Consumers tighten embrace of Net and streaming content

We love our Internet in the US, to the tune of more than $113 billion in 2014. And we will spend more in the coming years. Consumers will spend more than $174 billion on Internet access in 2018, estimates PricewaterhouseCoopers in the consulting firm's Entertainment & Media Outlook 2014-2018.

Even as spending on digitally-delivered movies, music and video games rises, the amount spent on Internet access far surpasses any other spending category in the consulting firm's report. That makes sense because "those pipes are what deliver all that digital content," says PwC partner Sean De Winter.

And we don't leave home without it. In 2013, mobile Internet spending accounted for $53 billion of the total $102 billion Net access pie, PwC says. Home broadband accounted for 49 billion, PwC says. Reliance on mobile access is expected to remain vital. By 2018, 86% of the US population will have mobile service compared to 85.6% with home broadband.