Broadband adoption soared 59% during the 12 months through March 2006 among middle- and working-class households, according to a recent AP report I saw on Yahoo! News.

This strongly suggests to me that the great growth we have seen in podcasting, blogging and RSS will continue for some time and that these media formats have a good chance of becoming mainstream channels. 

For those of us using these distribution methods to complement our PR efforts, it seems clear we're on the right track!  The AP story explained:

Middle- and working-class Americans signed up for high-speed Internet access in record numbers in the past year, apparently lured by a price war among phone companies. 

Broadband adoption increased 59 percent from March last year to March 2006 among U.S. households with incomes between $30,000 and $50,000, according to a survey to be released Monday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

It seems pretty clear that dial-up is not long for this world and the broadband connections that were once the exclusive domain of businesses are shortly going to be had by all.

Thus, podcasting, blogging and the like will soon become excellent ways to reach large audiences in both the business and consumer worlds.  Here's the big stat that tells the story: 

Overall, 42 percent of adult Americans, or 84 million people, have broadband, compared to 30 percent a year ago.

So if you sometimes feel a bit early to the party in terms of your blogging or podcasting efforts, keep them moving.  The marketplace is moving at blazing speed to meet you.