(First in a two-part
series.)
Just how big is your market? It sometimes seems
that nearly everyone has some forecast or
projection they've pulled seemingly out of thin
air. This season, for example, we've all tripped
over a plethora of forecasts for e-commerce. But
what about other markets? And more importantly,
whose numbers can you believe?
Here, I've aggregated various estimates of the
internet market segment sizes and reach in two
reports. This week, I'll talk about media and
commerce; next week, I'll take a look at services
and infrastructure.
One caveat: It's important to note that I've
grouped independent studies and data which were
not necessarily intended for side-by-side
comparison. So in some instances, you may not be
comparing apples to apples.
So How Big Is The Commerce Market?
This is by far the most elusive market to peg,
and the most rewarding one if you get it right.
Commerce is big. The potential dollars at hand are
huge.
I've assembled bits of data from eStats (my
personal favorite for providing reasonable
consensus estimates), Jupiter
Communications, Forrester
Research , and Cowles/Simba
Information.
Of course, the data varies in timeliness. And
you must note that all research companies are not
created equal -- the way they group and categorize
varies. So for simplicity, I've used a consensus
estimate where available, then grouped similar
estimates from the various firms into the same
categories to offer a reasonable comparison. You
can't ask for perfection but in my view, it's
pretty close!
Use the following as a reference guide when
sizing up your own market.
View Commerce
Market Size Estimates Summary (PDF document;
you'll need Acrobat
Reader)
And What About The Media Market?
This is probably the second most popular market
to estimate. Fortunately, there are consensus
estimates that exist. I've outlined both
traditional media spending by category and digital
spending. You'll notice, too, that I've included
email and subscription market size estimates.
That's a stat you rarely see, but it's important
to the big picture.
View
Media Market Size Estimates Summary (PDF
document; you'll need Acrobat
Reader)
Stay tuned for next week as I tap into
smaller market segments of interest to the service
and software
sectors!
.gif){kind=small}
.gif){kind=small}
.gif){kind=small}
