LinkedIn’s Mobile Growth

According to an eMarketer report released earlier this year, an increasing number of recruiters are moving to LinkedIn as their preferred source of candidates. A survey of recruiters conducted by recruitment software company Bullhorn in the country found that in 2012, 98% of recruiters were relying on a social network tool to access candidates. A year ago, that number stood at 94%. Of those surveyed, more than 82% of the respondents were planning to increase the use of LinkedIn for their services. The shift towards LinkedIn is also in response to the 93% success rate in candidate placement through LinkedIn last year, compared with 86% a year ago.

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Kabam Considering IPO When the Time Is Right

Research firm ThinkEquity estimates the global social gaming market to grow 21% annually from $8.2 billion last year to $14.6 billion by 2015. Growth in social gaming is attributed to the increasing penetration of mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. According to researcher Newszoo, the smartphone gaming market is estimated to grow 19% annually over the period 2012 through 2016 to $13.9 billion.

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Coupons.com – Another IPO candidate

According to Juniper Research, the global digital printable coupon industry is projected to grow from $6 billion in 2011 to $46 billion by 2015. Recently, online coupons and deals site RetailMeNot went public with a $230 million IPO. Analysts believe that their competitor, Coupons.com, is also eying an IPO in the near future.

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InMobi in the IPO Wings

According to a report by the US Interactive Advertising Bureau, the global mobile advertising market grew 83% last year to $8.9 billion. The mobile ad market was led by search advertising, which raked in 53% of global mobile advertising revenues at $4.7 billion for the year. In 2011, search advertising on mobile generated $2.5 billion in revenues. Display advertising revenues grew 87% over the year and accounted for 39% of global mobile advertising revenues in 2012, while ads through messaging accounted for 8.5% of the market. Another report by Gartner projects the market to grow to $11.4 billion this year. Gartner expects the market to be worth $24.56 billion by the year 2016.
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Chegg Ready for an IPO

According to the Association of American Publishers, digital books accounted for 23% of publisher’s net revenues last year, up from 17% in 2011. Nearly ten years ago, digital books accounted for a meager 0.05% of book sales in the United States. The increasing use of tablets, smartphones, and e-readers is driving sales of e-books. While both fiction and nonfiction books for all demographics have begun to turn digital, textbooks are still widely published on paper, but digital textbooks represent a growing opportunity. Analysts estimate the country’s textbook market to be worth $10 billion this year with an 11% penetration of digital textbooks. They predict that by the year 2015, digital textbooks will account for more than half the education market.

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Apple Worrying Investors, Eying India

According to Strategy Analytics’ latest report, during the second quarter of the year, tablet shipments grew 43% over the year to 51.7 million units. While tablet sales were still strong, growth has slowed significantly from the 116% reported a year ago in the same quarter. While the iPad remains synonymous with tablet devices, sales have also begun to slow as the less expensive versions available on the Android OS are taking over the market. The report showed that Android-based tablets now account for 67% of the global tablet market, while Apple commanded a comparatively lower share at 28%.

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Amazon’s Growth Strategy

According to recent Forrester research, the US online retail industry is projected to grow 10% annually over the next five years to be worth $370 billion by 2017. Online retail sales are expected to account for $262 billion this year. While European markets remain subdued, they are projected to show a faster growth rate of 10.5% over the period to grow to €191 billion (~$253.6 billion) by 2017 from €128 billion (~$170 billion) this year. International online retailing giant Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is investing in its business to be ready for this growth.

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Facebook Earnings: Mobile Success Here, Video Ads Coming

Facebook beat expectations last week. Mobile ads are doing well, better than expected. Analysts are ecstatic.

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eBay Presses Growth

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), retail sales in the country are projected to grow 3.4% this year. The forecast has been revised down from an estimated 4.2% growth projected earlier. NRF’s online division projects e-tail sales in the country to continue to show strong growth, thus driving retail growth. The federation are projcts an increase of 9%-12% during the year for online retail sales.

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Content Strategy Key for Netflix

According to Sandvine’s latest report, real-time entertainment services accounted for 59% of the web download traffic in the U.S. during the first half of the year. Netflix (Nasdaq:NFLX) continues to dominate this usage with 32.3% of the downstream bytes. YouTube is a distant second with 17.1% market share, followed by Hulu and Amazon accounting for 2.4% and 1.31%, respectively.

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