High Earners Driving US Internet Growth

“Droves of highly paid executives are coming online for the first time at their offices. Those earning more than £100k grew 54% in the past year as compared to 14% the year before,” said Lisa Strand, director and chief analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings.

Those in the highest income band ($150,000+) are also well represented with 5.6 million now online. Homes with earnings of between £50,000 and £100,000 are less likely to have internet access but their dwellers still account for almost half of the online population.

“Corporate America is realizing the internet is as much an essential part of the work environment as the telephone and the facsimile,” said Strand. “At the same time, marketers should take note that the internet offers increasing opportunities to reach the affluent and their pocketbooks, particularly at work.”

At the bottom end of the scale, those in households which bring in less than $25,000 or $25,000 to $50,000 experienced the least growth in internet access. This goes to prove that there is a link between wealth and connectivity and compliments a recent study from the Leichtman Research Group which found that people from affluent households were more likely to have access to broadband and narrowband internet than low-income homes (see Affluent Americans Have A Need For High Speed).