Instagram's user base has doubled in the last 2 years to 700 million

 The last four months marks the fastest Instagram has ever added 100 million additional users.

http://www.businessinsider.com/instagram-number-of-users-700-million-2017-4?r=US&IR=T&IR=T

Instagram is starting to crack down on fake account activity

Instagram is cracking down on fake account activity with the closing of Instagress, a popular third-party service that advertised itself as an automated way to "get real Instagram followers and become incredibly popular."

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Instagress said it was forced to shut down its service, which let people pay to have their accounts automatically like and comment on other photos, "by request of Instagram" on Thursday. The tool is "like creating a small robot clone of yourself with the same interests and style, and then letting it work for you on Instagram" to gain followers, according to the now-shuttered Instagress website.

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It's unclear how many users paid for Instagress, which had cost $10 per month, but the service had been operational for at least three years before shutting down on Thursday. A 2015 research study estimated that around 8% of all Instagram accounts were likely automated spam accounts, and that hundreds of third-party services sold fake followers or fraudulent activity on the platform.

http://nordic.businessinsider.com/instagram-cracks-down-on-fake-accounts-by-shutting-down-instagress-2017-4

Google is poised to do the 'unthinkable' and overtake Microsoft to become the #1 platform for getting online

Google is poised to hit a major milestone.
Its mobile operating system (OS), Android, is on the edge of overtaking Microsoft's Windows to become the number one operating system when it comes to using the internet worldwide.

Today, Windows has 38.6% marketshare for internet usage, while Google hovers just below, at 37.4%. As recently as January 2012, Windows had 82% of global internet usage, versus Android's paltry 2.2%.

http://nordic.businessinsider.com/google-android-close-overtaking-microsoft-windows-worldwide-internet-usage-statcounter-2017-3?r=UK&IR=T

How LIKEtoKNOW.it turned a screenshot into a shopper's heaven

LIKEtoKNOW.it, a social shopping service that links influencers' Instagrams with ready-to-shop links.
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When users screenshot influencer-created pics on social media and across the mobile web, the app will send a push notification to their phone with all of the shopable links in one place — no matter what platform or site the screenshot comes from.
http://www.businessinsider.com/liketoknowit-app-launch-screenshot-instagram-online-shopping-2017-3?r=US&IR=T&IR=T

comScore adds YouTube mobile metrics

ComScore, the oft-cited data company that measures digital traffic and ad campaigns, can now measure mobile consumption on YouTube.

This is important because nearly 70% of all YouTube videos are watched on mobile devices. Some examples of measured metrics include monthly minutes per viewer, average minutes per video view and monthly videos watched per viewer, among others.

http://www.businessinsider.com/comscore-adds-youtube-mobile-metrics-2017-2?r=US&IR=T&IR=T 

Mobile ad blocking firm Shine is rebranding to 'Rainbow' and will stop selling ad blocking to carriers

On Friday, Shine announced it had stopped selling ad blocking solutions to mobile carriers and it was rebranding to "Rainbow."
Rainbow says it has "quietly" been working with the mobile advertising industry over the past few months to create a consumer mobile ad blocker that only blocks ads that don't meet industry standards (Such as the Interactive Advertising Bureau's "LEAN" principles). The previous version of Shine aimed to block all ads.
Consumers sign up for the Rainbow ad blocker by opting in through their carrier or internet service provider, via a web portal, SMS, or call center.

http://www.businessinsider.com/shine-rebrands-to-rainbow-stops-selling-ad-blocking-2017-2?r=US&IR=T&IR=T
https://getrainbow.com/

Here’s how much the biggest tech companies grew in terms of revenue last quarter

http://www.businessinsider.com/tech-companies-biggest-revenue-growth-chart-2017-2?r=UK&IR=T&IR=T

Privacy browser Cliqz has acquired the ad and tracking blocker Ghostery

German startup Cliqz, backed by Mozilla, acquired privacy tool Ghostery in an all-cash deal, the companies announced on Wednesday.
Cliqz is a German startup building a privacy browser, which protects its users from ad tracking.
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The deal will see the startup acquire the consumer assets of Ghostery, which has 10 million users, in a bid to grow Cliqz's user base outside of its home market.
http://nordic.businessinsider.com/privacy-browser-cliqz-has-acquired-the-ad-and-tracking-blocker-ghostery-2017-2

Here's how Apple's retail business spreads across the world

As this chart from Statista shows, Apple currently has close to 500 stores spread across 19 countries, covering most of the major global markets. According to Deloitte’s latest “Global Powers of Retailing” firm, that’s enough to make Apple a top-40 retailer in the world, and one of the 15 fastest-growing retailers beyond that.

