Lessons From Broadband Adoption Trends

Many more Americans are online today than in 2017. But growth in adoption of digital subscription plans has slowed. So what's going on? My new, topline look at American Community Survey data shows a spike in additional at-home wireline broadband subscriptions between 2019 and 2021. After that, growth has been modest, with only a 0.8-point increase from 2021 to 2023. In conjunction with private-sector and philanthropic efforts to help get people online during the pandemic, government subsidies for service helped more people afford home internet subscriptions. The subsequent flattening of growth has been due to the end of internet service subsidies—such as the Emergency Broadband Benefit and its successor, the Affordable Connectivity Program—and economic headwinds faced by low-income households. To improve broadband adoption, future growth will have to come from the same population segments that experienced adoption growth upon the pandemic’s onset. They are the segments where significant connectivity gaps remain—and thus are the most promising for attracting new subscriptions. 

[John B. Horrigan, PhD, is a Benton Senior Fellow. He is a national expert on technology adoption, digital inclusion, and evaluating the outcomes and impacts of programs designed to promote communications technology adoption and use.]