When proposing a new direction for development, the first question that a client often asks is: How many people are going to be able to take advantage of this new technology? How sad it is when an entire application is developed just to find that only 50% of the end users can actually view the site.

Before using Macromedia Flash content on their sites, most clients want to know what percentage of Web browsers will be able to see it. Because of the wide preinstallation of Macromedia Flash and its ease of download, this percentage is very high. In June 2002, NPD Research, the parent company of MediaMetrix, conducted a study to determine what percentage of Web browsers have Macromedia Flash preinstalled. The results show that 97.8% of Web users can experience Macromedia Flash content without having to download and install a player.

IDC Research estimates the total number of users online to be 465 million. Since Macromedia Flash users represent 97.8% , then 455 million users have the Macromedia Flash player already installed. Few other technologies have such a high distribution level, not to mention that the flash content looks the same across all browsers, unlike traditional html solutions.