Media and Technology Stats and Studies – April 30, 2013

UCLA’s Children’s Digital Media Center found that among children between the ages of 9 and 15, those who use social media often are more interested in becoming famous than other kids the same age. Earlier this year, Pew found Blacks and Hispanics to be the most avid users of Twitter and Instagram. Interestingly, the Girl Scouts found girls who are interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to anticipate that they will become famous at a lower rate (29%) than girls who did not report being interested in STEM (41%).

Pew released a study of civic engagement online. The report found people higher up on the socioeconomic ladder were more likely to “participate in civic life” online. Among Blacks, Whites and Hispanics, Hispanics overall were the least likely to be politically active both on and offline.

A Texas A&M University study found typed and voice-activated texting to be equally as distracting while driving.

Google reported that it has received more content removal requests from governments worldwide than ever before.

In a review of how well “covered entities” under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act have safeguarded patient data, the Department of Health and Human Services found most problems were caused by entities not being aware of the data and privacy rules in the Act.  Sixty-percent of problems were related to data security, 30% pertained to data privacy, and 10% related to data breach notifications.

Nielsen reports that affluent homes are more likely to subscribe to streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Plus, and Hulu. Homes making $100,000 or more were 85% more likely to subscribe to streaming services.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers found that while customers are reducing their talk time and using more data on their mobile plans, average revenue per postpaid customer with smartphones fell from $82.75 per month in 2011 to $77.79 in 2012.

Media and Technology Stats and Studies – April 15, 2013

Several civil rights groups urged the FCC to complete its diversity studies before departing Chairman Julius Genachowski leaves office. The Chairman delayed the release of long-awaited rule changes, pending the release of a separate study being conducted by the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (MMTC), which MMTC has said would evaluate the effect a proposed rule to relax the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule would have on female and minority broadcasters. The civil rights groups noted that the MMTC study is much narrower in scope than the diversity studies the FCC is required to conduct before changing any of its media ownership rules and that the MMTC study alone would not provide a sufficient basis for relaxing the rules. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies filed a letter with the FCC in December urging the agency to delay relaxing the media ownership rules before developing a robust empirical basis for doing so.

President Obama released his 2014 budget proposal containing, among other items, provisions for increased investments in education. If approved by Congress, the budget would increase the Department of Education’s discretionary spending budget by 4.6% to $71.2 billion. The budget contains a number of proposals aimed at addressing STEM achievement gaps, including a proposal to streamline existing STEM programs, funds for expanding access to pre-school to all four-year-olds, improving high schools, encouraging public-private partnerships between schools and employers, and rewarding states for making public higher education more affordable.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting lauded President Obama for including in his budget proposal full advance funding for CPB through 2016. CPB CEO Patricia Harrison said the $445 million appropriation proposal for CPB funding “reinforces the value of public media’s in-depth news reporting, our commitment to providing a safe place where children can learn, on-air, online, and in the community, and our commitment to lifelong learning through initiatives such as ‘American Graduate’ helping to keep America’s young people on the path to a high school diploma.”  An NTI/PBS study recently showed PBS Kids’ TV and online media outlets attract a higher proportion of African American, Hispanic, and low-income households compared to their proportion of the overall population. A 2010 study of 600 pre-school children showed children who viewed PBS’ Sesame Street increased their ability to articulate scientific concepts by 100%.

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam stated in a speech at the National Association of Broadcasters’ conference last week that 50% of Verizon’s wireless traffic comes from video. Mr. McAdam expects video to make up two-thirds of Verizon’s wireless traffic by 2017.

Video services firm Ooyala reported that consumers watch live video 2.5 times longer than they spend watching Video-on-Demand (VOD).

A neurological study conducted by WPP, Australian TV network 7, and market research firm Neuro-Insight found that dual-screen viewers returned to TV screens 9% more engaged after shifting their attention to their tablets. 

Market research firm Canalys reported that, among Google Play, Apple’s App Store, the Microsoft Windows Phone Store, and Research in Motion’s Blackberry World, Google Play showed the highest number of app downloads (51%) with Apple taking 74% of more than $2.2 billion in app revenues among the 4 companies.

The magazine industry has shown sharp declines in ad pages, but data collected by Adobe via its Data Publishing Suite, combined with research from the Pew Research Center, show a few bright spots in the digital edition magazine market which may help offset declines in print revenues. Overall, the number of pages devoted to print advertising in magazines declined 4.8% in the first quarter. However, spending on advertising on digital platforms in magazines grew by 22% ($1.3 billion) last year.

Media and Technology Stats and Studies – April 8, 2013

The Utah Legislature has appropriated $10 million to prepare Utah students for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers.  Hispanics are, by a substantial margin, the most populous minority group in Utah, comprising 13.2% of the state’s population (376,889 persons), compared to Asian and multiracial persons (2.2% each), American Indians (1.5%), and Blacks (1.3%). According to a 2011 ACT report, just 30% of Hispanics nationwide met benchmark high school mathematics requirements for taking the ACT exam, compared to 71% of Asian, 54% of White, 36% of Pacific Islander, 25% of American Indian, and 14% of African American students.

