IDC India's recent Home Segment Study related to Internet
usage in homes has indicated that 9% of PC-owning households in the country have Internet
access. However, within current non-users 37% have plans to get on to the Internet in the
future. What's even better is that amongst households currently not owning a PC but
planning to take one in the near future over half of them plan to get an Internet
connection in future. Out of these 23% plan to get on the Net with their PC purchase.
Usage of the Internet is not restricted to a single user in
a household with nearly 90% of IDC's respondents indicating that more than one family
member used the Net at home for different applications and purposes. Since the Internet is
not a single-user medium any more, it becomes important to know the key users. The title
of top Net user was equally divided among the categories of "adult son/daughter"
and "male head of the household" with the teenage segment constituting nearly
9%.
The availability of suitable content and applications would
go a long way helping Internet surpass all age barriers. The almost universal presence of
Cable TV among Internet enabled homes assumes importance because cable modem technology is
available for providing Net connections using cable to the home.
The Internet has emerged as a medium for communication in
97% of Internet connected homes Next comes "Entertainment/Recreation" with 63%
of the respondents rate second due to lack of content and options. Nearly half of the
Internet homes use the medium for "Education".
In future, 'Edutainment' would add fuel to higher Internet
usage. Online shopping at present is experienced by nearly one-fifth of Internet homes and
should grow significantly in the days to come.
"What ISPs and content providers need to do is
understand the home users, segment them based on their needs and finally offer them
tailor-made services in order to get a positioning advantage, as homes would bring in
volumes" says Utpal Ghosh, Manager - Consumer Research, IDC (India) Ltd.
IDC INDIA
Homes who... | Percentage |
Plan to take Internet Access | 53 |
Don't plan on taking Net access | 47 |