Technology
Where Will the Next Billion Internet Users Come From?
Where Will the Next Billion Internet Users Come From?
Internet adoption has steadily increased over the years—it’s more than doubled since 2010.
Despite its widespread use, a significant portion of the global population still isn’t connected to the internet, and in certain areas of the world, the number of disconnected people skews towards higher percentages.
Using information from DataReportal, this visual highlights which regions have the greatest number of people disconnected from the web. We’ll also dive into why some regions have low numbers, and take a look at which countries have seen the most growth in the last year.
Top 10 Most Disconnected, by Number of People
The majority of countries with lower rates of internet access are in Asia and Africa. Here’s a look at the top 10 countries with the highest numbers of people not connected to the web:
| Rank | Country / Territory | Unconnected People | % of Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 685,591,071 | 50% |
| 2 | China | 582,063,733 | 41% |
| 3 | Pakistan | 142,347,735 | 65% |
| 4 | Nigeria | 118,059,925 | 58% |
| 5 | Bangladesh | 97,427,352 | 59% |
| 6 | Indonesia | 96,709,226 | 36% |
| 7 | Ethiopia | 92,385,728 | 81% |
| 8 | Democratic Republic of Congo | 71,823,319 | 81% |
| 9 | Brazil | 61,423,295 | 29% |
| 10 | Egypt | 46,626,170 | 46% |
*Note: Rankings only include countries/territories with populations over 50,000.
Interestingly, India has the highest number of disconnected people despite having the second largest online market in the world. That being said, 50% of the country’s population still doesn’t have internet access—for reference, only 14% of the U.S. population remains disconnected to the web. Clearly, India has some untapped potential.
China takes second place, with over 582 million people not connected to the internet. This is partly because of the country’s significant rural population—in 2019, 39% of the country’s population was living in rural areas.
The gap in internet access between rural and urban China is significant. This was made apparent during China’s recent switch to online learning in response to the pandemic. While one-third of elementary school children living in rural areas weren’t able to access their online classes, only 5.7% of city dwellers weren’t able to log on.
It’s important to note that the rural-urban divide is an issue in many countries, not just China. Even places like the U.S. struggle to provide internet access to remote or rugged rural areas.
Top 10 Most Disconnected, by Share of Population
While India, China, and Pakistan have the highest number of people without internet access, there are countries arguably more disconnected.
Here’s a look at the top 10 most disconnected countries, by share of population:
| Rank | Country / Territory | % of Population | Unconnected People |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Korea | 100% | 25,722,103 |
| 2 | South Sudan | 92% | 10,240,199 |
| 3 | Eritrea | 92% | 3,228,429 |
| 4 | Burundi | 90% | 10,556,111 |
| 5 | Somalia | 90% | 14,042,139 |
| 6 | Niger | 88% | 20,977,412 |
| 7 | Papua New Guinea | 88% | 7,761,628 |
| 8 | Liberia | 88% | 4,372,916 |
| 9 | Guinea-Bissau | 87% | 1,694,458 |
| 10 | Central African Republic | 86% | 4,132,006 |
There are various reasons why these regions have a high percentage of people not online—some are political, which is the case of North Korea, where only a select few people can access the wider web. Regular citizens are restricted from using the global internet but have access to a domestic intranet called Kwangmyong.
Other reasons are financial, which is the case in South Sudan. The country has struggled with civil conflict and economic hardship for years, which has caused widespread poverty throughout the nation. It’s also stifled infrastructural development—only 2% of the country has access to electricity as of 2020, which explains why so few people have access to the web.
In the case of Papua New Guinea, a massive rural population is likely the reason behind its low percentage of internet users—80% of the population lives in rural areas, with little to no connections to modern life.
Fastest Growing Regions
While internet advancements like 5G are happening in certain regions, and showing no signs of slowing down, there’s still a long way to go before we reach global connectivity.
Despite the long road ahead, the gap is closing, and previously untapped markets are seeing significant growth. Here’s a look at the top five fast-growing regions:
| Rank | Region | Change in internet use (From 2019 to 2020) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Central Africa | +40% |
| 2 | Southern Asia | +20% |
| 3 | Northern Africa | +14% |
| 4 | Western Asia | +11% |
| 5 | Caribbean | +9% |
Africa has seen significant growth, mainly because of a massive spike of internet users in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)—between 2019 and 2020, the country’s number of internet users increased by 9 million (+122%). This growth has been facilitated by non-profit organizations and companies like Facebook, which have invested heavily in the development of Africa’s internet connectivity.
India has also seen significant growth—between 2019 and 2020, the number of internet users in the country grew by 128 million (+23%).
If these countries continue to grow at similar rates, who knows what the breakdown of internet users will look like in the next few years?
