Five Charts from Ofcom’s 2021 Online Nation Report
I’m such a data nerd. It’s always a highlight for me when Ofcom’s Online Nation report comes out, and this year’s report came out on Wednesday last week. Always lots of data (it’s nearly 200 pages), and always lots of great nuggets. This year’s is particularly interesting because it shows several effects from a year in lockdown, and how the country has become more dependent on digital media and online shopping.
You can see the full report here.
I’ve now been through it in detail, and here are 5 of my favourite charts:
- 16 — Devices used for accessing the internet
It’s fascinating how ⅓ of internet users in the UK are mobile only, vs 6% desktop only. Also that we are about twice as mobile-centric as the US, and only a bit behind China, which I’d always assumed was largely mobile based. I think if I didn’t work, and if I didn’t write blog posts etc I would be able to do everything on my phone.
- 27 — Adults using video calling features
This chart shows the rise and fall of Zoom. Zoom is still the automatic brand name when people talk about video calling, but this clearly shows a quick rise, peaking in May 2020, followed by a decline, and then getting overtaken by Teams in August 2020. Zoom recovers a bit, but Teams has maintained its lead, and by January 2021 was higher than Zoom ever was. Also see the very short-lived life of Houseparty, much discussed in the early days, but now fading to nothing. Lots of buzz does not always lead to lasting success. Or ‘it’s hard to succeed if you’re not GAFAM’.
(See also chart 1.34 for the rapid rise and fall of the game ‘Among Us!’)
2.20–13–17 year-olds online and offline spend as a %
This is a great ‘crossover’ chart. Under 18s have traditionally spent most of their money offline (going to the shops with your friends, no payment cards for online purchases), but during the first lockdown this crossed over, to the final data point where online is 68% of spend, and offline 32%. Clearly lockdown meant that people can’t go to physical shops (non-essential retail was closed), so parents must have been doing the payment, or guaranteeing payments on their cards.
4.1 — Revenues of the UK online sector (excluding video)
Subscriptions go boom. Total online revenue grew from £13.1bn in 2015 to £25.5bn in 2020, an annualised growth of 14%. Advertising also grew at this rate, but subscriptions grew far faster, at 23% per year, from £1.6bn to £4.5bn.
4.14 — Food delivery apps
Quite surprising to see Just Eat at the top here (comScore data), because as with Zoom in the earlier chart, Deliveroo feels like it is the best known, the one that defines the category. In fact Deliveroo is third, after UberEats. It’s also interesting to see the comparative decline of the restaurant-specific services like McDonalds and Dominos. Note that this is reach of the services in apps and online, rather than sales, but you would imagine that orders would show a similar pattern. Sadly no data on the grocery delivery apps like Weezy and Getir!
