Another Staggering Statistic

Following on this week's announcement about Yahoo's unlimited e-mail storage size, here's another bit of news about Broadband access.  Although not surprising, I think the adoption speed we're witnessing is staggering. 

I read this yesterday:

Broadband penetration continues to surge, according to a new report by Magna Global. As of the end of last year, an estimated 55.6 million U.S. households, or 74% of all Internet households, connected to the Web via high-speed lines. That's up significantly from 2005's 43.9 million households and more than double 2003's 26 million.

What's more, broadband penetration is soon expected to surpass 90%, with an estimated 81 million U.S. homes connecting via high-speed connections by 2008.

The implications for this are clear, and something I've been saying for a while. As Internet speed gets faster, the online experience will get better. People will watch more video, buy more things and the overall satisfaction level of the Web as an information tool will only get better.

How does that impact us?  Well, today there are only a few arts sites that have video clips within them. That's going to change in a big way, and when it does, it will be more likely arts patrons will choose to go to an unfamiliar arts event over a more familiar (and presumably better marketed)