• by May 20, 2002

Nielsen//NetRatings today said that the largest broadband markets achieved significant audience gains of at least 48% year-over-year in their respective high-speed populations this past April. Overall, more than 25.2 million surfers at-home accessed the Internet via cable modem, DSL, ISDN or LAN last month as compared to 15.9 million individuals in April 2001, increasing 58% year-over-year.

"Sixty-five percent of the top broadband metropolitan areas posted robust growth in their high speed populations, signaling that, while some barriers exist to broadband expansion such as increasing costs, there is healthy room for additional growth and adoption of broadband," said TS Kelly, director and principal analyst at NetRatings. "The largest broadband cities continue to grow."

The fastest growing broadband local markets that are also among the top broadband metropolitan areas include: New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Atlanta, Sacramento, Orlando, Minneapolis, Hartford, Portland, Phoenix and Baltimore.

The high-speed surfing population of New York jumped 71% year-over-year to nearly 2.8 million broadband surfers, while Los Angeles grew 88% to 1.8 million. Boston was home to 1.1 million broadband users, rising 48%, while San Francisco claimed 1.1 million high speed Internet users, growing 21%. Rounding out the top five, Philadelphia's broadband population rose 70% to 785,000 surfers.

"The sheer online populations of the fastest growing broadband markets continue to rise, pointing to continued demand for broadband over the last year despite the slowdown in overall Internet growth in the U.S.," Kelley continued. "Because prices for high-speed connections pose a cost-barrier to most Internet users, Internet service providers would be wise to balance value, service, content and broadband development to encourage narrowband surfers to make that transition."

Nielsen//NetRatings
Top 20 Broadband Cities (U.S., Home) 
April 2002 Broadband  Year-Over-Year
Local Market     Unique Audience (000)  Percent Growth

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1.  New York*                   2,780            70.5% 
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2.  Los Angeles*
1,766            87.9% 
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3.  Boston*                     1,120            48.4% 
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4.  San Francisco               1,110            21.0% 
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5.  Philadelphia*                 785            69.9%

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6.  Seattle                       691            22.3% 
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7.  Dallas
623            12.8% 
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8.  Chicago                       555            13.9% 
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9.  Washington DC*                532           153.2% 
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10. Atlanta*                      517            87.7%

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11. San Diego                     497            15.0% 
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12. Sacramento*
416           117.8% 
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13. Detroit                       411             8.0% 
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14. Orlando*                      401           183.0% 
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15. Minneapolis*                  368            94.3%

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16. Tampa                         368            45.0% 
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17. Hartford*
366           198.3% 
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18. Portland*                     366           105.1% 
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19. Phoenix*                      320            67.6% 
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20. Baltimore*                    310           174.4%

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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, April 2002
* Denotes local market is among the top 20 fastest growing broadband markets.