The New York Times reported on several new youth computing programs designed to close the gender gap in the high tech sector. According to the Times, 74% of girls in middle school express an interest in engineering, science, and math. However, once they arrive on college campuses, just .3% end up choosing a computer science major. One program, Girls Who Code, goes beyond teaching basic computer skills and trains girls in computer programming, public speaking, product development, and other higher-level, in-demand tech sector skills.

A Nielsen report found that the amount of time viewers spend watching TV correlates with their educational attainment and income. Those with a 4-year college degree watch an average of 1 hour and 14 minutes of primetime television, compared to 2 hours and 8 minutes per day for those with just a high school diploma. Income levels also correlate in similar ways with daytime TV viewership. However, primetime TV viewing did not differ substantially between those making $100,000 or more per year (1 hour and 52 minutes per day) and those making $30,000 or less (1 hour and 58 minutes per day). People of color, particularly Blacks and Hispanics, are disproportionately more likely to have lower levels of educational attainment and income compared to their White and Asian American counterparts. Many studies have shown minorities continue to be underrepresented in traditional media as compared to their share of the overall population. The Nielsen data suggest the under-representation of people of color in the media may also be disproportionate in relation to the amount of TV they watch, as compared to Caucasians.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has awarded $444,222 to five PBS stations to test PBS’s new ‘Ready to Learn‘ math- and literacy-based educational programming targeting low-income and at-risk children.

An American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology study found that the outcome of elections could be altered by manipulating search engine rankings without people being aware of it.

Children who watch more than 3 hours of TV, videos, or DVDs per day have a higher likelihood of developing conduct and emotional problems by age 7, according to a Millennium Cohort study of 11,000 children. However, children who played age-appropriate video games for the same amount of time did not display such behaviors.

An AT&T study found a higher prevalence of adults who admit to texting while driving (49%) compared to 43% of teens.

The FCC adopted the form and content of the survey it will use to determine the minimum rate carriers charge for providing fixed residential voice and broadband in urban areas. The survey data will be used to help the FCC determine the amount providers should receive in federal, Universal Service Fund and Intercarrier Compensation (USF/ICC) subsidies for providing broadband and voice service in remote and underserved areas.

The pirating of TV content cost cable and broadcast networks at least $1.5 billion in revenues in 2012, according to TorrentFreak. The top 5 most pirated shows include HBO’s Game of Thrones (4.3 million illegal downloads), followed by Showtime’s Dexter  (3.9 million), CBS’ Big Bang Theory (3.2 million) and How I Met Your Mother (3 million), and AMC’s Breaking Bad (2.58 million). Unauthorized downloads of these 5 shows alone accounted for an estimated $851.1 million in lost revenues.

Media and Technology Stats and Studies – March 26, 2013

CDC: More Americans Than Ever Use Phones While Driving

The Centers for Disease Control reported that talking on the phone and texting while driving is on the rise in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Phone use is a contributing factor to an estimated 1.3 million deaths resulting from road traffic crashes each year. More than two thirds (68.7%) of drivers in the U.S. aged 18-64 reported that they talked on the phone while driving at least once in the past 30 days. More than a third (31.2%) of U.S. respondents aged 18-64 reported reading or sending text or email messages while driving within the past 30 days. An April 2012 AT&T paper concluded that Hispanic teens (69%) are more likely than their Caucasian (58%) and African-American (61%) counterparts to report that their friends text while driving.

Pew Releases State of the News Media 2013

Pew released its annual State of the News Media report. Among the report’s findings, African-Americans continue to exceed other groups in their usage of social media platforms, even though just 70% of African-Americans report using the Internet. According to the report, 69% of African-Americans use Facebook, compared to 65% of non-Hispanic whites and 66% of users overall. For Twitter, 26% of African-Americans used the platform, compared to 14% of non-Hispanic whites and 16% of Twitter users overall. The report also found that African-American newspapers “continued to face economic constraints” and thus significantly cut back operations and staff. The New York Amsterdam News was the only African-American newspaper studied that increased its circulation (the newspaper increased its circulation by 11%). Further, the report concluded that while 7 in 10 African-Americans reported watching television news “yesterday,” none of several new channels targeting African-Americans are news-oriented.

Major Tech Companies Have Refused to Release Employment Diversity Data

CNN Money reported that major technology companies including Facebook, LinkedIn, Netflix, Twitter, Yelp, Zynga, Amazon, Groupon, Hulu, and LivingSocial have successfully blocked the release of employment diversity data. Citing potential competitive harms that might result, some companies successfully appealed to the Department of Labor to block the release of their employment data to the public. Intel was the only company among 20 other companies to release their employment data to CNN Money.