Technology
Mapped: The Top Podcasts on Spotify Across Countries
Podcasting is now a billion dollar industry, attracting big names and audiences to match. Here’s a global look at the top podcasts on Spotify.
The Top Spotify Podcast Across Countries
We are amidst the breakout era of podcasts. Since the beginning of the smartphone revolution, the digital audio format has picked up serious traction with audiences all over. In the U.S. alone, it’s estimated that there will be 132 million podcast listeners by 2022.
Today, there are 850,000 active podcasts available in 100 languages, with over 30 million episodes to tap into—perfect if you have an afternoon to yourself.
Worldwide Podcast Chart-Toppers
The data in this infographic comes from Spotify, the top global streaming service in the industry by paid users. How do the top podcasts fare on a per country basis?
| Country | Top Podcast | Honorable Mention (Second Highest) |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | The Joe Rogan Experience | Call Her Daddy |
| France | Choses a Savoir | Mythes et Legendes |
| UK | The Michelle Obama Podcast | The Joe Rogan Experience |
| Germany | Gemischtes Hack | Fest & Flauschig |
| Italy | Blu Notte - Fisteri Italiani | Mushio Selvaggio |
| U.S. | The Michelle Obama Podcast | Call Her Daddy |
| Japan | kemioの耳そうじクラブ | Hapa英会話 Podcast |
| Australia | From The Newsroom | The Joe Rogan Experience |
| India | The Michelle Obama Podcast | Purijagannadh |
| Ireland | The Joe Rogan Experience | The 2 Johnnies Podcast |
| Mexico | Leyendas Legendarias | La Cotorrisa |
| New Zealand | The Joe Rogan Experience | Call Her Daddy |
| Argentina | Concha Podcast | Entiende Tu Mente |
| Austria | Verbrechen | Fest & Flauschig |
| Brazil | NerdCast | Café da Manha |
| Chile | Tomas Va A Morir | Matriarcalmente Hablando |
| Colombia | DianaUribe.fm | Dani 3Palacios Podcast |
| Denmark | Morkeland | Her Gar Det Godt |
| Finland | POKS | Jaliila |
| Indonesia | Rintik Sedu | PODKESMAS |
| Norway | Friminutt med Herman og Mikkel | G-punktet |
| Philippines | Sleeping Pill with Inka | Adulting With Joyce Pring |
| Poland | Kryminatorium | Ja I moje przyjaciółki idiotki |
| Spain | Nadie Sabe Nada | Entiende Tu Mente |
| Sweden | P3 Dokumentar | Sommar & Vinter i P1 |
| Netherlands | Zelfspodcast | Man man man, de podcast |
Many of the top shows around the world follow a familiar interview or conversational format, but there are trends that deviate from that formula. In particular, there are a number of podcasts focused on health and wellness as well as current events.
The early beginnings of podcasting were dominated by upstart content creators, but as the market has matured, big media outlets and A-list personalities have been vying for listeners’ attention in an increasingly crowded field. As it stands now, two podcasts from America carry a large presence in foreign markets, and the two big personalities—Michelle Obama and Joe Rogan—stand a notch above the rest.
The Rogan-Obama tug of war in the podcast realm has had its back and forths. Obama pulled ahead in many countries in August, but in September the pendulum swung in favor of Rogan.
Follow The Money
In 2015, ad revenue in the podcast industry was a minuscule $69 million across the board. It’s expected to reach over $1 billion by 2021, and to grow further from there.
The podcast boom is powered by younger generations, and both millennials and Gen Z represent a sizable portion of the total podcast audience globally. In particular, demographic listenership numbers experience a big drop after the 35-54 age bracket.
Flexibility and variety are key features that are helping fuel the growth of the medium. One can keep up with serious world affairs or listen to Call Her Daddy—a podcast on sex and relationships by Barstool Sports, another podcast that frequently tops the charts.
Top Podcast Publishers by U.S. Audience
When it comes to key participants in the industry, National Public Radio (NPR) sits on the top spot with over 26 million unique monthly audience members. In close second, iHeartRadio holds a whopping 494 shows.
