» The UK online industry is now worth £100 billion according to a new study carried out by Boston Consulting Group on behalf of Google. That's about 7.2% of the UK's total GDP for last year. The online sector is now bigger than the construction, utilities and the construction sectors. Not surprisingly sixty billion came from ecommerce (cha-ching!). The report can be downloaded here. But I'll spare you the fluff because this analysis is something a social media “consultant” would be proud of - lots of noise but little substance. The mainstream press will be lapping this up. Don't get me wrong, it's a grand back-slapping exercise. But where's the breakdown in numbers - just give us the data. I’d love to see the top earning companies in the online space – and perhaps some granular details on specific areas of online. The big G would doubtless by at the top end. It’s an aesthetically pleasing report (very pretty) but seriously lacking on the numbers front. How much was spent on this?

» Interesting piece from Ben Kartzman in MediaPost on why techies will rise to the top in the digital sector - just as they did in other industries over the last ten years. In this game you now need to know how to crunch numbers and code (a little server and front-end scripting for starters). Understanding how the complex display eco-system works should be at least a pre-requisite for senior executives in the display space. Kratzman details some of the industries where technology-focused people have risen to the top. He notes that advertising has become more technology and data focused over the past five years. And this will ultimately lead to more of quants taking top jobs in ad networks, publishers, and agencies.