Broadband Living Creates Marketing Opportunities

As broadband adoption reaches the 50 percent mark, users are changing their habits — opening the door for marketers to reach them with rich media and with integrated campaigns. That’s according to a new report released by Yahoo featuring findings from Forrester Research and Mediaedge:cia.

The report shows that users are spending more time online, looking at more Web sites and are able to handle multiple tasks online at a time.

“Dial-up users might pay a bill online, however broadband users manage their life online,” said Beth-Ann Eason, vice president of category management at Yahoo Eason emphasized that high-speed connections make it practicable to book a vacation, buy a home or car, or research topics.

The study found that users accessed the Internet throughout the home with 80 percent surfing in their bedrooms, 61 percent reaching the Web while in the family room, 51 percent access from their kitchens and 21 percent of users find a way to get online from the bathroom. Yahoo’s study found that homes with wireless access were six times more likely to go online from the kitchen or other unconventional spaces, as compared with wired broadband homes.

A new trend that emerged in the Yahoo report was something researchers called “Media Meshing,” in which users enhance their experiences by accessing multiple media at the same time. Increased access allows users to gain perspective by digging deeper into something they see on television, personalize their experience by creating preferences on the information being aggregated, and getting involved by interacting with actors on a show, or other viewers voicing their own opinions. Through Media Meshing, users can become more involved with their hobbies, interests and other aspects in their life where they have a passionate involvement, the researchers found.

The researchers concluded that Media Meshing enables marketers to use integrated campaigns to reach people across media.