“There are things that are changing in each of the fans,” says a voice in off in the promotional video of the People’s Leaguea soccer league that uses soccer players and influencers. The images that accompany the advertisement are young, isolated and interacting with their smartphones in their socio-digital networks. Perhaps the rationale for this and other advertising campaigns is based on the fact that almost seven out of every 10 people in the world use a mobile device, and five billion are network users. What is news is the exponential growth (5.6 percent more than in 2023).
Currently there are more than eight thousand 080 million people in the world (World Population Prospects of the United Nations). In one year more than 0.9 percent of humans were born, and their consumption habits have evolved. For example, 6.6 out of 10 use the Internet (5.35 billion) according to the “Global Digital Report 2024” prepared by We are social and Meltwater.
Hard data needs to be digested with an uncut double espresso. For example, a user on networks spends two hours and 23 minutes per day. In other words, in 2024 the total population will spend 500 million years using networks. The countries that record navigation the most are: Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. On the other side of the table is North Korea, thanks to the digital blockade.
However, believe it or not, “more than 2.7 billion people are still offline. In India there are more than 680 million ‘disconnected’ people. Overall, networking is the most popular pastime (over 97 percent). Secondly, and across all ages, chat and messaging apps are the most popular option (94.7 percent of those between 16 and 64 years old). They claim to have used at least one of these platforms in the last month.
Search engines come in third place, with just over four in five respondents (80.7) browsing on Google and bing. Purchases come in fourth place, with just under three-quarters. Location-based services, such as maps and parking apps, round out the top five. On the other hand, the data corroborates the decline in the popularity of TV content, decreasing by 14 minutes per day; from an average of one hour and 58 minutes in the third quarter of 2019, to one hour and 44 minutes in the third quarter of 2023.
Almost to finish, for the detractors of one of the most important brands in Meta, Facebook has not died, since it surpasses in advertising revenue instagram and TikTok. Marketers recommended spending almost $720 billion on digital ads in 2023, which was more than 10 percent higher than the equivalent figure for 2022. Statista reports that digital advertising spending has doubled in the last five years, with approximately 117 percent more than the figure reported in 2018.
Only one conclusion, the behavior of audiences is in incessant uncertainty. But what has been the most popular search in the world? The engines of Google bark and say that dogs are ahead, nearly 10 billion searches for “dog” have been queried, compared to eight billion for “cats.” Perhaps this metaphor of a fight between cats and dogs will be the ultimate in the fight for popularity among the People’s League, Kings League either MX league.
Political communicator, academic at FCPyS UNAM and Master in Political Journalism @gersonmecalco