Only a handful of retail e-commerce categories experienced growth. Books & Magazines topped the list of gaining categories bolstered by category-wide price-cutting and the release of numerous high-profile best-sellers. Computer software ranked second, followed by Sport & Fitness and Jewelry & Watches, which rebounded from an especially weak 2008.
2009 proved to be a landmark year in the U.S. social networking market, as category leader Facebook and upstart network Twitter both posted triple-digit growth. Facebook surged to the #1 position among social networks for the first time in May and continued its strong growth trajectory throughout the year, finishing with 112 million visitors in December 2009, up 105% during the year.
Twitter finished the year with nearly 20 million visitors to its website, up from just 2 million visitors from the previous year. Much of Twitter's extraordinary audience growth occurred during the first few months of 2009, at one point jumping from 4 million visitors to 17 million visitors between February and April.
Meanwhile, 2008 category leader MySpace has experienced some softening in its audience; however, a new strategic focus on entertainment content is exhibiting signs of success with MySpace Music having grown 92% in the past year.
Throughout the Year U.S. Internet users viewed a total of 4.3 trillion display ads (standard and non-standard IAB ads, includes both static and rich media, but not video) during the past twelve months, representing a growth rate of 21% versus year ago. These gains were driven by an 8-percent increase in the number of people exposed to display ads online and a 12-percent increase in average frequency.
Key findings highlighted in the report include:
- The U.S. core search market grew 16% in 2009, driven by a 6% gain in unique searchers and a 10-percent gain in search queries per searcher. Google and Bing led among the core search engines in terms of increases in market share.
- Social networking continued to gain momentum in 2009 with nearly 4 out of 5 Internet users visiting a social networking site on a monthly basis and Facebook and Twitter propelling much of the growth in the category.
- Display ad impressions grew 21% in 2009 as the online advertising sector increased its share of media spending. Growth was driven by an 8-percent increase in ad reach and a 12-percent increase in average frequency.
- Total (retail and travel) U.S. e-commerce spending reached $209.6 billion in 2009, down 2% versus the previous year and the first year on record with negative growth rates. Nonetheless, e-commerce retail spending continued to increase its share of consumer spending in a challenging economic environment.
- Six out of seven U.S. Internet users now view online video content in a month, with YouTube and Hulu continuing to experience rapid increase in viewership.
You can read the whole report here.