Web economy in G20 countries will nearly double by 2016

According to a report and article by the Boston Consulting Group, G20 countries will see the value of the web economy rapidly grow in the next few years. Currently, the web economy is valued roughly at $2.3 trillion. By 2016, the value of the web economy is predicted to grow to 4.2 trillion--nearly doubling from what it is today.

One of the driving factors for this rapid growth will be that by 2016, nearly half of the world will be web users. The growth of web users will be 1.9 billion in 2010 to a projected 3 billion web users in 2016.

The rise of the emerging markets, the popularity of mobile devices, especially smart phones, and the growth of social media are also compounding the economic impact of the Internet. Boston Consulting Group, Davos, Switzerland, January 27, 2012

In the next five years, businesses will be fundamentally transformed by the Internet, and it's growth will be global and pervasive.