That said, on to broadband. Jupiter Media Metrix reported today that while only 16% of U.S. online households subscribe to broadband, more than 24% of dial-up consumers are considering signing up for a broadband service within the next 12 months.
JMM analysts have found that these dial-up consumers actually favor utility over entertainment, even though companies catering to a broadband audience emphasize entertainment and rich-media applications. According to the report, titled “Broadband Audience: Maximizing Revenue from the New Mainstream,” for the first time in years, the top motivator of dial-up users planning to switch to broadband is a persistent “always on”' connection (59%). Less important are entertainment-related features such as the ability to view quality video (26%) and listen to audio (15%).
Dylan Brooks, senior analyst at JMM says broadband connectivity will soon be the rule, not the exception, for Internet users. JMM says that broadband has at last passed a critical inflection point in the U.S. -- household subscriptions nearly doubled last year, from just over five million to 10.4 million. Moreover, individual broadband users, including those at work, totaled 38 million in 2001 -- 32% of at-home and at-work Internet users.
According to Jupiter analysts, broadband households have long been going online: 60% have an online tenure of more than two years. However, households that have come online in the past 24 months make up a growing portion of the broadband audience: 27% in summer 2001 compared with 17% in summer 2000.