The Internet Survey: Increasingly faster broadband
Statistics Norway’s latest internet survey shows that the speed in Norway is going up, up, up.
- The average speed is now 104.5 Mbit/s – that is an increase of just over 55% since the same time in 2017.
- The median speed is 49.6 Mbit/s – an increase of more than 46% since 2017.
The median speed is considered to be more representative of a typical broadband subscriber than the average speed, due to relatively small groups with very high speeds raising the average.
The biggest increases in median speed in the past year have come in Nordland and Troms, the smallest in Finnmark.
Akershus still has the highest median speed of the counties, 58.1 Mbit/s in 2018.
Rogaland, Oslo and Aust-Agder also have median speeds above 50 Mbit/s.
The Media Habits Survey: The generation gap is shrinking
Deloitte’s media habits survey 2018 shows an increasingly data-hungry audience, across generations.
The difference between the youngest (14-20) and the oldest (70+) user group interviewed can still look large:
- The oldest watch, for example, 14 hours more TV a week than the average across age groups.
- The youngest more often prefer PCs to TVs to watch films and series.
… but the differences are steadily decreasing, and even among the oldest film and series viewers, PCs are said to account for over 20% of viewing time.
Yes, We Can Binge-watch
All age groups now also state that they engage in “binge-watching”, which is defined here as watching three or more episodes of the same series in one sitting.
46% of those questioned in the survey had at least one paid subscription to video streaming. And if you have one subscription, you often have several: Those who reported having such subscriptions had an average of 2.1 subscriptions each. Netflix is clearly the biggest, followed by HBO Nordic.
Linear TV is losing more and more ground. 59% of those questioned prefer streaming, recording, downloading or on demand services to live TV.
… And Multitask
And settling for one screen at a time is increasingly rare. Practically everyone multitasks when watching TV, regardless of age.
- Only 8% state that they never multitask.
- Of those who multitask, 70% state that they use their mobile phone.
And while television is still the most widespread “gadget” in Norwegian homes, it is also on the opposite trend to the smartphone:
- 92% state that they have a television (down one percent a year since 2016)
- 89% state that they have a smartphone (up one percent a year since 2016)
Broadband, Yes–Computer Network, Well …
91% of those interviewed in the media habits survey state that they have broadband. This matches internet penetration and general Norwegian broadband statistics fairly well.
Then Deloitte asked how many people have “a computer network/router”, and here only 70% answered yes.
We can perhaps first take this as a reminder that the media habits survey is based solely on self-reporting, which is never 100% reliable – and that it is important for all of us to find and use understandable terminology for the technology we communicate.