ACMA where its at...

A new report was recently released by the Australian Communications and Media Authority in which statistics are presented relating to the use of the internet by Australian citizens. Interesting results as at June 2010 include the following:

• 77% of Australians have an internet connection at home [pg6]
  
• 66% of Australian home internet connections are for broadband [pg6]
• the total number of broadband subscriptions is 8,768,000 [pg8]
• the total number of internet subscribers is 9,569,000 [pg8]
• 55% of users are online for an hour or more per day on average [pg12]
• 28% of users are online for 15 hours or more per week [pg12]
• 48% of people over the age of 14 yrs use the internet for entertainment or amusement [pg15]
  
• the use of the internet for entertainment or amusement includes 82% of 14 - 17 yr olds; 70% of 18-24 yr olds; 58% of 25-34 yr olds; 45% of 35-44 yr olds; 35% of 45 -54 yr olds; 32% of 55-64 yr olds; and 28% of those aged 65 and over. [pg16]
  
• for entertainment or amusement purposes: 41% played games; 39% downloaded music; 36% streamed videos; 23% downloaded video clips; 18% downloaded pictures; 17% downloaded games; and a further 13% uploaded photos to photo sharing websites [pg19]

This presents an interesting perspective of the use of the internet in Australia at the moment. With over eight million broadband connections an alternative compensation scheme for music sharing of just $5 per month would result in revenue to artists of $526,080,000 per year.

Further Reading
Australian Communications and Media Authority, Australia in the digital economy: the shift to the online environment (November 2010) <http://www.apo.org.au/research/australia-digital-economy-shift-online-environment> at 1 December 2010