MONEY, NOT RACE, DRIVES INTERNET GAP

By: Karl Greenberg Report Says It's All About Income



(Adweek) According to a new analysis from New York-based Jupiter Communications, it's money, not race
that drives the Internet gap in the US.



The Internet commerce consultancy's report, Assessing the Digital Divide(s), asserts that, while large
gaps continue to exist between ethnic groups and age groups, the largest adoption gap remains between
households with high incomes and those with low incomes. According to the consultancy, less than half
of U.S. households with average incomes under $15,000 - 19% of the total U.S. population - will have
entered the Internet population by 2005.



Jupiter's analysis shows that the wealthiest households (with income over $75,000) will continue to
represent the biggest single segment of Internet users, with 15 million such households online by the end
of 2000, according to the report. That figure will approach 20 million in 2005. By contrast, the poorest
segment - with household incomes of under $15,000 - will represent only three million online households,
growing to nine million by 2005.



'For the Internet to be a true mass medium, it will have to achieve higher penetration among all consumer
segments,' said David Card, senior analyst with Jupiter. 'However, the critical-mass penetration achieved
by even the under-penetrated segments should encourage businesses that target online consumers with
affinity programming strategies. These relatively small markets can generate revenues for content and
services targeted at specific communities.'



Jupiter forecasts that 4.6 million African-American households will be online by the end of 2000, compared
with 3.8 million Hispanic-American households and 2.2 million Asian-American households. Each of these
demographics will grow at double-digit rates annually for the next five years, according to the report.