UK lags US in online content spending Brits are often said to be behind the Americans when it comes to technology. That's not always the case, but it certainly is with digital content that punters part with their hard-earned for. US market research company Nielsen questioned tablet owners on both sides of the Atlantic about their content purchases. In almost all …
The average US disposable income (as PPP) is about $23k per person, in the UK it's about $17k [ source: wiki ]
Why would anyone expect british online spend to be as much as other, richer, peoples? Or even that "more is better" or that "lagging" is necessarily a bad thing (maybe profligacy is worse) ? Given the relative amounts of spendable dosh per head, it's amazing that brits spend as much as they do.
I'd rent movies online when I was at a loose end if it was a one shot deal. But paying every month when I might not have time to watch anything? Forget it (LoveFilm & Netflix.) As for music, I want lossless files with no DRM. So the result of all this is that I watch movies when they reach TV or are free on sites like Youtube and I buy music on CD then rip to FLAC on a NAS for distribution around the house.
...perhaps it's something to do with the fact that, umm, oh I don't know, things cost more over here?
We get paid less (on average) and items cost more. Plus utilities and fuel cost way more as well so even less available disposable income left over to buy stuff...
11c per KW/h electric in the US' compare to 23p per KW/h I pay where I am in the UK
And, everyone knows the cost we pay for fuel compared to the US'.
Also everyone knows the shocking state of our internet access. Who going to download a movie when it takes 8 hours, on a good day?.
If media outlets want us to buy more downloads they'll have to pursuade BT to give up their stranglehold on our barely post-war technology national infrastructure. Fat chance.
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