TV Viewers in Brazil Look to Second Screens

TV Viewers in Brazil Look to Second Screens

 

Dec 31, 2015

 

Smartphones are a necessary companion for many viewers

A majority of people in Brazil who watch TV are also using a second—probably digital—screen to do more while they view, according to research. Simultaneous usage is also shifting to mobile.

According to September 2015 polling by Google Brasil, more than three-quarters of TV viewers in Brazil ages 14 to 55 conduct other activities while they watch TV. The most common was text messaging, which 61% of TV viewers do while watching.

More than half of TV viewers also reported conducting internet searches and using social networks while in front of the tube.

Most simultaneous activity was digital; just 18% reported conducting offline activities at the same time as watching TV.

Earlier research, conducted by Conecta in July, found that 88% of internet users used the internet while watching TV. For that group, social networking was the most common activity. Conecta reported that smartphones were the most common device used for multiscreening in Brazil, followed by desktop and laptop PCs.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau Brasil (IAB Brasil) and comScore surveyed internet users in Brasil from 2012 through 2014 about simultaneous media usage. That research found a decrease over time in how often internet users turned to PCs while watching TV, but an even stronger increase in their frequency of using smartphones while watching television.

Half of respondents in 2014 said they conducted online activities unrelated to what they were watching on smartphones; a similar number said the same of PCs. The No. 2 smartphone activity was sending email or instant messaging.

 

---

©2015 eMarketer Inc. All rights reserved. www.emarketer.com

 

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/253604

6 Invaluable Lessons My Clients Taught Me in 2015

It's hard to believe that 2015 is almost over. I had so many incredible opportunities to help companies large and small build more "bankable" leaders and therefore more bankable businesses. As is always the case, my clients taught me some powerful lessons that haven't just informed how I work: Some have actually shaped how I live.

Related: 5 Points of Wisdom the Wright Brothers Can Offer About Leading Big Change

When I codified last year's learnings, I got such a positive response that I thought I'd make this an annual thing. So, read on!

1. Put your money where your mouth is.

Of late, my consulting practice has focused on larger, longer-term projects. The reason is simple: I want to help my clients make a tangible impact on their business. If a company needs to grow its leadership capability, for example,coaching one manager may be helpful, but to see dramatic returns, the company needs to invest in leaders across the board.

This is true for any strategic investment. In the early 2000s, Blockbuster committed only partially to funding Blockbuster Online despite the belief that this vertical would help the company remain viable. Had Blockbuster gone "all in," however, it might have averted bankruptcy.

Along these lines, something I hear from potential clients is, "It's a bad time to invest in our leaders, because [our business is struggling, we're really busy, etc.]."

But much like having children or going on vacation, there's never "a good time." I'm not suggesting blindly spending money just because something is important (as Mark Zuckerberg learned when he invested $100 million in the Newark Public Schools). But, if a solution to a big problem has a powerful ROI, I've seen my smartest clients reap the rewards by putting their money where mouths are.

2. Safety matters, now more than ever.

You've probably heard of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. The hierarchy argues that we must have our basic human needs (like sustenance and safety) met before even thinking about needs like belonging, achievement or meaning. This year's attacks in Paris, the United States, Lebanon, Kenya and elsewhere have fueled our fear to seemingly unprecedented levels. And, if we don't feel safe, we find it hard to focus on much else.

For leaders, the term "safety" as applied to the workplace carries an even broader definition. One manager I know said it perfectly: "My responsibility doesn't end with physical safety -- I also have to make sure my team feels psychologically safe." And that means reducing anxiety through clear expectations, job security and a trusting environment. 

3. Humble leaders beat arrogant leaders every time.

In recent years, research has shown that, individually and collectively, we are becoming more narcissistic -- and I'm not just talking about millennials. Though only 6 percent of the population is diagnosable, powerful societal influences are tempting the rest of us to join the cult of self. For instance, one study randomly assigned participants to one of two groups: One group's members spent time on their social media pages, and the other group simply surfed the Internet. The social media group showed immediate increases in narcissism!

Not surprisingly, narcissism hurts organizational performance. Self-aggrandizing CEOs, for example, tend to make riskier investments, and their organizations tend to exhibit an extreme and volatile performance. Our society's trend towards narcissism presents a challenge for leaders to fight the cult of self at all costs.

My most successful clients understand their limitations, listen to others and don't have to be the smartest person in the room. Balancing humility and confidence is essential -- not just to succeed at work, but to sustain our relationships with our families and friends.

