FRISCO, TX — (Marketwire) — 03/22/12 — According to a new report from TDG, eight in ten U.S. broadband households now use a home network, meaning they are able to access a growing variety of net-based video and applications on a growing number of devices. Interestingly, nearly 40% of home network routers are now located in the primary living room, more than twice the number found in -home offices.- These and other research findings are discussed in TDG-s latest report, The CE and PC Ecosystem of the Broadband Household: 2012, the second edition of TDG-s annual study on consumer electronic ownership, placement, and connectivity within the U.S. broadband home.
In the last year, there has been a 26% increase in the number of broadband-networked households that place their routers in the family/living room (30% in 2001 vs. 38% in 2011). Conversely, and during the same time period, the number of those placing their routers in a -home office- has declined 30% (down from 26% in 2010 to 18% in 2011).
“The migration of home network hardware from the -home office- to the primary living space offers both functional and figurative insight,” notes Michael Greeson, TDG founding partner and director of research. “TDG noted in 2005 that, driven by the incessant desire to optimize their entertainment experiences, consumers would progressively place their network access point adjacent to key net-enabled video entertainment platforms such as game consoles, disc players, and DVRs. In 2012, this is precisely what we observe and most would acknowledge. The meaning of this shift, however, remains lost on the majority of observers.”
This near-linear relationship strongly supports the argument that in-home networks are seen increasingly as a means to connect key living room entertainment platforms to the Internet as opposed to “networking” stationary computers and peripherals. Consistent with TDG-s longstanding predictions, router placement has evolved in step with evolving consumer needs. As net-enabled entertainment services such as Netflix became more popular, optimal placement would swing from the -home office- to the living room. “Such were our predictions and such is the reality of in-home networking in this multi-source, multi-conduit universe.”
TDG-s new report, The CE and PC Ecosystem of the Broadband Household: 2012, discusses via primary research the consumer electronic ecosystem of the U.S. broadband household, specifically in terms of:
The number and types of consumer electronic and personal computing devices used;
The primary locale of device use within various rooms of the home;
The extent of Internet connectivity among these devices, both in general and by location; and
The type of networking technology used to make each connection.
The report is now available for purchase at or by contacting our Research Services Team at 469-287-8050.
About The Diffusion Group
TDG provides actionable intelligence on the quantum shifts impacting consumer technology and media behaviors. Since 2004, our market research and advisory services have helped technology vendors, media companies, and service providers understand how consumers access, navigate, distribute, and consume broadband media — whenever and wherever they may be.
For more information about The Diffusion Group, visit our website at .
Wendy Stockard
469.287.8061
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