• by Diane Mermigas , June 18, 2010

It is an overwhelming -- but critically important -- task for companies to effectively sift through, analyze and take action on the relentless torrent of data available on the Internet. 

Data points can underscore larger trends that companies must wisely and bravely embrace, even if it means making radical change. The tedious process of filtering and leveraging salient information is hardly conducive to our always-on, short-attention-span existence and limited corporate resources.

So what's a data-fatigued media-related company to do? Make contemplating and mapping change a team sport. Start a running list of compelling data points contributed by employees from various disciplines, levels and businesses that post their comments. The live stream becomes a springboard for proposals, action and change. Punching through the information clutter and being part of the solution can be empowering.

Here are some insights on recent data points to jump-start your effort:

*Consumers are spending the equivalent of a monthly car payment, or an average $185, on mobile phone, Internet and pay TV to stay connected during the recession, according to the Yankee Group's new Exploring the U.S. Anywhere Atlas. Bundled services that support the cherry-picking of content and service win hands-down, according to the study of more than 14,000 U.S. consumers' communications habits. "Start preparing for TV service without content," Yankee warns. With consumers now spending fewer minutes watching video on television than they do online, operator bundles should focus on broadband Internet and mobile.

*Consumers have downloading more than 4 billion Apple apps to date. Apps are the new currency and a way to make sure everyone gets what they want and everyone gets paid. (Apple's already paid $1 billion to developers.) The iPad isn't the only catalyst. There was a one-day pre-order surge of 600,000 iPhone 4, where Apps are all about utilities and games, not video or print content.

While Apple is making good on its de facto a la carte, shared-revenue approach, Google is still dancing around micropayment issues The difference between talk and action? Mobile apps for pay-per-download content and services will more than triple into a $32 billion industry by 2013, predicts Juniper Research.

*Amid the privacy brouhaha around social media, Facebook churning nearly $1 billion in annual revenues and MySpace's slow death comes the prediction from Webtrends analyst Justin Kistner that social media will peak in 2012. Connections alone are not enough; it's what you do with them. The focus will shift from adoption to refining relevant services and data.

The Council for Research Excellence's Video Consumer Mapping Study suggests there is room for improving our use of connected media in virtually every aspect of our daily lives beginning with education, where only 4% of adults consume media while engaged in some form of learning. Only half of adults consume media while shopping. Using the broadest, most interactive definition of media, the possibilities for delivering and extracting value seem endless considering that a majority of mobile video users are adults age 25 to 49.

* The Internet is poised to overtake newspapers as the second-largest U.S. ad medium by revenue behind television, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers' Global Entertainment and Media Outlook. Then why are TV broadcasters reveling over the partial recovery of their on-air ad spending? Although TV stations are expected to grow their online ad revenues 21% to $1.4 billion in 2010, according to Borrell Associates, it may not be enough to stay a step ahead of trends.

A new report from eMarketer says the online share of local ad spending in the U.S. will increase from 14% this year to 25% in 2014. Broadcasters continue to lag in local mobile ads, where businesses are tripling their marketing spend on everything from electronic coupons to personalized on-the-go shopping. Mobile advertising will quadruple to $1.6 billion in 2014, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Online advertising, excluding mobile ads, will expand to $34.4 billion by 2014. To fund video advertising, the biggest growth area in the online space, many marketers are shifting out of traditional media - nearly half of that from television, eMarketer notes. Bottom line: Media companies better follow the money.