Two-Thirds of Active U.S. Web Population Using Broadband.

Nielsen//NetRatings announced that the number of active broadband users from home increased 28 percent year-over-year, from 74.3 million in February 2005 to 95.5 million in February 2006. Broadband composition among the U.S. active online population has seen vigorous growth during the past three years, increasing at least ten percentage points annually and hitting an all-time high of 68 percent for active Internet users in February 2006.

From February 2003 to February 2004, broadband composition grew twelve percentage points, from 33 percent to 45 percent (see Table 1). In February 2005, it increased another ten percentage points to 55 percent. This year, February saw broadband composition reach an all-time high of 68 percent, increasing an impressive 13 percentage points over the previous February.

Overall Internet penetration in the U.S. has stabilized over the past few years, reaching 74 percent at home in February 2006.

As broadband penetration increases, so does the average PC time spent per person. With fast connections to Web sites for online photos, audio and video files, online visitors are devoting more time to their computers. Since February 2003, the average PC time per person among active Web users has increased approximately five hours from 25 and a half hours a month to 30 and a half hours a month.

“The correlated growth in average PC time per person is the result of broadband users’ greater satisfaction with their online experience,” said Jon Gibs, senior director of media, Nielsen//NetRatings. “The ‘always on’ nature of a broadband connection allows the Internet to become more entrenched in consumers’ lives. In broadband consumers’ minds, activities such as checking account balances, downloading music, watching streaming video and checking email become just another application of the PC rather than a separate activity that happens when they log on to the Internet.”

Video Sharing Sites Enjoy Growing Popularity

With increased broadband penetration, a growing trend is accessing streaming media online at video sharing sites. MSN Video garnered 9.3 million unique visitors in February 2006, growing 44 percent over the previous year (see Table 2). YouTube and Google Video grew from relative obscurity in February 2005 to substantial players in February 2006, drawing 9.0 million and 6.2 million unique visitors, respectively. iFilm and Yahoo’s video search saw triple digit year-over-year growth in their visitation, drawing 4.3 million and 3.8 million unique visitors, respectively.

“Video sites have successfully tapped into the use of viral campaigns, capitalizing on consumers’ impulse to share funny clips with their friends,” said Gibs. “Among these sites, it is not uncommon to see dramatic spikes in weekly Web traffic due to a popular online video that has been sent from person to person. Television networks should be looking to embrace, rather than pull away from these sites, in order to generate buzz for their broadcast programming.”

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