Users of Apple's iTunes player grew by nearly 69% over the past year (see Figure 1), but by only 26% since January. Among the big four streaming media players, only RealPlayer showed significant growth compared to Apple since the beginning of 2006. Broadband growth continued its steady climb in November, growing by 1.1% percentage points to 77.7% among active Internet users. Figure 1: Streaming Media Player Growth Over the past year, the number of unique users of Apple's iTunes player grew by 68.5%. Over the same time period, RealPlayer grew by 16.4%, QuickTime by 7.6%, and Windows Media Player grew by 4.3% according to data provided by Nielsen//NetRatings. However, from January 2006 to November 2006 iTunes users grew by only 26.3%, while RealPlayer grew by 6.6%, and QuickTime and Windows Media Player were essentially flat (see Table 1). Note that in Figure 1 we used November 2005 data instead of the January 2006 data to smooth out the data points. There were disputed reports of a slowing in iTunes growth recently. While iTunes' yearly growth rate has actually increased to nearly 70%, from January to November 2006 iTunes usage grew by only 26.3%. It appears that the December holiday rush plays a critical role in yearly growth. We'll revisit the streaming media landscape once the Janauary 2007 figures are available. US broadband penetration among active Internet users grew to 77.68% in November 2006. Narrowband users connecting at 56Kbps or less now comprise 22.32% of active Internet users, down 1.08 percentage points from 23.4% in October 2006 (see Figure 2). Figure 2: Web Connection Speed Trends - Home Users (US) In November 2006, broadband penetration in US homes grew 1.08 percentage points to 77.68%, up from 76.6% in October. This increase of 1.08 points is near the average increase in broadband of 1.03 points per month over the last six months (see Figure 3). At current growth rates US broadband penetration should break 80% among active Internet users by mid-January 2006. Figure 3. Broadband Adoption Growth Trend - Home Users (US) As of November 2006, 92.5% of US workers were on broadband, up 0.79 percentage points from the 91.71% share in October. At work 7.5% connect at 56Kbps or less (see Figure 3). Figure 4: Web Connection Speed Trends - Work Users (US)
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings and Website Optimization
iTunes Player Usage Grows Nearly 69%
Source: Nielsen//NetRatingsTable 1: Streaming Media Player Growth Comparison (Unique Audience [000])
Player
Nov-05 Jan-06 Nov-06 YOY Jan-Nov Apple QuickTime 11,771 12,817 12,670 7.6% -1.1% iTunes 13,922 18,568 23,460 68.5% 26.3% RealPlayer 26,262 28,687 30,566 16.4% 6.6% Windows Media Player 68,758 71,112 71,705 4.3% 0.8% Home Connectivity in the US
Web Connection Speed Trends - Home Users (US)
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings
Broadband Growth Trends in the US
Broadband Adoption Growth Trend - Home Users (US)
Extrapolated from Nielsen//NetRatings data
Work Connectivity
Web Connection Speed Trends - Work Users (US)
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings
Further Reading
By website optimization on 15 Dec 2006 AM