eMarketer is reporting that come 2006, the UK will be the high-speed Internet capital of Europe and by 2008 it projects that it will have caught up to the US. Already, the UK has the highest Internet users in Western Europe:
A quote by eMarketer Senior Analyst, James Belcher says this is because of the government’s efforts to increase Internet access across the UK – 57% of the population are now online.
It says: “A larger broadband audience is important for marketers. Greater bandwidth allows access a variety of different communication and entertainment applications that are otherwise inaccessible or sub-standard when utilized at lower bandwidths.” How true and another reason why video blogging will become more predominant.
The report also goes onto say the amount of people shopping online is increasing. Not only that, the amount they are spending is increasing also.
This doesn’t surprise me. The North East has ownership of the largest shopping centre in Europe, the Metro Centre, and as I done my last bit of Christmas shopping today, it was unusually empty for this time of year. Shops were advertising sales already! Normally, the sales start at the beginning of January and certainly not before the Christmas shopping frenzy.
Also, advertising in the North East has hit a bit of a downward slope recently. I’m hearing of quite a few agencies that have been laying off staff. I’m not sure if this is the same across all the UK, but I imagine it could be. I wonder if it’s due to people beginning to buy from ecommerce sites?
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emarketer, stephen+davies, broadband, metro+centre,
Stephen is a communications consultant based out of the UK. You can connect with him on Twitter or check out his LinkedIn profile. | Email Stephen
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