Internet users with broadband connections accounted for almost a third of all consumer spending online in the US last year, despite representing less than a fifth of the online population.
The findings, from Scarborough Research, are a further indication that broadband access is conducive to spending more time and money online. US broadband users – who account for 19% of those online – spent $15 billion via the web last year, representing 31% of total online expenditure.
The country’s 23 million broadband users are twice as likely as all internet users to have spent $2,500 or more online in the past twelve months, according to Scarborough.
In addition, broadband users are also more likely to use the internet to view traditional media content than all users. They are 68% more likely to have read a magazine online and 40% more likely to have read a newspaper online in the past 30 days. Radio listening is also higher, with a fifth having listened to a station online in the last 30 days – 72% higher than the all-user average.
The report describes these broadband users as ‘the next generations of web users and information seekers.’
“Traditional media websites, which have often been perceived mostly as extensions of their broadcast or print counterparts, are able to provide richer online experiences to those with broadband connections and offer rich content like streaming audio and video, interactive games, and sophisticated graphics and downloads,” said Gary Meo, a senior vice president at Scarborough Research.
“Their ability to integrate traditional content with rich media also allows online marketers to present advertising in new and exciting formats. The continued adoption of broadband is one of the key drivers of the advertising growth that online companies have been experiencing this year,” says Meo.
Outside the US The number of broadband internet homes in the UK has already passed two million and new connections have been running at around 35,000 every week, according to Oftel (see UK Broadband Reaches Two Million Homes). Prices may also be set for a drop, following a ruling by the telecommunications regulator (see Oftel’s BT Ruling Should Bring Down Dial-Up Internet Costs).
Analysts at Datamonitor say that European broadband is now on the verge of becoming a mass market technology, with more than 41 million European households forecast to have signed up to the service by 2006. It says that premium content services will be key in pushing uptake and generating continued revenues for operators (see Bumper 2002 Boosts Broadband Uptake).
Forrester Research predicts that 30% of European homes, around 50 million households, will have broadband access by 2008, representing 57% of the online population at that time. Forrester concurs with Datamonitor in that attractive, exclusive broadband content will be vital in driving growth and revenues (see Broadband To Hit 30% Penetration In Europe By 2008).