Other Reports:

Duke University released the results of a survey of U.S. marketers showing a 2.7% decline in ad spending on traditional media outlets since August of 2012. The study predicts declines in ad spending on traditional media within the next 12 months. At the same time, the study forecasts digital ad spending for business-to-consumer (B2C) products and services to increase by 14.6% and 10.4%, respectively, between March 2013 and February 2014. However, BIA analyst Mark Fratrick forecasts an uptick in local media advertising revenues by an average of 2.3% annually through 2017. A separate Microsoft advertising survey found that 68% of survey respondents multi-task across TVs, PCs, consoles, tablets, and mobile devices, and that advertisers should therefore place advertisements accordingly.

Motorola Mobility: Mobile Devices Have Overtaken TV for Bedroom Viewing of Video Content. According to the 9,500 consumers studied worldwide, just 36% watched video content in the bedroom on a television set. The remainder of respondents who watched video content in the bedroom did so using a mobile device.

WDS: Customer Loyalty Among Wireless Carriers is Low.

The National Science Foundation has awarded $500,000 to Appalachian State University to train teachers in best practices for fostering better student engagement in STEM.

SNL Kagan: Pay TV subscriptions have not kept pace with the economic recovery.

Arbitron: Most mobile gaming and social network activity occurs during the TV primetime hours of 8-10PM.

YouTube has recorded 1 billion monthly users for the first time in history.

Verizon awarded $100,000 to ten teams of middle and high school students across the U.S. to develop apps to address social issues in their communities.

Media and Technology Stats and Studies – March 18, 2013

CRA: Computing Degree Enrollments Soar, Foreign Students Dominate Among Advanced Computing Degrees Awarded in U.S., Hispanics Show Sharp Declines Among Computer Engineering Grads

The Computer Research Association has released a report showing the number of new undergraduate majors pursuing degrees in computer science at doctorate-granting institutions has grown by more than 29% over last year. The report evaluated three degrees: computer science (CS), computer engineering (CE) and information-related, computing disciplines (I). While Black or African-Americans comprised just 4.5% of students awarded CS Bachelor’s degrees, this number rose from 3.6% the year before. Among students awarded I Bachelor’s degrees, 8.4% were African-American, compared to 6.9% the year prior. African-Americans did, however, see a slight decline in representation among students awarded CE Bachelor’s degrees, as the proportion dropped from 5.9% to 5.2%.

For Hispanics, the most recent CRA report found an increase in representation among CS Bachelor’s degrees awarded, but declines in Hispanic representation among those graduating with CE and I undergraduate degrees. Hispanics comprised 6.3% of those awarded CS Bachelor’s degrees between 2011 and 2012, compared to 5.4% the year before. However, the proportion of Hispanics awarded I Bachelor’s degrees was down slightly from 8.6% to 8.4% year-to-year.  The report found a significant decline in the number of Hispanic students obtaining CE undergraduate degrees: The percentage of CE Bachelor’s degrees awarded to Hispanics was 4.9% in 2012, compared to 8.1% the previous year.

The report also evaluated Master’s and Ph.D. degrees awarded. “Nonresident Aliens” comprised 53.8% of Master’s degrees and 50.1% of doctorates awarded across all three disciplines combined, dwarfing the proportion of such degrees awarded Black or African-Americans and Hispanics. Black or African-Americans comprised just 2.7% of Master’s and 2% of Ph.D.’s awarded across the three disciplines.  Hispanics were represented among 2.5% of CS, CE and I Master’s degree graduates and 1.4% of such Ph.D.’s. Interestingly, Nonresident Aliens comprised just 6.9% of students awarded Bachelor’s degrees across all three disciplines, compared to 5.3% of degrees awarded to students who identified as Black or African American and 6.5% of Hispanics.

NCES Report: Most Algebra I and Geometry Courses Are Not Rigorous

A National Center for Education Statistics report showed 73% of students who took an “honors” Algebra I course were actually taught material ranked as intermediate, with less than 20% receiving instruction ranked as “rigorous.” Among students taking “honors” Geometry, just 33% actually received a rigorous curriculum. A larger percentage of Hispanic (19%) and Asian/Pacific Islander students (24%) took a beginner level Algebra course, compared to 12 percent of White students. The report also concluded that a larger percentage of White students (37%) enrolled in “honors” Geometry courses actually received rigorous instruction, compared to 12% of such Black and 17% of such Hispanic students.

Commentary

Only 3 Women Are Directing Blockbuster Movies in 2013, and That’s a Problem

Other Reports:

PricewaterhouseCoopers reported that 67% of healthcare industry CIOs report they are facing IT staffing shortages, up from 59% in 2010.

Intel awarded $630,000 to 10 high school student scientists. The winners of the Intel Science Talent Search bested 1,700 entrants.

Pew: One in Four Teenagers Accesses the Internet Primarily Via a Mobile Device

WSJ: The Surprising Numbers Behind Apps. Among the report’s findings, apps are expected to yield $25 billion in revenue in 2012 from users who spend an average of 2 hours per day using them, most of the time (43%) playing games. Also, 94% of app developers are men making less than $15,000 per year developing apps.

