Much current thinking about broadband deals with how it gets delivered (see "Pipe war"). But scant information is available about the on-line behavior of broadband consumers and how it might evolve in the future, though such insights are important to businesses developing strategies to serve them.
At first glance, early findings from research by McKinsey, working together
with Media Metrix and Vividence,1
show that many consumers are using broadband much as they used narrowband.
When the sites that broadband and narrowband consumers visit are organized
into content categories and ranked according to the percentage of unique
visitors viewing each, there appears to be little difference between the
two groups of users, though broadband consumers appear to sample a wider
range of content. What attracts consumers to broadband is the fact that
it is "always on" and much faster than narrowband and therefore makes
for a more efficient and intense on-line experience. Not surprisingly,
once consumers have a broadband connection, they spend a lot more time
on-line (Exhibit 1).
Broadband has increased the number of people who use the Web’s multimedia
features (Exhibit 2). More important, there are significant differences
in the types of sites at...