CES 2013: Connectivity and content steal show

USA: Despite a record-breaking 1.87 million square feet of space for exhibits at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show, the real buzz wasn't about hardware -- it was about connectivity, apps and the cloud. New research from Digitas, a digitally led integrated brand agency, and Brandwatch, a social media monitoring and analytics company, analyzed over 330,000 social media mentions to reveal what trends and products coming out of CES really matter to people worldwide.

Despite a record-breaking 1.87 million square feet of space for exhibits at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show, the real buzz wasn't about hardware -- it was about connectivity, apps and the cloud. New research from Digitas, a digitally led integrated brand agency, and Brandwatch, a social media monitoring and analytics company, analyzed over 330,000 social media mentions to reveal what trends and products coming out of CES really matter to people worldwide.

"CES has traditionally been all about hardware, with a particular emphasis on television," said Chia Chen , SVP, Mobile Lead, Digitas North America. "But this year the ecosystem of software, apps, and content became a crucial part of the show. And while TV still has a role to play, mobile became more of the centerpiece. These trends in consumer preferences have important implications for both manufacturers and marketers in today's multi-screen world."

Connectivity, apps, and content dominated product discussions
Digitas and Brandwatch dove into the social chatter surrounding five key product features for mobile phones, tablets, TVs, and PCs/laptops. With the exception of TVs, the most buzzed about capabilities focused on the connectivity, apps, and content related to these products, beating out other features such as size, display, network, and processors/speed. In fact, connectivity, apps, and content drove:

* 29.5 percent of product feature mentions for mobile phones (23,499 out of 79,625).
* 27.2 percent of product feature mentions for PCs and laptops (20,449 out of 75,223).
* 27.5 percent product feature mentions for tablets (13,133 out of 47,679).

For TVs, connectivity, apps, and content capabilities took second, beat out only by display:

* Display drove 35.9 percent of the conversation (28,070 out of 78,251).
* Connectivity, apps, and content drove 22.5 percent of the conversation (17,592 out of 78,251).

A declining emphasis on hardware also revealed itself in a look at the connected technology trends at CES. Digitas and Brandwatch research picked up over 17,000 mentions of connectivity and connected technology. Of those conversations, 12,454 mentions honed in on four specific areas -- and the cloud drove about one half of the conversation:

* 41.7 percent of mentions focused on the cloud (5,198 out of 12,454).
* 26.1 percent of mentions focused on NFC/RFID (3,247 out of 12,454).
* 19.4 percent of mentions focused on connected cars (2,417 out of 12,454).
* 12.8 percent of mentions focused on connected homes (1,592 out of 12,454).

Mobile rises to the top of the technology charts - even before you count tablets
While social chatter in the months leading up to CES focused more on television, mobile rose to the top during the week of the show -- and that's without factoring in tablets. Out of 273,624 product mentions worldwide, there were:
* 74,703 mentions of mobile phones.
* 59,998 mentions of television.
* 55,586 mentions of PCs and laptops.
* 37,285 mentions of tablets.
* 31,382 mentions of cars.
* 7,969 mentions of cameras.
* 6,701 mentions of home appliances.

Digital health and fitness gains momentum
The social buzz surrounding digital health and fitness technology also generated notable results, with a total of 12,119 social media mentions -- outnumbering conversations for items such as cameras and home appliances.