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, according to the latest research published by Nielsen//NetRatings.
Overall Internet penetration in the U.S. has stabilized over the past few years, reaching 74 percent at home in February 2006, Nielsen//NetRatings determined.
That means almost all new broadband subscribers are people who have upgraded from dial-up services.
As broadband penetration increases, so does the average PC time spent per person. Since February 2003, the average PC time per person among active Web users has increased approximately five hours from 25.5 hours a month to 30.5 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. “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.”
Nielsen//NetRatings observed that with increased broadband penetration, a growing trend is accessing streaming media online at video sharing sites. MSN Video pulled in 9.3 million unique visitors in February 2006, up 44 percent over the previous year. 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.