Tag Archives: statistics

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Online TV Grows in Popularity

Watching TV online has been gaining in popularity. Nearly one-fifth of American households who use the Internet watch television broadcasts online. This is double the viewership from 2006. The top two destinations for online broadcasts are official TV channel homepages and YouTube.com.

Being able to watch broadcasts on their own time and at their convenience are the top reasons users tune in online. Other reasons include avoiding commercials and portability. Nearly 72% of online households log on for entertainment purposes on a daily basis, and one in ten cites entertainment as the most important Internet activity.

Among consumers connecting to online broadcasts, 43% tune into the news, 39% watch drama shows, 34% view sitcom/comedy shows, 23% watch reality shows, 16% view sports, and 15% view user-generated content. Other categories attracting viewers include previews, additional content from favorite shows, soap operas, and advertisements.

Among online TV viewers, almost nine out of ten watch online broadcasts at home. About 15% say they watch Internet broadcasts in the office, and 6% watch TV online from other locations, including the library or a friend’s home.

The Consumer Internet Barometer is based on a quarterly survey of 10,000 households.

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2008 Best Practices Study Released

Once every three years, the Big I asks its insurance company partners, state association affiliates, and other industry organizations to nominate those agencies they believe to be among the most efficient and high performing agencies in the industry for each of the study’s revenue categories. These agencies are asked to submit operational information in many areas. This information is carefully evaluated and ranked, culminating in the choice of the top 30 agencies in each revenue category. These agencies earn the status of “Best Practices Agency.”

Overall, this year’s study shows that agencies are doing much more with fewer people, and organic growth rate is much stronger than expected. When asked the reason for their success, the new crop of Best Practices Agencies said, overwhelmingly, regardless of agency size, “the quality of our people.” This quality can be defined as a strong work ethic, expert knowledge in agency products and services, as well as high ethical standards and dedication. These factors, coupled with advanced proficiency in agency technology, allowed the 2008 Best Practices Agencies to push productivity levels higher than ever.

Although positive revenue growth was difficult to achieve, Best Practices Agencies continued to invest in new production talent. The majority of agencies with revenues over $2.5 million hired at least 1.5 new producers during the last fiscal year, with the largest agencies hiring an average of 9.4 new producers.

The average starting salary across all revenue categories ranged from $52,000 to $95,000. The largest agencies, those with revenues over $25 million, tended to hire more experienced producers, while those in the lower revenue categories tended to hire producers with less sales and/or insurance experience.

The study and a listing of the 2008 Best Practices Agencies can be accessed at www.independentagent.com, www.reaganconsulting.com, or at bp.reaganconsulting.com.

Through this site, you can also view an HTML version of current and past executive updates, download a Best Practices comparison spreadsheet to compare your agency’s year-end results with the study’s results, and access other Best Practices studies, tools, and products and download order forms.

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Keep Track of Your Laptop

Every day, business travelers are putting the sensitive and confidential data of their organizations at risk when they travel through airports. Although companies are dependent upon on a mobile workforce, this mobility is putting companies at risk of having a data breach if a laptop containing sensitive information is lost or stolen.

Sponsored by Dell, Ponemon Institute conducted a study, Airport Insecurity: The Case of Lost Laptops, to understand the current risks posed to sensitive and confidential data contained in the laptops of business travelers. According to the study:

  • Business travelers lose more than 12,000 laptops per week in U.S. airports.
  • Only 33% of laptops lost and found in airports are reclaimed.
  • Over 53% of business travelers say that their laptops contain confidential or sensitive information. However, 65% of these travelers admit they do not take steps to protect or secure the information contained on their laptop.
  • According to U.S. airport representatives, the most common airport locations where laptops are lost include security checkpoints (40%) and departure gates (23%).

This study highlights the fact that every laptop in your agency should be secured and encrypted to make sure that personal customer information is protected in the event the laptop is lost or stolen.

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Text Messaging Most Important for Cell Phone Buyers

Cell phones aren’t just used for talking anymore. In a survey conducted by Amplitude Research, buyers of new cell phones look at video capability (33%), music (34%), Internet access (61%), e-mail capabilities (63%), camera (67%), and text messaging (73%) as the most important features. For driving in the car, 62% said they would use Bluetooth, while 51% would use the hands-free microphones.

Forty-one percent said they send or check e-mails one to five times per day, while 28% said they do not use their cell phones for e-mail. Thirty percent said they use their cell phones for banking transactions. As these trends continue, agencies will want to learn how to communicate with their clients in multiple ways.

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112 million U.S. Adults Have Broadband at Home

The percentage of U.S. households with broadband Internet connections has grown from 12% in 2002 to 49% today, and 112 million U.S. adults now have high-speed Web access at home, according to a study by Scarborough Research.

The study, based on a panel of 220,000 adults 18 and older, found significant regional variation in broadband penetration. San Francisco topped the list, with 62% of adults living in households with broadband Web access, followed by Boston and San Diego at 61%. At the bottom of the list was Roanoke/Lynchburg, Va., at 29% and Charleston/Huntington, W.Va., at 33%. Most of the markets with low broadband penetration are in the South and Southwest.

Not surprisingly, adults with broadband access are more likely to use the Internet, including for shopping. For instance, 10% of those with broadband access have spent $2,500 or more online in the past year, compared with 8% of all adults. That means adults with broadband at home are 23% more likely to have spent at least $2,500 online in the past year. They are 20% more likely than average to have spent between $1,000 and $1,500 and 12% more likely to have spent between $500 and $1,000, the survey shows.

They also use the Internet in other ways, being 30% more likely than the average American to have downloaded podcasts during the past month, 29% more likely to have downloaded or watched TV programs, and 27% more likely to have downloaded or listened to audio clips.