1. Trends in Internet Adoption and Use: Comparing Minority Groups
John B. Horrigan, Ph.D.
Presentation for
OTX Research
May 11, 2004

2. Presentation Overview
General trends in Internet Adoption
Focus on “hard to reach audiences”, i.e., Hispanics, African-Americans
Opportunities in Hispanic, African American segments

3. Big picture – as of February 2004
128 million American adults – or 64% – are Internet users
19 million teens (age 12 to 17) are Internet users, or 77%.
About 70 million American adults online on the average day.
48 million American adults have high-speed connections at home.

4. Percent Adult Americans Online

5. Trends in Internet use – by race

6. Internet penetration by race – End of 2003 (% Americans age 18 and over)

7. Internet penetration by race & age – End of 2003 (% Americans age 30 and under)

8. Internet penetration by race & education – End of 2003 (% Americans over age 18 and college graduates)

9. Internet penetration – age groups

10. Latest broadband numbers February 2004
24% of adult Americans have broadband at home
That’s 39% of adult Internet users
That’s a 60% increase in past year
DSL is big winner
More than half of growth in past year due to DSL subscriptions

11. Broadband at home,

12. Broadband at home -- subgroups

13. Broadband at home – by race

14. Profile of Online & Offline Population February 2004
Online demographics
Whites: 75%
African American: 8%
Hispanics: 11%
Other: 6%
Average Age (Internet users):
Whites: 41.9
African American: 36.6
Hispanics: 33.8
Offline demographics
Whites: 69%
African American: 15%
Hispanics: 11%
Other: 5%
Average Age (Non-Internet users):
Whites: 58.3
African American: 50.9
Hispanics: 41.1

15. Rhythms of use – by race Whites African-American Hispanics
Online yesterday
59%
35%
41%
Go online from home
84%
81%
76%
Log on several times per day
29%
14%
18%
Number of years online
6.1
5.7
5.5
# of online activities – ever
7.5
(out of 18)
7.3
7.0
# of online activities – daily
3.4
2.6

16. What people do online – % of Internet users who have ever done following activities
– 91%
Search engine – 88%
Map/directions – 84%
Info query – 80%
Research product before purchase – 78%
News – 70%
Surf for fun – 67%
Travel info – 66%
Health medical – 66%
Buy product – 65%
Travel reservations – 57%
Job-related research – 51%
Political news – 46%
Download (games, videos, pictures) – 42%
Bank online – 34%
Religious/spiritual info – 29%
Download music – 18%

17. What people do online – % of Internet users who, on typical day, do following activities
– 48%
Search engine – 31%
Get news – 27%
Surf for fun – 23%
Hobby – 21%
Info search – 21%
Research product before purchase – 15%
Get financial info – 12%
Audio/video clip – 11%
Play a game – 9%
Bank online – 9%
Government Web site – 9%
Look up phone # – 7%
Online auction – 3%
Read a blog – 3%
Buy a product – 3%
Search for info about a person you might meet – 3%
Download video file – 2%

18. Playing games online

19. Do search in answer to a question

20. Get sports scores online

21. Get religious/spiritual information

22. Buy a product online

23. Research a product online

24. Participate in online auction

25. Do Banking online

26. Download music

27. One hand … other hand
Minority groups tend to lag whites in Internet use by various measures …penetration, intensity of use, number of years online.
Tech elite – measured not just by Net use – tend to be whites.
But minorities show willingness to spend on information goods and services.

28. Cell phone use – by race October 2002

29. Cable TV penetration – by race October 2002

30. Satellite dish penetration – by race October 2002

31. Premium TV Channels – by race October 2002

32. DVD players at home – by race October 2002

33. Average monthly spending, selected information goods (phone, cell phone, cable TV, premium channels, ISP, online content) – October 2002

34. Summing up
African-Americans and, to lesser extent, Hispanics lag whites in Internet use – by several measures
Overall penetration
Broadband use
Frequency of use
African-Americans use the Internet to get information and for entertainment.
Lag on online transactions/ecommerce
Minority groups show willingness to spend money on information goods & service, but these dollars go to old media

35. Reach me … John B. Horrigan jhorrigan@pewinternet.org 202-296-0019
Pew Internet & American Life Project
1100 Connecticut Ave, NW, Suite 710
Washington, DC 20036