Amaru Inc., through its Singapore-based subsidiary M2B World Pte. Ltd. and its Hollywood-based company M2B World Inc., have released the findings of a month-long independent study commissioned by the company to analyze consumer broadband attitudes in the United States. The study revealed consumer behaviors, interest and preferred applications for on-demand entertainment, including preferences for emerging technical solutions such as IPTV set-top boxes and addressed the willingness by consumers to access IPTV-based programming.

Overall, the study found that almost three-quarters of Americans would be interested in the ability to access content on-demand via their mobile devices or computers.

Other notable significant results include:

• In a US-based household with broadband access, the study found that 2.34 users per household regularly access the internet.
• 18-34 year olds showed a surprisingly keen interest in at-home work solutions, which include video-conferencing, professional development content and educational offerings available via on-demand broadband media.
• While the study found that almost 3 in 4 (73%) expressed an interest in being able to access content on demand, women were slightly more receptive to the concept (76% to 71%).
• More than half of all respondents were significantly interested in e-learning content available on-demand, a percentage that edged out shopping, American television programming, health and wellness programs or live-pay-per-view events.
• Almost twice as many New Yorkers than those in San Francisco or Los Angeles were receptive to the idea of incurring the standard nominal fee for individual programs, posed as USD $2.00, for online dating and social content programs.
• 76% said they would be very interested in Lifestyle programming on food and cooking, compared to 32% that said they would be interested in celebrity/high fashion news.
• 69% said that they would be interested in card gaming on-demand.
• More than 2/3 of respondents would pay $2 for first run movies on-demand, while nearly half would pay the same amount for e-learning and professional development tools.
• 47% of respondents would be willing to pay $10-$20 a month for on-demand content channels available through a subscription. Females are slightly more willing than men to spend within this price range.

The findings are the result of an in-depth survey generated by the M2B brand and conducted through an independent research firm in January of 2006. Questions were posed to over a thousand respondents who had current access to broadband in three major US cities -- New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles -- and the comparative analysis was generated to differentiate between geographical location, age and gender.

While the study was commissioned to gauge overall consumer attitudes towards accessing and paying for their entertainment choices via broadband, individuals were specifically asked in-depth questions pertaining to their current and future entertainment needs. Additional inquiries delved into the respondents' willingness to view content over a computer versus television sets, comparative interest levels in broadband channels on travel, lifestyle, fashion and gaming, pricing ceilings for such offerings and the overall awareness about the technological offerings available to access such programming.

The brand expects to utilize the conclusions to continue to meet consumer demand, and will gear their development and acquisition efforts towards building the channels and supplying the specific content that consumers are seeking.

"Our mission has always been to anticipate the needs of the consumer as the broadband category develops further, and to offer the content genres, hardware solutions and accessibility features that our viewers are seeking," said Amaru Chairman and CEO Colin Binny. "Independent studies such as the one that we have recently commissioned will be of vital importance in maintaining an accurate pulse on the market, and in determining the future trajectory of our development and expansion plans. We were extremely pleased to see that the interest by consumers in accessing their entertainment on-demand via broadband is an even stronger percentage than we had predicted, and we believe that this number will continue to grow as consumers are made more aware of their choices."

To date, the company has launched multiple international broadband channels in the categories of Hollywood movies, shopping, beauty, health, e-learning and foreign films to name a few. It has been an aggressive force in not only acquiring and developing content, but in expanding their unique offerings as the market develops to include a price-competitive international travel booking engine with broadband content, online social networking portals and interactive shopping destinations. This year, the company expects to continue to maintain its leading edge in the transformation of entertainment by rolling out technical solution devices such as a Set-Top box prepackaged with IPTV content, as well as original content produced in conjunction with Hollywood-based studios and foreign animation studios.

For more information on the study or to obtain the full results, please contact Shaila Arora at Thinkbig Media via email at Shaila@thinkbigmedia.com.