry watchers who are trying to understand the role of devices and consumer behavior in the overall mobile market,” said Erin McKelvey, senior vice president of marketing at Millennial.
Tags: BlackBerry Curve, connected devices, iPad, iPod, Millennial Media, mobile advertising, reports
Posted in Internet/New Media, Studies, surveys, reports, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
 ATLANTA – U.S. paid search spend increased 11 percent in Q1 2010 from Q1 2009, marking the strongest quarter for paid search since the fourth quarter of 2008, according to a report by Atlanta-based SearchIgnite.
“We saw some indication that the impact of the recession on the digital economy was waning towards the end of last year,” said Roger Barnette, president of SearchIgnite. “The strong paid search growth in Q1 is another hopeful sign that the worst of the storm is over and that the search market is poised for a solid year ahead.”
Other notable findings in the report include:
Retail and travel marketers drove much of the growth in paid search, with spend from these verticals up 26 percent and 9 percent year-over-year respectively.
For retailers, this marked the fifth straight quarter of YoY PPC spend increases since SearchIgnite began tracking this metric.
Spend on Microsoft’s Bing increased 22 percent year over year as the engine continued to take share from Yahoo!
However, Bing saw the most declines of all engines quarter-over-quarter due to a decline in retail search spend following the holidays, a vertical which continues to be a key driver of growth for the engine.
This report is the latest in a series of SearchIgnite white papers reviewing trends across the search landscape. These white papers can be downloaded at: about.searchignite.com/en/about/research-white-papers.html.
Tags: 2010, Atlanta, Internet/New Media, Marketing, paid search, reports, SearchIgnite
Posted in Georgia, Internet/New Media, Marketing, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Monday, April 12th, 2010
 FALLS CHURCH, VA – A study released today by CSC (NYSE:CSC) found that business and IT executives at the top 20 utilities and retail energy providers worldwide are finding opportunities for growth as new smart utility and meter-to-cash advancements are unveiled. Participants of the 2010 Smart Utility and Meter-to-Cash Study reveal that there is optimism in the utilities sector about implementing new technologies to support the “smart grid,” but that the business processes to support them are just beginning to take shape.
This sounds like a wide open opportunity for tech entrepreneurs who come up with products to help utilities make sense of the data being generated, we think.
“Smart meters and a diversity of transmission and distribution grid sensors are generating volumes of data, and this has the potential to have a profound effect on the business,” said Jill Feblowitz, practice director, IDC Energy Insights. “Surprisingly, utilities executives indicated that they are not yet at a point where they’re making full use of this data.”
For the full study see: SmartStudy
Tags: reports, smart grid, smart meters, Virginia
Posted in Energy, IT, Potomac, Virginia | Comments Off
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
 A majority of chief financial officers (56%) at top U.S. technology businesses are using cloud computing in some capacity, according to an annual study by BDO one of the nation’s leading accounting and consulting organizations.
Further, the vast majority (90%) report their use of cloud computing will remain the same or increase this year. CFOs cite cost flexibility (32%), increased scalability (32%) and improved business ability (29%) as the driving reasons for embracing cloud computing instead of provisioning IT services from their own data center.
The majority of tech CFOs (64%) are familiar with cloud computing. Still, despite the allure of cost savings, some CFOs (44%) have resisted the shift to the cloud and list security concerns (39%), the hassle and expense (29%) and limited application features (14%) as their reasons.
“Security threats remain the top concern for tech CFOs looking to implement cloud computing within their organization, but this risk is substantially minimized given world-class cloud providers, such as Amazon and Microsoft and the emergence of numerous other vendors now competing in the space,” said Jay Howell, a partner in BDO’s technology practice.
Other major findings of the 2010 Technology Outlook Survey:
- Two-thirds (66%) of technology CFOs are interested in clean technology, while 34 percent say clean tech is not important to their business. Still, nearly half (43%) of CFOs surveyed report that they do produce clean tech products or services and 46 percent source products or services from clean technology vendors. Interestingly, 54 percent of multinational companies are likely to produce clean tech products or services versus only 33 percent of U.S.-only companies.
- Federal Government Makes an Impact. CFOs (41%) report the federal government causes the biggest impact on their level of involvement in clean technology, followed by state (17%) and local (16%) regulations and incentives.
These findings are from the BDO Seidman 2010 Technology Outlook Survey, which examined the opinions of 100 chief financial officers at leading technology companies located throughout the U.S. The survey was conducted in January of 2010.