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/apple-stores-how-many-around-world-chart-2017-2

The marijuana industry's first $1 billion 'unicorn' is a Canadian company you've probably never heard of

In a once-abandoned Hershey chocolate factory in the small town of Smiths Falls, Ontario, the largest legal marijuana producer in the world grows, trims, processes, packages, and ships weed across the Great White North.
Canopy Growth is a cannabis holding company that supplies the drug to nearly half of Canada’s current medical marijuana patient base.
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Canopy wants to become the Proctor & Gamble of pot. Several brands fall under its umbrella and cater to different user preferences. There’s Tweed, a medical marijuana producer with slick and youthful branding that could be mistaken for a designer jean company. The Quebec-based Vert Medical allows Canopy to tap into the French-speaking market, while Bedrocan Canada has a distinct clinical feel that is likely to gain favour among strictly medicinal users.
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/canopy-growth-1-billion-revenue-giant-marijuana-industry-2017-2

Ad blocker usage is up 30% — and a popular method publishers use to thwart it isn't working

Ad blocker usage surged 30% in 2016, according to a new report from PageFair, a company that helps publishers regain revenue lost to the software.
There were 615 million devices blocking ads worldwide by the end of 2016, 62% (308 million) of those mobile. Desktop ad blocker usage grew 17% year-on-year to 236 million.
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The largest geographical driver of mobile ad blocker use has been in the Asia-Pacific, where 94% of mobile ad blocking takes place.

http://www.businessinsider.com/pagefair-2017-ad-blocking-report-2017-1?r=US&IR=T&IR=T
https://pagefair.com/blog/2017/adblockreport

The 5 trends in retailing for 2017

Today’s shopper craves authenticity, newness, convenience and creativity
The latest annual Global Powers of Retailing report by Deloitte examines the art and science of customer engagement.

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/the-5-trends-in-retailing-for-2017-2017-1

Japan's vending machines tell you a lot about the country's culture

At slightly over 5 million nationwide, Japan has the highest density of vending machines worldwide. There is approximately 1 vending machine per every 23 people, according to the Japan Vending Machine Manufacturers Association. Annual sales total more than $60 billion.
And they are marked by an incredible variety. The machines sell any number of types of soft drinks, coffee, tea, cigarettes, candy, soup, hot food, and even sake and beer.
http://nordic.businessinsider.com/why-so-many-vending-machines-in-japan-2017-1/

Consulting firms, cloud companies, and publishers bought more marketing startups in 2016 than the major ad agencies

Of the 398 marketing startup acquisitions in 2016 only 22% were made by the six major advertising groups, who had to fight it out with consulting companies, IT firms, and publishers.
Global consulting firm R3 releases a yearly ranking of mergers and acquisitions in marketing. The total deal value rose to $14 billion, 150% more than in 2015.
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In a shift from the previous year, publishers emerged as new players in the marketing space as they looked to extend their revenue streams. The New York Times, the FT, Time Inc. and Vice all acquired branded content or influencer marketing companies in 2016.

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/consulting-tech-and-publishing-marketing-acquisitions-to-move-into-advertising-2017-1
http://www.rthree.com/en/insight/detail/29aJVyP.html
http://www.rthree.com/en/insight/detail/41dJVzK.html

