Broadband penetration increases to 70% among Gen Y
NEW YORK, Jan. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- 70% of online Gen Y's (15-22 year olds)
accessed the internet with a broadband connection in Q4, an 11% increase over
Q3, according to Bolt Media's Quarterly Tracking Study. Bolt surveys the
online behavior of teens across many categories including Movies, TV,
Beverage, Wireless, Spending, and Online Behavior. Of those teens accessing
the internet through a broadband connection, 50% use a cable modem, 44% use
DSL, and 6% access the internet thru a T1/T3 line.
The growing dominance of broadband is a driving force behind the
increasing amount of time teens are spending online. For today's young people,
half of whom spend more than 15 hours online each week, faster connections and
load times dramatically enhance the user experience. "Kids who are online
aren't just surfing the web. They're blogging, uploading photos and video, and
downloading and sharing music," remarks Kevin Wicks, Bolt's Director of
Entertainment Content. "Faster connections mean a higher volume and broader
range of activity on the web."
This change in activity can be seen on Bolt and across the web. Bolt
photos have seen a 27% increase in uploads per user between Q3 and Q4. Gaming
sites, which require extended periods of interaction, report the second
highest volume of activity among all genres, according to the Bolt Quarterly
Tracking Study. While blogging ranks 6th among most frequented genres,
blogging sites saw the most significant increase between Q3 and Q4 this year,
with a 39% jump, bringing blogging penetration to 25% among teens.
Faster connections are also driving multi-tasking by the demo. 66% of
teens report being online while watching television at least some of the time,
while a remarkable 16% reporting they are online while watching TV almost all
the time. Not surprisingly, with online usage on the rise, 55% of teens report
that they are watching less TV than they were this time last year.
As time spent online increases and broadband continues to penetrate the
market, teens and young adults have growing opportunities to make their media
experiences more participatory. Through blogging, photos, online gaming,
online video and other tools, Gen Y is accepting the challenge of creating
their own programming.
About Bolt Research
Bolt Lab(TM) has built an opt-in research panel of over 1 million active
members who are eager to participate in surveys. Our ongoing and trusted
relationship with our members result in high-quality responses that are open
and honest.
Every quarter, Bolt survey panelists (15-22 years old) respond to
questions about Entertainment, Food, Electronics, Gaming, Internet, Spending,
Wireless and general trends to give insight into the teen demographic.
A sampling error of +/- 4% (95% confidence level) is assumed for
statistics based on the total sample of respondents. When differences are
noted between groups these are based on statistically significant differences
(p < .05).
About Bolt
Bolt is a media company that brings together 4.5 million high school and
college kids each month at http://Bolt.com . The company fuses journalism with
consumer-generated content to catalyze conversations about things young people
want and need to talk about -- music, movies, gaming, dating, activism and
technology. At Bolt, our business is helping young people find each other and
enabling brands to connect with our members. Founded in 1996, Bolt is
headquartered in New York City.
SOURCE Bolt, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.bolt.com
CONTACT:
Jamie Weissbrot of Bolt Media,
+1-646-230-4726, jweissbrot@boltstaff.com
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