Rootmetrics: AT&T Beats Verizon on Speed; Verizon Beats AT&T in LTE Coverage. The study showed average speeds of 18.6 Mbps down and 9 Mbps on the uplink for AT&T, compared to 14.3 Mbps down and 8.5 Mbps up for Verizon. However, LTE testers connected to a Verizon LTE signal 93.2% of the time, compared to 81.7% for AT&T.

AT&T researchers have reportedly sent a 100Gbit/second signal across 12,000 km on a 100GHz-spaced grid. This is an improvement over its previous record sending a 100Gbit/second signal 3,000 km using a 50GHz grid.

Study: TV Tops Movies and Music Among Millennials. A Magid Generational Strategies study showed Millennials favor TV programming over movies and music and many (45%) are willing to watch advertising if doing so will allow them to access full-length TV content without having to pay a subscription fee.

University of Cambridge and Microsoft: Facebook “Likes” Predict Intelligence, Age, Voting History and Sexuality. Among other examples, the study of 58,000 Facebook users showed a positive correlation between likes for “thunderstorms” and high intelligence, likes for “being confused after waking up from naps” and being a straight male, and likes for the band Slayer and being a smoker.

Nielsen: “Zero TV” Households Hit 5 Million in U.S. The number of viewers who have chosen to forgo “traditional TV” offered via cable and satellite in favor of relying exclusively on computers, smartphones and tablets for content is up by 2 million since 2007.

SUNY reported it will invest $300,000 to expose more of its undergraduates to resume-building STEM research opportunities.

Global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas reported 97% of businesses will make no change to their benefit allowing employees to telecommute. A Stanford University study also found a 13% increase in productivity among call center workers randomly assigned to telecommute.

 

Media and Technology Stats and Studies – March 11, 2013

Gross Disparities Persist in the Use of Mobile Devices in Classrooms

Pew Research reports a full 73% of teachers use cellphones for classroom activities.  However, the study shows significant disparities between low-income and mid- to upper-income students.  For example, while 56 percent of the highest income students reported using tablets, just 37 percent of low-income students reported doing so. Additionally, more than half (52%) of teachers of higher income students reported their students use cell phones to look up information in class, compared to just 35 percent of low-income students. The study did not assess the race and ethnicity of survey respondents, although Pew’s previous research has reported higher smartphone ownership among blacks and Hispanics. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has reported African-American and Hispanic consumers engage more deeply with their mobile devices than their white counterparts downloading apps, streaming videos, and playing and downloading music, suggesting a potential for wider implementation of classroom strategies incorporating mobile devices. Interestingly, a smaller study of fourth graders in Encinitas, CA shows students overwhelmingly maintain iPad apps make math easier to understand. On Thursday, PBS announced a new, math-based series called It All Adds Up targeting low-income children between the ages of 2 and 8. The effort includes the Parents Play and Learn app, which is free to download on both iOS and Android devices.

Comcast Releases NBC Merger Compliance Report

Comcast filed its two-year compliance report with the FCC required as a condition of its merger with NBC-Universal.  The company acquired a 51 percent share of NBC-Universal in 2010 and has expressed its intent to acquire the remaining 49 percent of the company’s total shares still owned by GE.   Comcast reported compliance with the merger conditions, citing its creation of two, independently-owned minority channels (ASPIRE and BabyFirst Americas), the addition of 1,000 more kids’ video-on-demand (VOD) channels than the condition required, and more local news.

 

Other reports:

The Pentagon released a report assessing U.S. defense systems and the potential impact of a cyberattack.  The report concludes the cyber threat to military systems is real and akin to the threat of a nuclear attack with enemies having the potential to “reverse engineer” critical IT systems, leaving the U.S. unprepared to defend itself. The report urged, “The United States cannot be confident that our critical Information Technology (IT) systems will work under attack from a sophisticated and well-resourced opponent utilizing cyber capabilities … DoD needs to take the lead and build an effective response to measurably increase confidence in the IT systems … We have recommended an approach to do so, and we need to start now!”

Google released statistics on the number of FBI subpoenas it receives. In 2011, the requests were for data from between 1,000 and 1,999 user accounts.

SNL Kagan reports that a number of “spectrum speculators“–i.e. those looking to capitalize from the FCC’s incentive auctions–have invested $345 million in both full and low-power TV stations since 2011.

Apple‘s iPad mini seems to be cannibalizing the full-size iPad by a 22 million unit sales margin, according to DisplaySearch.

Time Warner Cable won a $5 million grant from the Connect NY Broadband Grant program to connect 4,000 households throughout the State of New York.

Comscore: Android is Still the Top Smartphone OS but iOS is Gaining Ground.

A Pew Research Center study showed reactions to political events on Twitter do not track the mainstream as half of Twitter users surveyed reported they were under the age of 30. The report also concluded that Twitter users tend to lean Democratic.

Bloomberg: Google shares are trading at 25 times profit, compared to less than 10 times profit for Apple.

History‘s The Bible continues the explosive growth of original programming on cable with 13.1 million viewers.

TIA: U.S. mobile consumers spent a record $95 billion on data in 2012, topping their spending on voice for the first time.