Related: The Wisdom of Recognizing When to Heed Good Advice

4. Self-awareness isn't our default state, but choosing to get there is worth the effort.

Self-awareness means understanding yourself and how others see you. As I've argued before, self-awareness is also the meta-skill of the 21st century: Among other benefits, self-aware people are happier with their careers and relationships, are better students, perform better at work and run more profitable companies.

Unfortunately, self-awareness rarely comes naturally. We are generally motivated to see ourselves in a positive light, even if that view is inconsistent with reality. And even when we want to know the truth, we often can't see it. For example, one recent study showed that almost 60 percent of people surveyed said they wanted to change jobs, but of that number, almost half didn't know what their next chapter should be!

Currently, I'm studying people who have made dramatic improvements in their self-awareness -- our "special unicorns" as our team affectionately calls them. They describe self-awareness as more of a state than a trait -- something we can prioritize and hone throughout our lives.

Carl Sagan once observed, "It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." My most esteemed clients regularly make the brave choice to grasp the universe, and themselves, as they really are.

5. Other people's opinions about us are more important than we realize.

I was recently talking to a friend who wanted to change the direction of his business but didn't know where to take it. The advice I gave him wasn't what he expected. "Trying to find the answer within yourself probably won't help much," I observed. "In fact, introspection has a surprisingly limited value in building self-knowledge."

Instead, I suggested he ask the people who knew him best what they thought he could do to play his passions. Then he should compare their feedback to his self-observations and see if he gained any new insight.

When it comes to our skills, passions and patterns, we can sometimes be the last to know. But are our self-views totally worthless? Of course not. True self-awareness is a complex interweaving of both our views and others' views of us. The problem is that most people prefer to ponder their own perspective.

My clients who regularly seek feedback (and really listen to it) have far more control over their destiny than those who don't. After hearing the results of her 360 leadership degree assessment, one client recently observed, "I hate doing stuff like this -- but it's the bad news that's good to hear." Truer words were never spoken, and it's not a coincidence that she is a highly successful leader.

6. Remember what matters the most.

For many of us, alongside the joy of engagements, marriages and the birth of children and grandchildren, 2015 has brought death, divorce and illness. In spite of those life events, quite often we still prioritize work -- oftentimes far too much, given the circumstances.

Earlier this year, a family member was nearing the end of a heartbreaking battle with cancer. One day at the hospital, I took a client call. I dialed in, but within the first minute started to tear up -- it was mortifying. I was surprised when, with equal parts forgiveness and firmness, my client ordered: "Get off the phone. We can reschedule. At the end of the day, this call doesn't matter."

His words were a poignant reminder: The money, significance and meaning we get from work really don't matter when the real issue concerns our loved ones and our health.

Melinda Gates, whose job quite literally entails saving the world, said it well: "On the day I die, I want people to think that I was a great mom and a great family member and a great friend. I care more about that than I care about anything else." That really puts things in perspective, doesn't it?

Related: Have Some Words of Wisdom? Share Your #GoodAdviceIn4Words. 

Get Your Valuation

Do you know what your business is worth?
Discover and monitor your business value in real-time! »

Sent from my iPad

4 predictions for the European tech market in 2016 | VentureBeat | Business | by Tech.eu

http://venturebeat.com/2015/12/19/4-predictions-for-the-european-tech-market-in-2016/

4 predictions for the European tech market in 2016

(By Neil Murray, Tech.eu) – Yes, it's that time of the year again, when every Tom, Dick and Harry dusts off their crystal ball and does their best Mystic Meg impression.

And I'm afraid I'm one of them, as I couldn't help but share the four things I believe the European tech market will see happen in 2016.

True to form, I've used data to back up the majority of my predictions, so they are not completely pie in the sky, however, they are certainly not cop-outs either.

1. There will be more EUnicorns (European unicorns) at this point next year than there are today

To me, this seemed like a complete no brainer and in all honesty, I assumed that everybody felt the same. However, CB Insights ran a Twitter poll asking this question last week and of the 186 who answered, 52% believed we will see less than the 145 (global) unicorns at the end of 2016 than we see today.

---

From VentureBeat

Buying and getting the best from mobile marketing technology doesn't need to be difficult. VB has compiled three of our best research reports on mobile success in one low cost bundle. Arm yourself for 2016.

