Electric vehicles will begin their “slow entry into the automotive mainstream” in 2021, reported ABI Research Wednesday. Next year will “kickstart” a decade of growing EV adoption from a negligible share of new vehicle shipments to more than a quarter of the market in 2030, it said. “This transition from niche to mainstream will be built on the introduction of low-cost EV models that satisfy the typical mileage requirements at an acceptable price point,” said ABI. “As EV owners shift from the legacy of environmentally conscious, enthusiastic technology first adopters to more typical automotive consumers, OEMs will need to develop more innovative approaches to the life cycle management of EVs.”

Apple’s App Store and Google Play raked in more than $407 million worldwide on Christmas Day, a 35% year-on-year jump, blogged Sensor Tower Tuesday. Global spending on mobile apps and games surged past $100 billion for the first time in November, it said. Christmas spending was 4.5% of the month’s $9 billion, through Dec. 27, with most holiday spending on mobile games, up 27%. Tencent’s Honor of Kings led the category, generating $10.7 million globally. Consumers spent $112 million on non-game apps, up 59% from 2019, while entertainment app spending rose 22% to $19.3 million. TikTok was the top revenue-producing app globally on Christmas at $4.7 million. The App Store took 68% of spending at $278.6 million vs. Google Play’s $129 million. U.S. consumers spent nearly $130 million across both app stores this Christmas, up 38%. Roblox was the top mobile game in the U.S. at $6.6 million on Christmas, while Disney+ generated the most revenue among non-games at $2.6 million.

The average U.K. home owns 28 internet-connected devices and is poised to become even more tech-inundated, as 83% of Brits canvassed in a BT Group survey of 1,500 adults said they plan at least one digital device as a holiday gift, said BT Monday. Home internet usage has spiked to record levels since March amid COVID-19 lockdowns and remote-work and learning orders, said BT. Three-quarters of those polled said they have spent more time on the internet as a family during the pandemic, and 36% have been online for 50% longer or more than before the lockdowns, it said: “Daytime traffic across BT's broadband network has more than doubled year-on-year.” The time families spend on their smartphones and browsing social media has soared by more than 150% since March, it said. The average U.K. home now spends 20.8 hours a week on their phones,18.5 hours watching TV or streaming services, 16.5 hours on social media and 13.4 hours videogaming, said BT: Smartphones will be the most popular tech present this holiday, with 36% of Brits set to gift one. Next in line are game consoles (33%), tablets (29%), smart TVs (25%), smartwatches (24%) and smart speakers (19%).

Though consumers started holiday shopping “earlier than ever,” they’re still waiting to do the bulk of their buying, emailed National Retail Federation spokesperson Danielle Inman. She responded to our question on whether the NRF views this year’s start of holiday season promotions in October as a precedent, or if it was a COVID-19-based anomaly. We also asked if retailers risk consumer burnout if the promotional holiday season stretches over three months. “All indications are that consumers like having more time to shop and to spread out their budget and retailers have adapted accordingly,” she said, noting a gradual shift to a longer shopping season over the past several years. A decade ago, she said, 49% of shoppers started holiday browsing and buying by early November; this year that grew to 59%. She noted the lengthening of Thanksgiving weekend sales -- at one time focused just on Black Friday and Cyber Monday -- to encompass Thanksgiving Day and the week leading up to the holiday. As of early November, consumers had completed about a quarter of their holiday shopping, and by the end of Cyber Monday, they had completed 51% on average, “leaving a great deal of shopping left for December.” In a typical year, she said, “we also see the majority of consumers making their last purchase the week leading up to the 25th.”

The rapid rise in pandemic-driven telework could make first-time homeownership more accessible to Black renters compared with other groups, based on factors such as income, the makeup of local industries and geography, reported Zillow. Research showed that of the nearly 2 million U.S. renters who are able to take advantage of heightened telework options and could afford monthly payments on homes in less-expensive areas outside their current metropolitan areas, “Black renters benefit far more than other renters,” said the real estate website. “In large metro areas where typical starter home values are higher than they are nationally, Black renters are 29% more likely than other renters to be able to buy their first home in a less expensive area because of the opportunity to work from home permanently.” Zillow emphasized, though, that the Black and white homeownership gap “remains as wide today as it was at the dawn of the 20th century.” Nearly 75% of white households own their homes, compared with 44% of Black families, it said. “While remote work can open up opportunities to buy a home in more affordable locations, it doesn't address the root of the various affordability issues for people of color.”

Comscore will supply in-game ad platform Anzu with mobile audience measurement capability of display and video, said the companies. The gaming market is bigger than the music and film industries combined, with a worldwide audience topping 3 billion people that’s projected to spend nearly $175 billion in 2020, they said. “With this scope and potential, brand advertisers have started to consider in-game advertising as part of their multi-pronged advertising strategy, which means that third-party measurement and benchmarking is more relevant than ever.”

One in four annual book sales in the U.S. historically happens during the holidays, with the sales uptick beginning in the first week of November, reported NPD Monday. But with COVID-19, "we are watching closely to see if we see the same book shopping patterns as in previous years,” it said. “Book sales have been stronger than normal throughout the pandemic.” NPD’s holiday 2020 buying intentions survey found U.S. consumers plan to spend an average of $691 -- a slight decline from 2019 but similar to planned spending two years ago, it said: “The state of the economy has consumers more cautious, but they still look to the holidays to provide a break, and some retail therapy.”

Nearly 80% of U.S. digital minutes in August were spent on mobile devices, reported Comscore Wednesday, citing “the explosion of streaming service choices and user generated short-form video.” Video viewing on mobile devices grew 65% from August 2017 to August 2020, outpacing viewing on desktop, which grew 21%. Digital retail spending on mobile was 31% of Q2 digital retail, up from 16% five years ago. Average online monthly purchases grew from two in Q2 2019 to 4.5.

Pay-TV providers narrowed subscriber losses in Q3 to 120,000 -- the fewest since Q1 2018 -- vs. a pro forma net loss of about 945,000 in 2019's third quarter, reported Leichtman Research Group Tuesday. The top publicly reporting vMVPDs -- Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, AT&T TV Now and fubuTV -- added just over a million subscribers, up from 815,000 net adds. LRG President Bruce Leichtman credited the return of live sports (see 2011170001). Leichtman said it’s time to recognize vMVPDs as a “key segment of the live pay-TV industry.” Hulu + Live TV is the fifth-largest pay-TV service in the U.S., and YouTube TV has over 3 million subscribers, including a million net additions this year, he noted. The top seven cable companies shed 375,000 video subscribers in Q3 vs. 410,000 a year ago, while satellite services lost 775,000, led by DirecTV with 690,000, down from 1.1 million in Q3 2019. Among phone providers, Verizon Fios lost 62,000 video subscribers, Frontier lost 42,000 and AT&T U-verse/AT&T TV gained 100,000.

More than four in 10 consumers started their holiday shopping earlier than they normally do, a National Retail Federation survey found. The association canvassed nearly 8,400 consumers Nov. 2-9, finding 59% who had already started holiday buying, a 21-point increase from a similar survey a decade ago, it said Monday. Holiday shoppers on average completed a quarter of their holiday buying. Clothing and accessories are the most popular gift category, chosen by 54% of respondents, followed by gift cards (49%), toys (37%), books and other media (34%) and food and candy (28%). Electronics didn’t make the top list.