Facebook: Each post is seen by an average of one-third of each poster’s Facebook friends.

IHS: Over one third (30.7 percent) of consumers in the market for a new TV want it to be capable of connecting to the Internet. Nearly 19 percent of consumers (18.8 percent) also want their new TVs to have 3D capability.

The EU fined Microsoft $732 million for failing to adhere to an antitrust settlement in which Microsoft was required to give new computer purchasers in Europe the ability to opt-out of using Internet Explorer in favor of other browsers.

A Carnegie Mellon study concluded the shutdown of Megaupload in 2012 led to an increase of between 2.5 and 3.8 percent in the sales of digital movies at two top Hollywood studios.

According to NPD Group, telephone companies such as AT&T and Verizon are beginning to gain ground against cable providers in the VOD market. Cable companies’ market share has declined by 4% while the market share of telecom companies has increased by the same amount. Comcast reported its customers watched 2.4 billion hours of VOD in 2012.

A Press+ study shows subscription prices for online access to newspapers and magazines have been increasing, while free online access to content has decreased, with no reduction in ad revenues.

According to Kantar Media, March Madness generated just over $1 billion in advertising revenue for CBS and Turner Sports in 2012. CBS and Turner told Broadcasting & Cable advertising inventory for the 2013 NCAA Playoffs is nearly sold out, with between 97 and 98 percent of ad inventory sold.

A study of New York City hospitals published in the American Journal of Medical Quality shows patient death rates lowering in proportion to an increase in the number of Facebook “likes” hospitals receive.

Business app evaluator Appthority reported that free Apple apps leak more user data to advertisers and analytics networks than free apps purchased in Google Play. Sixty-percent of iOS apps shared such data, compared to 50% of the Android apps.

Over the next seven months, the sequester will force the FCC to make $17 million in cuts to its $342 million budget.

Time Warner Cable earned $150 million providing cellular backhaul.

A survey of 2,500 game developers showed the majority of game developers–53 percent–were independent game developers rather than being affiliated with major gaming studios. Further, just 38 percent of the game developers surveyed reported their last gaming project was a mobile game, compared to 58 percent reporting their next gaming project would be developed for mobile devices.

Nielsen: 57 Percent of Americans See at Least One Mobile Ad Each Day

Arbitron reported that radio listeners in the New York City and Washington, D.C. metro areas have the longest commutes to work and spend the most time each week listening to the radio.

Cablevision‘s $100 million loss from Hurricane Sandy was offset by a $200 million settlement payment it received from Dish Network.

Forrester Research forecasts the sequester will reduce the anticipated increase in total IT spending by the U.S. government by one percent over total spending for last year, to 6.5 percent, or $808 billion.  in January, Forrester predicted a 7.5 percent ($820 billion) increase in spending compared to U.S. government spending on IT in 2012.

IBM reported revenue from its business analytics unit will be $4 billion higher than expected.  The higher revenue reflects growth in the “big data” segment.

Media and Technology Stats and Studies – March 1, 2013

Women’s Media Center Report: Representation of Women in Media Has Stagnated

In a report entitled ”The Status of Women in the U.S. Media, 2013“, the Women’s Media Center reported that the percentage of women working in newspaper newsrooms was 36.9 in 2012–exactly the same proportion reported in 1999.  The report also found that if current hiring trends continue at their current pace, women will not reach parity with men in leadership roles until 2085.  Male bylines outnumber those of their female counterparts by a 3 to 1 margin.

Columbia University: Online Courses May Harm Minority Students

Columbia released a large-scale report based on a survey of 40,000 community and technical college students suggesting students of color actually fare worse when they take courses online in lieu of a traditional classroom setting. Among the report’s findings, taking a course online correlated with a 0.15-0.4 grade reduction based on a 4.0 scale. However, the study did not control for the quality of on-line programs and contradicts another large-scale study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education showing a favorable impact of on-line learning on student outcomes.

Georgetown University: Associates STEM Degree-holders Earn More than Some Bachelor’s Degree Holders

Community college graduates with STEM degrees out earn non-STEM bachelor’s degree holders, according to the Georgetown University report. However, a 2009 Education Trust Baseline Report showed a community college completion gap of 9 percentage points between minority students (24%) and all students (33%).

Equity and Excellence Commission Submits Report to Department of Education

The report advises the Secretary of Education on strategies for reducing barriers to meaningful educational opportunities. The report outlines a five-part framework focusing on equitable school finance; effective teachers, principals and curricula; early childhood education; mitigating poverty’s effects, and; accountability and governance.

Robin Roberts’ Return to ABC’s Good Morning America Yielded 6.1 Million Viewers

The anchor, who recently underwent a bone marrow transplant, returned to GMA on February 20. Nielsen reported Ms. Roberts’ return to the network resulted in GMA‘s largest audience since November 7, the day after the Presidential election.

