Statista

The Statista database portal, developed by Statista Inc, has gained increasing use in Europe and North America. It provides current statistical data and comparisons for an eclectic, wide-ranging, and continually updated array of topics, using both publicly accessible and proprietary sources. The open access portion of the database provides access to about 10 percent of the overall database content.

About 25 percent of the total data in Statista comes from sources available free online, such as the World Bank and the U.S. Census. But Statista also includes numerous other exclusive sources including industry, marketing, and trade groups. In 2015 Statista reported that 65% of the content is from exclusive secondary sources, and 10% from "internal sources." Sources include market forecasts, dossiers, and industry reports. The chief types of data are related to marketing, demographics, and government information. (See Appendix: Statista Source List for a list of the 500 sources most frequently cited in Statista, as of 2012.) Data are custom-combined to yield a very broad range of topics, such as these tables: “Worldwide Apple iPhone Sales since 2007”; “Number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals in India”; “Oil Imports from Iran by Country”; and “NFL Athletes’ Twitter Accounts with the Most Followers Worldwide.” New types of charts are continually added; the developers note that they update existing data when available.

The geographic coverage is planned to be worldwide; the developers are currently expanding content on Brazil, India, and China. They are also developing customized portal interfaces for certain client markets including the UK (launched in 2015), China, and France.

The developers note that many of Statista’s clients are global corporations outside of academia, in the private sector. The material is continually updated; some earlier reports are retained and revised as necessary with new data. For analysis of longer data series, researchers will need to consult to the original sources, which are extensively documented in a source database (the source database is not available in the open access version of Statista). The database appropriately describes itself as a “statistics portal”, although it does add value by combining various types of sources to address topics of current interest.

Additional content as of 2015 include:

• An Infographic Database with 2000 infographic charts.
• Exclusive datasets: Scarborough, IPSOS, and TGI.

As of 2017, Statista expanded their product line with "Digital Market Outlook" and "Consumer Market Outlook" add-ons. The Consumer Market Outlook product provides data on market sizes and forecasts for more than 150 consumer products and passenger cars. The product cover segments in 16 different categories from 40 countries. The Consumer Market Outlook provides information regarding: revenue performance forecast, clear market segmentation, growth rates, and comparability of all countries and markets. Most market data are updated once a year, however some data are updated on an ad hoc basis. A time stamp at the bottom of each diagram shows the latest update. 

The Digital Market Outlook add-on provides forecasts, detailed market insights and key indicators for relevant topics of the digital economy. The data is all derived from bottom-up market modeling. Features of the outlook include: predicted revenue development, distinct market segmentation and scope, realistic growth rates, predicted user development, segment-specific penetration rates, and demographic profiles. There are 9 topic areas in the product with 36 segments, the major topics are: 

• Digital Media 
• FinTech
• eTravel 
• eServices
• eHealth
• Connected Car
• Smart Home
• e-Commerce 
• Digital Advertising  

Update to Review 4/16/18:

Statista has introduced a new add-on product to their Statista Database: Global Consumer Survey.

Global Consumer Survey as described by Statista

• Conducted as an interactive online survey
• Offers a global perspective on consumption and media usage, covering the offline and online world of the consumer
• Designed to help marketers, planners and product managers understand consumer behavior and consumer interactions with brands
• 50 + industries and topics
• 700+ international brands
• 27 countries
• Do-it-yourself analyses
• Customized target groups
• Updated annually

See Appendix for Brochures from Statista regarding the new add-ons. 

Updated April 2019:

Statista has introduced a new "Expert section of Statista," known as Business Plan Export.  According to Statista, this section provides the following:

• Extensive data sets (digital economy + consumer goods)
• Templates for market modeling (external perspective) and business cases (internal perspective)
• Feasible costs and benefits breakdown
• Individual starting date, three currencies

This new section is available to all subscribers to Statista Expert.  Subscibers to Statista "Standard/Light" will need to upgrade to Statista Expert to gain access to this new section.