---

We've also seen reports break over the last couple of days that Swedish unicorn-in-waiting Truecaller has let as much as 20-25% of its staff go due to financial reasons, potentially putting their seemingly imminent unicorn status on hold.  BUT, (and that is a big BUT) Europe has an exceptional pipeline of companies close to a billion dollar valuation in the wings, and in our article with London-based venture capital firm Atomico earlier this year, their Head of Research Tom Wehmeier demonstrated that 97% of Europe's billion-dollar companies were founded in 2011 or earlier.

Taking an average of six years to achieve a billion-dollar valuation, Europe has a whole host of companies about to pass this milestone in the next couple of years. So, barring a spectacular market crash, I would bet my house on there being more European unicorns at the end of 2016 than we see today. According to WSJ's Billion Dollar Club, that number is currently 13.

2. Investment from the United States in European tech startups will continue to increase

American investment in Europe in 2015 has increased dramatically, and I believe this will pick up even more pace in 2016. 2015 has seen Sequoia invest in a Swedish seed round,Andreesen Horowitz leading Transferwise's $58 million Series C, 500 Startups setting up all over Europe and Union Square Ventures European funding rounds accounting for 25% of their total investments.

As these renowned U.S funds continue to look to Europe, other American investors will follow their lead and join the party in 2016.

Especially as Europe benefits from a more attractive entry pricing with the median pre-valuation by round considerably lower than the US. And, the US actually 'only' creates three times more 'unicorns' than Europe does – but they raise five times more capital in total. And as Tom Weihemer pointed out to me, this means 'Europe is an underserved market with enormous potential', and the US are waking up to this. Further evidence: Sequoia and Goldman Sachs both narrowly missed out on being classed as part of Europe's 25 most active investors in H1 2015.

3. 2016 will see a record year for European tech IPOs

As 2015 saw Deezer and HelloFresh put their IPOs on ice, this prediction is a little bolder than my previous two, however I believe 2016 will see more IPO's than this year and last, and despite the current market uncertainties, will ultimately be a record year for European IPO's.

I fully expect HelloFresh to go public next year (and possibly even Deezer still), and in addition, Delivery Hero, Global Fashion Group, WestWing and Home24 are all strong IPO possibilities in the first half of 2016, meaning we could see a large group of big European tech companies (including several unicorns) all go public in a short space of time.

This will put momentum and belief back into the market, and subsequently lead to even more in the second half of the year.

4. Bigger unicorns will start buying smaller unicorns

This is a trend that I expect to happen globally, but one that could have a sizeable knock-on for the European scene.

Big American companies are well attuned to shopping European, with Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft and Snapchat all buying European companies in Q3 2015 alone, and I believe this trend may well pass down to the American unicorns that are still privately held.

Despite my prediction above, there may well still be concerns about public markets next year and with Facebook, Google and Yahoo etc. all slowing down their acqui-hire strategies, being bought by a bigger unicorn may well become a viable exit option for the smaller ones. And as European unicorns are at the lower end of the valuation scale than American ones, it's likely that it will be Europe's billion dollar companies that are the ones getting picked up.

And as someone who doesn't like to sit on the fence, I'll end my predictions with a very specific one. With Uber moving more and more into the food delivery space, 2016 could see them acquiring Delivery Hero, as the billion-dollar companies who operate in similar verticals start to consolidate.

What do you think 2016 will bring for the European tech scene? Let us know in the comments.

Subscribe to the weekly Tech.eu Newsletter.

Sent from my iPad

Tech in Latin America: November news roundup

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/12/06/tech-in-latin-america-all-the-news-you-shouldnt-miss-from-the-past-month-3/

Black Friday gaining foothold

November was an interesting month for anyone curious about Latin America's tech scene — not only because of the usual funding events and expansions, but also because of some changes that may have a lasting effect on the region's ecosystem.

One of the most significant events was the election of a new Argentine president, Mauricio Macri, whose entrepreneur-friendly profile has the startup scene expectantly waiting for his first announcements. In the meantime, here's the news you don't want to miss:

Latin America's e-commerce sector celebrated Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales again this year, in what has become somewhat of a successfully imported tradition over the last few years (despite the fact that Thanksgiving itself is foreign to the region).

In Brazil for instance, the operation was deemed a commercial success: despite the economic crisis, sales during both events grew by 44 percent and 56 percent compared to 2014, according to consulting firm E-bit.