Commentary:

The Success of Bounce TV Reflects Changing U.S. Demographics

Other Reports:

The Federal Communications Commission released a white paper reviewing how the United States compares to other nations as it frees spectrum to accomodate what Cisco has estimated to be an expected eighteen-fold increase in spectrum demand between 2011 and 2016. Much of the report focuses on licensed spectrum frequency bands below 2.7 GHz as they comprise the predominant frequencies used to provide mobile broadband services around the world. The U.S. ranks first among the nations it studied in current and pipeline (including pipeline unlicensed) spectrum, with 958 MHz. Australia ranks second with 708 MHz of current and pipeline spectrum. Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and the U.K. were also studied.

The Wireless Broadband Alliance reported that operators attribute 75 percent of their mobile traffic to users accessing personal routers, indicating a preference for using Wi-Fi at home.

Online video viewing was down slightly in December, 2012. Viewers in the UK watch the most TV shows on their tablets. Sixty-six percent of U.S. consumers stream any kind of video two to three times per week.

GSMA: The total number of mobile connections will soar to 7.4 billion this year, exceeding the world population by 300 million.

China announced plans to extend 4M broadband coverage to 70% of the country’s internet users.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) reported the U.S. stands in 14th place worldwide in the number of people with high speed broadband connections.

GSMA: Mobile health could save developed countries $400 billion in 2017 by improving care for sudden health incidents, remote patient monitoring, mobile access to electronic health records, and implementing SMS messaging for appointment and medication reminders.

IFPI: Spurred by Digital Downloading,  Global Recorded Music Revenues Grew for the First Time Since 1999

The University of Texas at Austin has released a data tool enabling policymakers to track emerging conflicts in Africa.

T-Mobile has continued to lose contract customers, but the losses have been offset by an increase in prepaid customers.

A petition on the White House website asking the U.S. government to permit mobile phones to be “unlocked” (i.e. registered to a different carrier than the one to which the phone was configured at the time of purchase) reached the threshold of 100,000 signatures required to receive consideration.

Sprint saved $1 billion via its phone refurbishment program.

The four mainstream television networks are recording a historic decline in ratings, down 23 percent compared to the same week last year.

Nielsen: Many advertisers fail to target women in shows, such as Walking Dead, that deliver a high number of female viewers but contain themes not traditionally considered appealing to women.

The USA Network had the highest ratings among cable networks in February, with AMC’s Walking Dead episodes occupying the top 3 shows for the month.

IAB: Even though shoppers use their smartphones while shopping, 38% actually end up purchasing their items in-store.

IAB: Microtargeting accounted for $130 million in political ad spending in 2012.

Education professionals report lack of funding as the main impediment to widespread implementation of educational technology in the classroom.

A JD Power survey found nearly one-third (29%) of customers affected by Hurricane Sandy learned about power outages by listening to the radio. Thirty-seven percent learned of power outages by calling their phone company.  Seventeen percent learned by visiting their power company’s website.

Sixty-eight percent of marketers reported they will increase spending on big data initiatives. Forty-nine percent of respondents cited website analytics data as the best source of consumer information.

Sinclair Broadcasting will acquire five Cox TV stations.

RAB: Radio’s Online Revenues Grew By 22% in 2012

Nielsen: With 40.3 million viewers, the Oscars returned its best audience in 3 years.

Consumer satisfaction with online travel companies has dropped by 2.6 percent–to 76 percent–putting the industry behind other e-commerce retailers. Amazon still leads among all e-commerce retailers irrespective of industry.

Report: STEM jobs are up 15% in Florida

A team of Stanford University researchers has developed a lithium battery that extends battery life by a factor of ten.

Media and Technology Stats and Studies – February 8, 2013

FCC Proposes Nationwide, Super WiFi Networks

The Washington Post reported the FCC has proposed the creation of super WiFi networks across the nation using broadcast spectrum. The announcement sparked intense lobbying by telecommunications companies arguing auctioning the airwaves proposed for super WiFi would raise billions for the U.S. Treasury and the extent of interference the networks would cause ought to be thoroughly investigated. Technology companies like Google and Microsoft have argued such Super WiFi networks would spur innovation and reduce the cost of wireless for the poor.  In remarks presented at the FCC on Thursday, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Media and Technology Institute VP and Director John Horrigan noted cost is the most cited reason (36%) among those who have not adopted broadband. However, wireless broadband is not panacea for closing the broadband adoption gap, Dr. Horrigan said.

Cisco: Mobile Use Will Surge Over the Next Five Years

Cisco anticipates mobile internet use will surge by 66 percent per year over the next 5 years. If history is any guide, the rate will be even higher for people of color.  The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has reported 50 percent of black users use mobile devices to access the Internet, compared to 30 percent of whites.

Girls Fare Worse in Science in Western Nations than Eastern Ones

In a science test given in 65 countries by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), girls outperformed boys in more countries.  In the United States, however, boys outscored girls by a rate of 2.7 percent.

FCC Releases Annual Performance Report           

The FCC released its annual performance report detailing its progress in fulfilling its strategic goals and performance commitments. The Commission’s accomplishments having the most direct impact on underrepresented Americans include reforms to the Universal Service Fund, including the launch of the Connect America Fund and Mobility Fund; overhauling Lifeline Linkup; implementation of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010, and; enhancing the ability of Tribal Nations to own broadcast facilities.

