Consumers haven’t given up on home broadband connections yet, but a striking trend is emerging. An ever-growing group of Americans only access the internet via their smartphone.
28% of Americans age 18-29 and 24% of those age 30-49 years old do not have high speed connections at home. Overall, 20% of consumers are cellphone-only internet users, up from 12% two years ago.
Several forces are driving this trend. First, a greater percentage of people now have smartphones, and some “skipped” the step of having high speed access at home. Second, a number of Americans who previously had broadband have abandoned it; the percent with connections has actually declined slightly since 2015.
Smartphone-only internet users tend to be younger, less educated, lower income and non-Caucasian. To some extent this signals they may tend to have lower socioeconomic status. However, the data is conflated by the fact that many 18-29 year olds are still in school, working part-time or not at all.
Stay tuned as this trend develops because it could have powerful implications. There is a significant difference between marketing to consumers who are smartphone first vs smartphone only.
Sources: Engadget 2018, Pew Research Center 2018, Telecompetitor 2018
So please…You’re creative. That’s why you considered the name “Brandology.” Use those creative juices to come up with another name that’s not already trademarked. Even though it will take some time, it will be fun, happy time — a stunning contrast to the time you’ll spend with Brandon if you try to use “Brandology.” Really. (It’s probably a little tacky to mention, but if you want our help naming your business, that’s something we do too.)