This success results from a growing customer interest in these operations. While the first editions were plagued with customer complaints, the ensuing mistrust is starting to wane, although some of it still persists. According to social media monitoring firm Sprinklr and its Brazilian acquiree Scup, which launched a hotsite around Black Friday, online comments were mostly positive, despite 12 percent of negative mentions.

Big players

Google made several announcements impacting Latin America, such as its decision to lower the minimum prices of apps sold through Google Play in 17 countries, including several Latin American ones.

In Brazil, the company also introduced a new offline top-up scheme for Google Play, which lets consumers add credit to their accounts through the same terminal-supported system that let them recharge their pre-paid phones.

The company also made moves related to YouTube, which was at the center of two events in Brazil, FanFest and Brandcast: it rolled out Google Preferred in the country to help brands find popular channels, and held two

In the mapping vertical, Google brought its Indoor Maps to Mexico and rolled out Google Street View in Bolivia and Ecuador, which joined the list of more than 70 countries in which this option is available as part of Google Maps.

Apple unveiled the Brazilian prices of devices such as the iPad Pro and the iPad mini 4, generating the now usual wave of criticism and reflexion around its pricing policy. As an example, a 32GB iPad Pro retails at R$7299, around $1946 USD.

Twitter Moments launched in Brazil, the first country to get this feature outside of the US. This manually curated section helps users stay informed on major events including breaking news but also TV shows and sports, which makes it potentially attractive for brands.

Exits…

Spanish cloud company Gigas Hosting IPO'ed on Madrid's sub-market Mercado Alternativo Bursátil (MAB), a move it had been preparing over the last few months. One of the main goals of this operation is to support the company's growth in Latin America, which already accounted for 21 percent of its 2014 revenue.

US investment firm Insight Venture Partners bought control of Brazilian travel booking site Hotel Urbano, Exame reported. According to Tnooz, it will now own 41 percent of the company, more than the founders' 35 percent share.

Hotel Urbano was co-founded five years ago by brothers João Ricardo and José Eduardo Mendes, who have announced they would take a sabbatical will Hotel Urbano is set to get a new management team. "This team – together with us – will lead HU to the NEXT LEVEL: international expansion, sustainable growth and an IPO later on down the road," they wrote in an email quoted by TNooz.

Start-Up Chile alum Epiclist was acquired by adventure brand VAUDE. This is an unexpected turn of events, but probably a welcome one for the founders of this adventure travel app: as you may remember, they had bid farewell in a Medium post in December 2014, explaining that the startup had run out of money.

Thanks to the acquisition, the team now expects to bring updates to Epiclist's free iOS app, launch an Android version, "and maybe even desktop."

Brazilian VOD company Looke bought the marketing assets of former competitor Netmovies for an undisclosed amount, taking over its brands, domain names and customer emails. Looke is a Brazilian competitor to Netflix, launched by bookstore chain Grupo Saraiva last September.

…and funding rounds

Argentine e-commerce platform Avenida raised a $30 million Series C round led by Naspers with participation from Tiger Global, TechCrunch reported, noting that both firms are returning investors. Launched by Argentine company builder Quasar Ventures, Avenida was one of our top 12 Latin American companies to watch in 2014.

Start-Up Chile alum Uniplaces raised a €21 million Series A round (around $22.8 million USD), Loogic reported. This student accommodation marketplace is backed by returning funds Octopus Ventures, Schilling Capital Partners and Caixa Capital as well as several angel investors.

Online automotive parts retailer Itaro raised a second round of funding worth R$10 million (around $2.7 million USD). Most of this amount came from Brazilian fund Astella Investimentos, with participation from German firms Rigi Ventures and JPJ Investments. the company was founded in 2012 by São Paulo-based German entrepreneur Jan Riehle.

Brazilian B2B IT startup Zup received investment from Kaszek Ventures, its first external funding since its creation in 2011. According to its website, the company help other firms digitize their business through its platform systems integration and API manager. It will invest its new capital both on R&D and business development.

Brazilian online fashion brand Amaro received follow-on funding from South Ventures, becoming the first investment of its new syndicated vehicle, SV Global Fund III. In a blog announcement, South Ventures' founder and CEO Sebastian Ortega referred to Amaro as "Zara 2.0."

Cisneros Interactive and Velum Ventures invested $2.5 million into influencer marketing company Fluvip. According to El Economista, the funds are meant to boost the startup's growth in the US, Latin America and Spain.

While the company describes itself as the market leader (screenshot below), it has noteworthy competitors in the Spanish-speaking world, such as Spain's Influencity and Y Combinator Colombian alum Themidgame (see our previous story).