The Atlantic: Less Dense Mapping Data for Less Cosmopolitan Areas May Exacerbate Real-Word Inequality

The Atlantic Monthly reported on the effect lack of mapping data has on the knowledge base used for addressing real-world inequality.  For example, most Tweets during hurricane Sandy came from areas in New York least affected by the storm. The article also suggests online searches for the same information, such as “restaurant”, but searched for in different languages, lead to different results, thus “making people experience fundamentally different cities.”

Other Reports:

Nielsen reported Super Bowl XLVII broke ratings records in metered markets with a 52.9 rating/75 share overall, with the highest rating/share in Baltimore (59.6/83). Still, the game’s cumulative audience of 108.4 million viewers did not surpass last year’s record Super Bowl audience of 111.3 million. And broadcast industry consulting form SNL Kagan estimated CBS may have lost more money spending on production costs and license fees than the $240 million it generated in ad revenue.  Interestingly, San Francisco did not rate among the top ten metered markets.  Twitter recorded 24.1 million Super Bowl game tweets.

Dell, Inc. will go private in a $24 billion deal.  Microsoft will loan the company $2 billion.

U.S.-based Liberty Global will acquire British cable company Virgin Media for $16 billion. The deal comes amid declining advertising revenues throughout Europe and Americans playing an increasing role in media industries there.

Sixty-one percent of Facebook users have taken a break from the site, according to the Pew Research Center.  Taking a break from Facebook appears more likely to maintain friendships than unfriending  someone, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder study, which showed 40% of people who have been unfriended on Facebook will avoid the person who unfriended them in real life.

Disney’s lagging movie and TV divisions caused its profits to slide 6% in 4Q12. Increased programming costs at ESPN for football and basketball, as well as a 43% drop in operating income of its Disney Studios unit are among several factors blamed for the decline.  Disney’s theme park returns were strong, though, with operating income up 4% to $577 million.

Reuters: AOL’s revenue rose for the first time in 8 years.

Kapersky Lab reported a child watching videos on YouTube is an average of just 3 clicks away from disturbing, adult content.

Ad agencies predict digital ad spending may eclipse traditional ad spending in as few as 3 years.

Millenial Media reported 64 percent of gaming ad impressions came from Android devices

eMarketer: 92.5 million people used digital coupons in 2012.

Foote Partners reported tech jobs accounted for up to 14% of January hiring.

Media and Technology Stats and Studies – February 1, 2013

High School Students Losing Interest in STEM

A STEMconnector/My College Options report revealed dwindling interest in STEM fields among high school students. The economy is expected to add some 15 million new STEM-related jobs through 2018. Still, high school students appear to be losing interest in STEM and African American and Latino students continue to lag behind their White and Asian counterparts in STEM achievement.  Separately, the National Association of Colleges and Employers reported that 6 of the 10 highest-paid majors were in engineering. The Afterschool Alliance also released the results of a 10-month study of the merits of afterschool programs in improving STEM outcomes.  The reports were released amid an intense political debate between the White House and Capitol Hill about reforming immigration laws. One goal of the Obama administration to address the skills gap is to remove impediments to highly skilled workers from abroad remaining in the United States.

Digital Divide Sends Students to McDonald’s for Wi-Fi    

The Wall Street Journal reported on the large number of low-income students forced to rely on Wi-Fi at fast foods restaurants like McDonald’s to complete homework assignments.  The Wall Street Journal article reports that, according to Pew Research, 96% of households with teenagers with incomes of $75,000 or more had broadband.  By contrast, Just 66% of such households making less than $30,000 had high speed internet. Further, in late 2010, just 49.9% of black and 45.2% of Hispanics overall used broadband at home. After hours, when schools, libraries and other community anchor institutions offering high speed internet access have closed, students without broadband at home are forced to rely on Wi-Fi hotspots, many of which are located in popular fast food restaurants. In 2010, Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity reported much higher rates of fast food advertisements targeting African Americans and Latinos.  The Centers for Disease Control reported in 2011 that obesity rates for Blacks is 51% higher than that of whites.

Georgia Tech Massive Open Online Class (MOOC) Data Reveals 4.8% Course Completion Rate

Georgia Tech reported a 4.8% course completion rate of all 53,205 enrolled users for its Computational Investing, Part I course offered via Coursera. Among the enrollees who completed the entire course, just 1.4% were African American, compared to 69.8% of white enrollees who completed the free online course and 18.8% of Asians.  The report did not include Hispanic-specific data.

Other Reports:

AT&T will purchase $1.9 billion worth of spectrum from Verizon.

NTIA released a report on spectrum in the 5 GHz band finding more evaluation will be needed to assess and mitigate harmful interference.

The Amazon Kindle is the most widely used Android tablet in the U.S. accounting for 59% of all Android tablets.

KPMG reported that 60% of Americans watch TV and surf the Internet at the same time.