People in the US and Canada spent over $53 billion on marijuana in 2016

People in North America spent $53.3 billion on legal, medical, and illicit marijuana in 2016.
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 The North American legal weed market posted $6.7 billion in revenue in 2016, up 30% from the year before. The illicit market generated 87% of total pot sales, down from 90% in 2015.
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Unlike other fast-growing markets, which include organic foods, home video, and mobile, "the cannabis industry doesn't need to create demand for a new product or innovation — it just needs to move demand for an already widely-popular product into legal channels."  
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The  popularity of alternative ingestion methods — such as weed-laced topicals, sprays, and edibles — also fueled growth in the legal market. Consumers who would never smoke a joint are finding relief in other products, which offer a wide array of tastes, strengths, and experiences.
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In Colorado, where cannabis has been fully legal since 2012, these alternatives grew from 30% of total legal sales in the first quarter of 2014 to 45% in the third quarter of 2016.
"It's one of the major reasons that people are going to leave the underground market to go to the aboveground market. It's about variety," Dayton told Business Insider. "You just can't get these products on the underground market."
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-canada-marijuana-spending-legal-illicit-2017-1?r=US&IR=T&IR=T

Netflix is really bad for DVD sales, according to new research

Having movies available on Netflix is really bad for DVD sales, according to new academic research.
In 2016, subscription streaming video from the likes of Netflix overtook disc sales for the first time, at $6.2 billion to $5.4 billion. Netflix pays billions to licence TV shows and movies, so the rise of subscription video isn’t inherently a bad thing for the movie industry.
But a new academic study, pointed to by TorrentFreak, suggests that having a movie on Netflix can depress DVD sales in a major way.
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/netflix-lowers-dvd-sales-research-2017-1

Indian shoppers turn to overseas e-commerce

Despite the growing success of domestic e-commerce platforms, a new PayPal and Ipsos study finds that Indian shoppers are also spending heavily through overseas e-commerce sites, Quartz reports.
In fact, Indian shoppers spent more than $8.7 billion on international e-commerce sites in 2016, a 6.7% increase compared with 2015, the report found.
That amount is still less than the $31 billion domestic e-commerce market, but it shows that Indian shoppers are regularly turning to overseas sites for certain shopping needs.

 http://www.businessinsider.com/indian-shoppers-turn-to-overseas-e-commerce-2017-1?r=US&IR=T&IR=T
https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/research-store?IR=T&utm_source=businessinsider&utm_medium=content_marketing&utm_term=content_marketing_store_text_link_indian-shoppers-turn-to-overseas-e-commerce-2017-1&utm_content=report_store_content_marketing_text_link&utm_campaign=content_marketing_store_link&vertical=ecommerce#!/New-E-Commerce-Strategies-Report-&-Slide-Deck/p/59687895

A giant wave of store closures is wreaking havoc on shopping malls

"Sears, Macy's and some other mall anchors closing stores is a particular area of concern today," Ryan McCullough, senior economist for the commercial real estate firm CoStar, told Business Insider.

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CoStar estimates that nearly a quarter of malls in the US, or roughly 310 of the nation's 1,300 shopping malls, meet that threshold of having fewer than 15,000 households within 3 miles, and are therefore at the highest risk of losing an anchor store.  

http://nordic.businessinsider.com/store-closures-wreak-havoc-on-shopping-malls-2017-1/

A YouTube star with 7.5 million subscribers explains how she makes money — and how the industry is changing

When 22-year-old Eva Gutowski first started making YouTube videos in college, she thought of it just as a way to help her broadcast journalism major.
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The first time she thought about her videos as a business was when she signed to Fullscreen, a network the helps promote and develop stars on places like YouTube, in exchange for a portion of ad revenue. The underlying ad revenue began to provide enough of a baseline income for her to think about it as a career. 
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In a nutshell: She has to be everywhere.
“YouTube channels are home,” Gutowski explained. "But other platforms [like Snapchat, Instagram, and so on] are excellent way to show off personality.” And what audiences want is a full 360-degree view of your life, she said.
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A big source of revenue for Gutowski, like other YouTube stars, is working with brands on sponsored posts or videos.  
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While Instagram used to be just a complement to YouTube, it has often become the main event for brands. 

http://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-star-mylifeaseva-explains-how-she-makes-money-2017-1?r=US&IR=T&IR=T 
https://www.instagram.com/mylifeaseva/?hl=sv 
https://fullscreenmedia.co/

Instagram hits 600 million users

http://www.businessinsider.com/instagram-hits-600-million-users-2016-12?r=US&IR=T&IR=T