| Podcast Publisher | U.S. Unique Monthly Audience | Global Downloads & Streams | Active Shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| NPR | 26,933,000 | 219,716,000 | 49 |
| iHeartRadio | 26,182,000 | 234,417,000 | 494 |
| New York Times | 13,102,000 | 145,961,000 | 15 |
| Barstool Sports | 10,228,000 | 67,569,000 | 43 |
| PRX | 9,035,000 | 82,245,000 | 87 |
| Wondery | 8,794,000 | 57,261,000 | 98 |
| ESPN/ABC | 8,472,000 | 66,685,000 | 96 |
| NBC News | 6,751,000 | 44,219,000 | 26 |
| Cumulus Media/Westwood One | 6,473,000 | 40,912,000 | 115 |
| Warner Media | 6,350,000 | 33,503,000 | 113 |
| This American Life/Serial | 5,924,000 | 22,722,000 | 2 |
| Kast Media | 5,319,000 | 30,353,000 | 46 |
| Daily Wire | 5,212,000 | 43,342,000 | 5 |
| WNYC Studios | 5,209,000 | 35,381,000 | 52 |
| All Things Comedy | 4,890,000 | 28,770,000 | 58 |
| TED | 3,739,000 | 51,696,000 | 10 |
| American Public Media | 3,362,000 | 17,997,000 | 50 |
| Fox News Radio | 2,518,000 | 13,633,000 | 34 |
| Slate | 1,951,000 | 13,812,000 | 97 |
| WBUR | 1,105,000 | 6,758,000 | 18 |
If you’re bullish on podcasts, many in the top 20 are publicly traded entities who either stand alone, or are part of a larger corporation. Notable stocks include the New York Times, ESPN as part of Disney, and Warner Media as part of AT&T.
Spotify Today and Tomorrow
Spotify’s direct listing IPO was initially met with a lack of confidence, due to Big Tech’s entry in the space, as well as the profitability and monetization concerns that typically plague the music industry as a whole. However, the company has done well in abating those concerns, especially if you consider Spotify’s stock price, which has doubled in the last year. An impressive 21% of Spotify’s monthly active users engage with podcast content.
In addition, a wealth of personalities have entered the podcasting space. These big names suggest that the competition is dialing up.
In recent months, an exclusive deal between Spotify and Joe Rogan, valued at over $100 million took the podcasting world by storm. This is quite a monumental step for the podcast timeline, and one that suggests more deals could follow as Spotify looks to lock people into their platform with exclusivity deals.
Technology
Here’s What Happens Every Minute on the Internet in 2020
A lot can happen in an internet minute. This graphic looks at the enormous numbers behind the online services billions use every day.
What Happens Every Minute on the Internet in 2020
In 2020, an unfathomable amount of digital activity is occurring at any given moment. This ongoing explosion in activity is the aggregate output of 4.5 billion internet users today, a number that’s projected to increase even further in coming years.
This powerful visual from Domo helps capture what happens each minute in today’s hyper-connected internet era, and it’s actually the eighth edition produced since the year 2012.
What can we learn from the evolution of what happens in an internet minute?
How Times Have Changed
Over its relatively short history, the internet has been a catalyst for both the rise and demise of new companies and platforms.
By looking at which brands have appeared in the graphic in earlier years, we can roughly chart the prominence of certain tech segments, as well as observe brands with the most staying power.
As you can see above, platforms like Tumblr, Flickr, and Foursquare showed some promise, but eventually got omitted from the graphic as they dropped off in relevance.
Meanwhile, tech companies like Facebook, Amazon, and Google have had impressive staying power, evolving to become some of the biggest companies in the world. In the process, they’ve caught up to longer-standing titans like Apple and Microsoft at the top of the food chain.
The New “New Thing”
Not surprisingly, much of the internet landscape looks different in 2020. Here are a few of the digital hot spots today.
Cash Transfers
Nearly $240,000 worth of transactions occur on Venmo per minute. This has served as a catalyst for parent company PayPal, which evolved along successfully with fintech trends. PayPal’s stock now trades at near all-time highs.
E-Commerce
Even before COVID-19 resulted in shuttered storefronts and surging online orders, e-commerce was a booming industry. It’s now estimated that $1 million is now spent per minute online. Amazon ships an astounding 6,659 packages every minute to keep up with this demand.
Collaboration Tools
In a predominantly remote-working environment, tools like Zoom and Microsoft Teams host 208,333 and 52,083 users each minute respectively. Particularly in the pandemic era, it seems that this trend is here to stay.
Accelerated Turnover
The accelerated world we are in today means that many companies do not sustain a competitive advantage for as long. Social media companies have dwindled as observed above, and this is similarly reflected in the average lifespan of an S&P 500 company.
A typical company’s tenure on the S&P 500 is expected to shrink rapidly in the next few years:
- 1964: 33 years
- 2016: 24 years
- 2027E: 12 years
Companies are shaving anywhere between 15-20 years off those highs, with estimates of further declines. This metric symbolizes the rapid evolution of the business landscape.
What Lies Ahead
It’s seemingly easy to forget mankind is still very early in the developments when it comes to the internet. But in this short period, its rise to prominence and the broad digitization of the world has left us with a very eventful timeline.
If the last decade serves as a reference point, one can expect further and intensifying competition among tech companies. After all, the reward—winning in today’s digital economy—reaps much greater value.
All signs point to internet activity advancing to further heights, if not because of 5G and its associated breakthroughs, then perhaps due to the steady rise in people gaining internet access.
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