The number of hourlong television shows shot in New York City is up by 37%, while the proportion of those shot in Los Angeles fell.

Nielsen:  NFL fans prefer to watch home team games on local broadcast TV media outlets instead of cable networks.

Facebook reported 40% revenue growth but a 79% fall in profits in 4Q12.

Facebook advertising partner Nanigans reported Facebook’s in-line, newsfeed ads outperform the standard ads appearing in the right sidebar of the social networking site by 14%.

WSJ/Vistage study claims just 3% of small business owners see value in Twitter.

Yahoo! reported 4% growth over 4Q11 with $1.22 billion in revenue in 4Q12.

Living Social, the direct deal site, recorded a net loss of $650 million in 2012.

App Annie: Google Play is growing 10X faster than Apple iOS.

IAB: 63 Percent of Mobile Video is Watched in the Home

How Can Community Colleges Change the Way we Think About Talent?

by Joseph Miller, Esq

Believe it or not, some high school graduates not bound for four-year colleges still want to pursue higher education.  But our system of higher education has other plans in mind for these students.  In the United States, if you don’t attend a four-year college immediately after high school, you essentially become red meat for employers seeking low-wage workers (if you’re fortunate enough to find a job at all) or for-profit colleges whose duty is to the bottom line, whether or not they meet the unique needs of each student.   In too many cases, community colleges have become either a choice of last resort or a choice that has lost so much credibility that many students no longer consider it an option.  Why attend community college for two years, if you can “get the training you need for a job with a future in as little a nine months,” as Everest College heralds on its website?

Raising the standards of community colleges would raise standards across-the-board by forcing for-profits to compete by providing student-centered learning, providing four-year colleges with a more diverse pool of quality applicants seeking additional education beyond the Associates degree, and raising the standards of the American workforce.  In a nation in which people of color are expected to make up more than 50% of the population by 2050, it is critically important to reform higher education in a way that teaches students of varying learning styles the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills they will need to compete in a global economy.

This will require us to shift the way we think about the potential of workers beyond the age of seventeen. By some accounts, age eighty is the new sixty-five for retirement.  Paradoxically, American workers internalize the message that their abilities are written in stone and what they have accomplished from age 0 to 17 will irreversibly determine the next 63 years of their working lives.  This myth provides justification to plutocrats, but is holding the rest of the country back.  It also flies in the face of a growing body of research suggesting that IQs are not fixed at birth, but can be improved with education.

On December 16, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies convened a roundtable discussion among education policy stakeholders for a results-driven dialogue to improve community colleges’ ability to educate the next generation of American innovators.  In the keynote, Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Mignon Clyburn urged participants to empathize with individuals who have the potential to excel but not the opportunities. Thomas Kalil, Deputy Director for Policy in the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House, stressed President Obama’s goal to move America from the middle to the top of the pack of the world’s most innovative countries.   To do this, the White House has partnered with Change the Equation, the National Academy Foundation, and Skills for America’s Future to improve high schools and community colleges and strengthen ties between community colleges and employers.  The White House has also produced an inventory of STEM programs nationwide through the post-doctoral level.  According to Kalil, over $1 billion of federal investments in STEM are allocated to broaden participation by underrepresented groups.  Kalil acknowledged the critical importance of improving STEM education in early grades, but also said that retaining STEM students by reducing class sizes is important to keep students interested and engaged in STEM. A book entitled “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” summarizes other efforts to improve American competitiveness.

The nation’s challenge to improve STEM education is multifaceted and will not be overcome without significant effort from a variety of stakeholders.  Living conditions play a major role in academic achievement. Thus, any approach to reducing achievement gaps must address the circumstances of poverty and the circumstances of working while attending school.  Several roundtable participants raised other important issues that must not be overlooked.  Ajenai Clemmons, Policy Director of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators and a roundtable participant, urged policy makers to include local elected officials in the discussion. Quentin Lawson, Executive Director of the National Alliance of Black School Educators, another roundtable participant, expressed the need to develop better ways to develop STEM instructors, especially STEM instructors from underrepresented backgrounds.  Linda Rosen of Change the Equation raised the issue that many elementary school teachers think of themselves as generalists, rather than science and mathematics teachers.  John Horrigan, Vice President of Policy Research at TechNet, said that data needs to be made available to the research community in order to understand where the “outliers” are that have been successful and develop initiatives to apply what works.

These issues only skim the surface of the many problems that need to be addressed before we accomplish true STEM reform.  It is only through a persistent and interdisciplinary effort that it will be achieved.  Accordingly, the Joint Center announced the formation of a task force to make specific recommendations to improve STEM education.  This effort must be results-oriented rather than simply another Washington discussion in which people drink coffee, eat cookies and go home.  The future of American innovation depends on creating a culture of lifelong learning that makes fewer reductionist assumptions about students’ intrinsic abilities.

Joseph Miller, Esq. is Deputy Director and Senior Policy Director of the Media and Technology Institute of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, DC.  More information on Joseph Miller and his work can be found at the Joint Center website.