Tags: BDO, CFO outlook, clean tech, cloud computing, reports
Posted in Energy, IT, Potomac, Studies, surveys, reports, Washington, DC | Comments Off
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
 About 21 million Americans spend an average of $15 a month on Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games, according to a new report form Gamesindustry.com adn TNS.
They spend more than 90 percent of the $15 a month directly online. Another 25 million Americans play MMO games without spending a penny, the report says.
That’s in line with our habits. We play the occasional MMO game, but generally the free to play ones.
Significant number pay to play
Still, while the majority of the American MMO players do not pay to play but still a significant share of 46 percent does. It shows that MMO games are being accepted as a type of game worth paying for.
Of the hundreds of MMO games in the market, only a few require payment up-front, mainly by selling software to be installed on the PC. Americans spent approximately $400 million on this, split up into boxed products and online downloads. $2.4 billion is spent on monthly or annual subscriptions.
Many free-to-play MMOs rely on selling in-game virtual items using direct micro-transactions or a virtual currency approach, grossing another $1 billion in revenues.
World of Warcraft leads
Looking at number of players, World of Warcraft leads the pack, just in front of kids MMOs NeoPets and ClubPenguin, with approximately 12,500,000 Americans admitting to have played.
This includes people only making use of the free trial.
The top five is complemented by Disney ToonTown and Runescape. No doubt World of Warcraft is grossing most revenues but the launch of hundreds of new MMOs over the last years has definitely attracted new players to the genre and other companies are also finding ways to get players to pay.
Both North Carolina’s Research Triangle region and Georgia have significant game development hubs.
Tags: Atlanta, MMO, reports, RTP, video games
Posted in Carolinas, Internet/New Media, North Carolina, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
 WASHINGTON, DC – The United States must commit to developing a domestic manufacturing sector capable of meeting heightened demand for the equipment needed by the growing clean energy economy, says a new report.
This is the conclusion of “Winning the Race: How America Can Lead the Global Clean Energy Economy,” a report released today by the Apollo Alliance and Good Jobs First at a Washington, D.C. conference.
The report says that developing such a strategy is key to ensuring that federal clean energy investments create quality, high-paying jobs in the United States.
This would avoid indirectly subsidizing the growth of those activities in low-wage countries such as China that are emerging as key competitors in the race to lead the global clean energy economy, it says.
“The United States is currently importing about 70 percent of its renewable energy systems and components,” said Phil Angelides, chairman of the Apollo Alliance.
“If that trend continues, we stand to lose out on estimated 100,000 clean energy manufacturing jobs by 2015, and nearly 250,000 by 2030. This country needs a comprehensive clean-energy economic development strategy so we can ensure that jobs being created in the clean-energy sector stay in America.”
“The U.S. needs a comprehensive strategy, including safeguards to ensure that increased demand for renewable energy systems doesn’t simply create manufacturing jobs in low-wage havens,” said Good Jobs First Executive Director Greg LeRoy
The report analyzes the recipients of the Recovery Act’s Advanced Energy Tax Credit and found that of the 90 companies that received credits, 23 were also investing in similar production in China, India, Mexico and Malaysia.
Research Director Philip Mattera, who analyzed the 48C recipient list for the report. “But these examples demonstrate that the U.S. share of the global clean energy economy – particularly in manufacturing – is far from guaranteed.”
The report makes a number of recommendations to address the problem.
The full report is available for download at www.apolloalliance.org and at www.goodjobsfirst.org.
Tags: clean energy, DC, jobs, manufacturing, reports, Washington
Posted in Economic Development, Energy, Potomac, Studies, surveys, reports, Washington, DC | Comments Off
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
 ATLANTA & RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – Video game marketers are missing the target when it comes to reaching avid gamers with their message, says a new report from Mintel. The study, commissioned by interactive marketing agency BLITZ, says game marketers are not spending their digital dollars as well as they could to target avid gamers, the most influential segment of the gaming community.
The study,
“Pulling the Trigger to Purchase; Insights on marketing to avid gamers,” shows:
- Avid gamers rely on peer recommendations and their friends for advice, yet social media remains underutilized and ineffective in its current use by marketers
- Avid gamers are heavily immersed within the digital space but disregard the majority of staid advertising methods
- Commercials pique interest, but lose the audience’s attention because they fail to show actual gameplay footage
- While Web sites remain a strong point of interest to the audience, marketers are reluctant to invest in sites that fully integrate site functionality that is of interest to the core audience
- As the touchpoint constantly in contact with the audience, mobile is the secret weapon; but it’s often overlooked as a way to bridge online and brick-and-mortar efforts
“In an era when publishers are being squeezed, every marketing dollar spent on digital has to be used as effectively as possible. The results of this study show that too many marketers are missing the mark when targeting core gamers,” said Ken Martin, Chief Creative Officer and co-founder, BLITZ. “As marketers, we must create effective integrated strategies that empower avid gamers and embrace the community while continuing to welcome newbies into the experience.”
