This past week I had the unique privilege of speaking at Google Day in Istanbul, Turkey. I’ll be honest – when I first agreed to take on this speaking engagement, I was a little apprehensive. This would be my first trip to Istanbul, and I’ll admit that my knowledge of the country was fairly limited. In addition to not knowing much about the country and its culture, I didn’t have intimate knowledge of Internet usage patterns in Turkey. Needless to say, I had to get up to speed quickly using Comscore data since the topic of my presentation was “Global Perspectives & the Role of Turkey in the Digital World”.
As I began preparing, I was amazed to learn how connected the online population of Turkey is, especially compared to other countries around the world. Consider the following: when you analyze the top countries worldwide, Turkey ranks #3 for user engagement, with the average Internet user spending 30 hours per month online (behind only Canada and the U.S.) It turns out that Turkey has a vibrant online community that is technologically savvy and young, with nearly 70 percent of users between the ages of 15 and 34 (by comparison, 54 percent of the worldwide Internet population is in this age range). However, despite this nation’s impressive engagement, less than 50 percent of Turkey’s population logs online through either home or work locations; so the growth potential in this country is tremendous.
The presentation I delivered to a standing room audience of nearly 1,000 attendees was a big success. Throughout the duration of Google Day, I was complimented on Comscore’s global viewpoint as the leading player in this space and the depth of data that Comscore is able to provide to better understand audiences around the globe. After the conference, I had the pleasure to stay the week and meet with several companies in Istanbul with our newly formed local team in Turkey. International expansion is a top priority at Comscore, and it’s more critical than ever to be global but act local. By meeting many of the industry’s leading players, I was struck by how passionate they were about their digital future and how important they viewed Comscore in being able to help them grow.
As Comscore continues to expand its business overseas, it will become more and more critical to have this local presence in each of the key markets. Our global reputation as the leading provider of digital data often opens up doors for us, but the local touch and physical presence in each of the markets adds significant value. As for Istanbul, I have a newfound appreciation and respect that I never expected, and I look forward to my next trip there.