• by April 7, 2004

Strategy Analytics, a global research and consulting company, reported an interesting finding today in a study of broadband consumers in seven European countries. In the study of 800 European broadband users, 56 percent reported spending less time watching TV since subscribing to a high-speed connection.

The report, "Broadcasters Beware: Broadband is Stealing Your Viewers," suggests that broadcasters ought to diversify their offerings with interactive TV services, digital video recorder functions, and other advanced TV services in order to meet the demands of the newly empowered, in-control consumer.

"Television is clearly suffering the most from the rapid growth of broadband," notes David Mercer, Strategy Analytics' principal analyst, in a release on the study. "A growing number of viewers are now choosing to spend their spare time communicating online and finding entertainment on the Internet, rather than sitting in front of the TV set."

While the report extends to the habits of European consumers, there have been similar studies conducted in the U.S. and all signs point in the same direction: TV viewership is declining, the old models aren't working and the omnipotent consumer, no matter her age is in control and on the move. She is rarely passive. The same goes for guys, by the way.

Apart from the overall trend of media fragmentation, I believe the Web has largely driven the consumer-control phenomenon. Cruising the Web is, by its very nature, an active pursuit. Consumers are empowered to search, browse, comparison shop, find dates, purchase stuff, read, dismiss, and move on. We are using the Web for everything---banking, research, stock trades, chat, email, and gaming.

When we want to know why something happens, or when it might happen, we go to the Web. We want to know, and be in the know. Online communities are our lifelines and they give us immediate, word-of-mouth feedback. It's the kind of feedback we used to get when we had time to chat over the backyard fence with our neighbors. Our blogs have become the ultimate empowerment vehicles--talk about consumer control. Self-generated and self-published, blogs represent the equal opportunity inherent in self-expression. I dare say a 5-year-old could blog with the help of her parents.

And broadband? Well, broadband makes it easy and attractive for us to spend more time on the Web, returning throughout the day to monitor, transact, research, and have fun.