Press Release Details

Online News Consumption Jumps Significantly According to Limelight Networks’ “2016 State of the User Experience” Research Report

10/27/2016

For the First Time, Mobile Wins as Dominant Devices for Online Access and Performance Expectations Increase

TEMPE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- With an election around the corner, there has been a rise in time spent online reading the news by consumers in the U.S., according to results of the third annual “State of the User Experience” research report released by Limelight Networks, Inc., (Nasdaq:LLNW), a global leader in digital content delivery.

The report revealed a significant shift in both the time consumers spend online and the activities they engaged in over the course of the last year. The number of consumers who ranked reading the news as their top online activity increased nearly 10 percent in 2016, replacing social media, which is now number two, potentially reflecting interest in the current political environment. The number of consumers who spend 15 hours or more a week online fell drastically from 46 percent to 28 percent, and those online five to seven hours a week nearly doubled to 30 percent from 17 percent.

For the first time since this survey began in 2014, smartphones were the device of choice for majority of those surveyed (42 percent), increasing from 24 percent in 2015, and exceeding laptops (24 percent) and desktops (19 percent) for online content consumption. There is an increasingly high value placed on the quality of experience and equally fast performance on a mobile device as on a computer - 38 percent in 2015 compared to 50 percent last year. In fact, less than half of respondents (44 percent) would wait longer than 5 seconds for a website to load, down from 51 percent in 2015.

“Consumers’ time is valuable, and regardless of how they’re accessing the internet, they expect the highest quality of experience (QoE),” said Nigel Burmeister, Limelight VP of Global Marketing. “Ensuring a website performs to consumers’ standards is invaluable to protect a brand’s reputation and bottom line. In today’s competitive landscape, brands can’t afford to ignore the importance of QoE.”

Additional insights from the 2016 “State of User Experience” Report include:

  • Performance impacts e-commerce sales: More than one third (38 percent) of consumers would abandon a poorly-performing website and buy a product from a competitor, up from 28 percent in 2015. When shopping, 61 percent are searching for coupons and discounts, followed closely by researching product information.
  • Consumers want less personalization amid security concerns: The desire for websites to offer personalized content has significantly dropped from 43 percent in 2015 to 31 percent in 2016. This may be tied to growing concern about privacy.
  • Millennials are bucking the trend: Today, Baby Boomers spend the most time online, with 31 percent reporting more than 15 hours per week on the internet, as compared to 27 percent of Millennials and 24 percent of Gen Xers. Millennials tend to be the most patient and forgiving of a poor quality experience as nearly half are willing to wait more than five seconds for a website to load before leaving and 15 percent are more likely to give a website another chance when it performs poorly.

The “2016 State of the User Experience” report is based on a survey of 1,664 consumers chosen at random in the U.S., aged 18 and over, who spend more than five hours per week online outside of work. Download the complete report here.

About Limelight

Limelight Networks Inc., (NASDAQ: LLNW), a global leader in digital content delivery, empowers customers to better engage online audiences by enabling them to securely manage and globally deliver digital content, on any device. The company’s award winning Limelight Orchestrate™ platform includes an integrated suite of content delivery technology and services that helps organizations secure digital content, deliver exceptional multi-screen experiences, improve brand awareness, drive revenue, and enhance customer relationships — all while reducing costs. For more information, please visit www.limelight.com, read our blog, follow us on Twitter , Facebook and LinkedIn and be sure to visit Limelight Connect.

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Source: Limelight Networks Inc.