Southeast Game Hubs
We can point to the main reason this is important in the Southeast: the region has a still developing yet already substantial video game industry with significant hubs in both North Carolina and Georgia.
Georgia boasts more than 70 video game developers with 2,000 employees and says it is “the top video game develpoment state in the Southeast.”
The Research Triangle area in North Carolina has a growing game hub as well. There are More than 30 RTP based game companies.
Other game developers are scattered throughout the region.
Tags: Internet and new media, Marketing, reports, video games
Posted in Carolinas, Georgia, Internet/New Media, IT, North Carolina | Comments Off
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
 BALTIMORE – Social media adoption doubled from 12 percent to 24 percent in the last year, according to the State of Small Business Report by Network Solutions and the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. It says they are increasing investing in blogs, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles and Twitter.
The most common use of social media tools was a company page on a site such as Facebook or LinkedIn with status updates, with 75 percent of small businesses reporting they have a company page on LinkedIn. Another 69 percent say post updates on sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook.
Other substantial uses reported include monitoring positive and negative feedback on social networks, blogging and tweeting about areas of expertise, and using Twitter as a customer service channel.
While the majority of small businesses said they’re breaking even on their use of social media, one-fifth said they already find it profitable and almost half say they think it will make money for them within 12 months. A mere 9 percent see social media as a losing proposition.
More than half, 58 percent, said social media are living up to their expectations.
Janet Wagner, director of the Center for Excellence in Service said in a statement, “Social media levels the playing field for small businesses by helping them deliver customer service. Time spent on Twitter, Facebook and blogs is an investment in making it easier for small businesses to compete.”
Tags: facebook, LinkedIn, Network Solutions, reports, small business, social media, twitter, University of Maryland Robert Smith School of Business
Posted in Internet/New Media, Marketing, Maryland, Potomac, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Monday, March 1st, 2010
 WASHINGTON, DC – The Internet is at the center of how people’s relationship to news is changing, says a new study from Pew Internet. While six in ten say they get news from a combination of online and offline sources on a typical day, the Internet is now third most popular behind TV national and local news.
Foraging seems to be the dominant theme in how Americans find their news these days. Most people in the Pew study said they use between two and five online sources and only 21 percent rely primarily on just one news site.
Pew says these new metrics from the study stand out:
- Portable : 33% of cell phone owners now access news on their cell phones.
- Personalized : 28% of internet users have customized their home page to include news from sources and on topics that particularly interest them.
- Participatory : 37% of internet users have contributed to the creation of news, commented about it, or disseminated it via postings on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.
A shared social experience
To a great extent, people’s experience of news, says Pew, especially on the internet, is becoming a shared social experience as people swap links in emails, post news stories on their social networking site feeds, highlight news stories in their Tweets, and haggle over the meaning of events in discussion threads. For instance, more than 8 in 10 online news consumers get or share links in emails.
The rise of the internet as a news platform has been an integral part of these changes. This report discusses two significant technological trends that have influences news consumption behavior: First, the advent of social media like social networking sites and blogs has helped the news become a social experience in fresh ways for consumers.
People use their social networks and social networking technology to filter, assess, and react to news. Second, the ascent of mobile connectivity via smart phones has turned news gathering and news awareness into an anytime, anywhere affair for a segment of avid news watchers.
Most popular online
The most popular online news subjects are the weather (followed by 81% of internet news users), national events (73%), health and medicine (66%), business and the economy (64%), international events (62%), and science and technology (60%).
Asked what subjects they would like to receive more coverage, 44% said scientific news and discoveries, 41% said religion and spirituality, 39% said health and medicine, 39% said their state government, and 38% said their neighborhood or local community.
One not so surprising finding in the Pew report: only 17 percent of those surveyed, only 17 percent go to newspapers.
We also found it interesting that as the Pew report says, news is now “pocket-sized.”
Some 80% of American adults have cell phones today, and 37% of them go online from their phones. The impact of this new mobile technology on news gathering is unmistakable. One quarter (26%) of all Americans say they get some form of news via cell phone today.
For the whole report see: Pew Internet news study
Tags: mobile news, online news, Pew Internet news study, reports, studies, surveys
Posted in Internet/New Media, Potomac, Studies, surveys, reports, Washington, DC | Comments Off
|
