India, only bright spot with 44% growth in internet users says trends report

While 42% of the world’s population is now using internet, the netizen growth is the highest in India says the 2016 edition of Mary Meeker’s annual Internet Trends report. With a growth of 44% in 2015, India is keeping the global internet growth steady.

While 42% of the world’s population is now using internet, the growth of netizens in India is the highest, says the 2016 edition of Mary Meeker’s Annual Internet Trends report. With a growth of 44% in 2015, India is keeping the global internet growth steady. Without India’s contribution the global rise in net users would have decelerated from 9% to 7%.

While 42% of the world’s population is now using internet, India has clocked the highest growth of net users in 2015. (HT Archive)

While India with its internet users has surpassed US, China continues to be the true tech leader. The report lauds China as the global innovation powerhouses in e-commerce, messaging, travel, financial services, and on-demand transportation.

Mary Meeker, a former Morgan Stanley internet analyst who is now partner at venture-capital fund Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, has been studying the technology and internet economy for close to two decades. The Meeker Report shows that the global internet user base grew only 9% in 2015, reaching 3 billion.

The report shows a surprising decline in global smartphone user growth down from 31% to 21% in 2015. A closer look at smartphone usage trends show that 80% of time is spent on three apps, while in the US it is Facebook, Chrome and YouTube, worldwide Facebook, Whatsapp and YouTube take up the maximum mind space.

The report warns that online video ads are ineffective: 81% of people surveyed mute video ads, 62% are annoyed by pre-roll ads, and 93% have considered using ad-blocking software.