Expansions and product launches

Ridesharing company Blablacar officialized its expansion into Brazil, a move that had been expected at least since July of 2014. In a statement, the French firm referred to the move as "a first step into South America" (translation ours).

São Paulo will be home to its 13th global office, with a local team set to work on marketing and communication to grow its local user base. As you may remember, BlaBlaCar had previously launched into Mexico through the acquisition of Rides.

Uber launched into the Dominican Republic's capital, Santo Domingo, raising criticism and complaints from local taxi cooperatives and federations. Back in Brazil, the company also rolled out its UberX service in the Southern city of Porto Alegre, Gizmodo reported.

Its line of business remains controversial in the country, where new taxi protests took place on November 11th in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia and Belo Horizonte.

More acceleration and competitions

500 Startups welcomed a new batch of companies into the 15th edition of its acceleration program. The list includes Brazilian edtech company QMágico, Argentine sports membership program Clicky, Chilean logistics optimization startup SimpliRoute and Argentina-born WoowUp, a SaaS platform that let Brazilian retailers create and manage customer loyalty programs.

The latest Demo Day of Start-Up Chile doubled as a competition, whose winner was Spoken, a US company that is developing a predictive speech app for aphasia and other communication disorders. The second and third places went to Chilean project Styrocycler and Korean-American startup Stratio.

News from the funds

TOTVS Ventures invested an undisclosed amount of funding into a one-year-old fund called "Brasil Aceleradora de Start-Ups". Since its creation last year, it has backed accelerator Aceleratech and created a network for post-acceleration seed investments, Acelera Partners. Totvs Ventures is the almost 3-year-old venture arm of Brazilian B2B software firm TOTVS.

Brazil-based fund Redpoint e.ventures added entrepreneur Romero Rodrigues as a full-time general partner, DealBook reported. Rodrigues had recently announced his decision to step down from his role of CEO at Buscapé, the company he had co-founded 16 years ago and helped grow into one of Brazil's largest online firms.

Law and order

Spain and Cuba signed partnership agreements on trade relations and R&D+i investment, such as a commitment to provide financing for technologically innovative projects of common interest in several sectors, including Information and Communication Technologies. As Spanish newspaper El País noted, Spain is Cuba's third largest commercial partner.

Telefónica's Mexican subsidiary Pegaso PCS appealed the record fine of some $25 million USD it had been issued by the country's telecommunications regulator for failing to comply with quality controls. Despite this issue, the Spanish telecommunications giant is reporting "a strong acceleration of the year-on-year growth of quarterly revenues in most countries in the [Hispano-American] region, especially in Mexico and Colombia."

Meanwhile, its Open Future division is planning to open co-working spaces for Latin American startups in several countries, including Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Ecuador. Known as Crowd Working units, they would operate upstream of Telefónica's accelerator, Wayra.

Also on TNW:

• 7 essential personal safety app for emergency situations
• Google Maps finally gets offline navigation, but only on Android for now
• Snapchat has launched a $0.99 store that lets you keep your Lenses forever
• Swatch teams up with Visa to let you pay with a flick of the wrist in 2016
• Watch a documentary that follows high school girls solving the world's problems through code

Good reads from across the Web:

• 40 millones de emprendedores [Mauricio Macri – in Spanish]
• A Year After 'Normalization' Havana Still Squandering Cuba's Greatest Advantage [Nearshore Americas]
• Biblioteca virtual para ciegos en Argentina fue premiada en Washington [Yahoo – in Spanish]
• Brazilian smartphone industry grows in Q3 [ZDNet]
• How Pictoline is optimizing visual news for social sharing [StoryBench]
• 'Internet das coisas' terá política nacional [Estadão – in Portuguese]
• Meet the Dad Who Registered His Daughter's Birth on the Blockchain [CoinDesk]
• "Nosso ecossistema ainda é embrionário", Bob Wollheim, Rafael Costa e Rodrigo Cartacho discutem sobre o ecossistema brasileiro [Startupi – in Portuguese]
• RIP Videolog [Edson Mackeenzy on Tagarela – in Portuguese]
• Romero Rodrigues: "Quero ser o investidor dos Netflixs, dos Googles e dos Facebooks brasileiros" [IstoÉ Dinheiro – in Portuguese]
• The state of Venture Capital in Mexico [Diego Serebrisky]

Image credit: Tony Valdez/GCBA via Flickr

Sent from my iPad