Asians show more diverse interest: Study
According to the report - a March snapshot of Asian Internet users - Asian Internet users visited 6.4 different sectors on the average compared to the national average of 5.7 sectors in the U.S.
Korea leads the pack with 6.8 sectors visited, this was followed by Hong Kong with about 6.5 sectors visited, Singapore (5.9) and Taiwan (5.9) and China (5.2).
Each Asian market displayed different interests and preferences, said the report.
Singapore and China lead Asia for “Knowledge ” sector (15.5% and 12.3% reach versus an average of 8.1%). Hong Kong finds its niche with the ‘Media ’ sector, reaching 71.8% of the users versus an Asian average 62.6%. In Korea, “Arts and Culture ” (59.5% Vs 51.6%), “Media” (71.5% Vs 62.6%) and Pornography (71.5% Vs 62.6%) sectors have higher than average visits. For those sectors, Korean Internet users represent more than 66% of the total Asian visitors. In Taiwan, ‘Society ’ sector makes a difference with a reach of 82.4% versus the Asian average of 78.4%.
“It’s important to understand the e-lifestyles of various Asian cultures if you want to profit from their usage patterns,” says Clayton Fitts, Vice President of Sales and Marketing in NetValue Limited. “If you know the types of protocol they use, then that essentially gives you an edge over how to cultivate and sustain the interests of your target audience.”
Asia, The Rising Star
Asia has also seen tremendous growth in Internet usage in the last few years. According to the research, Asia has seen much faster growth in the number of people becoming connected to the Internet than the US, although the region’s household incidence of 34.8% (about 10 million households) connected to the Internet trails behind US’s household incidence of about 50%.
In March, users across the five markets of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Singapore, connected to the Internet (i.e., web and non-web activities) for a total of 284,830 days or an average of 12.2 days per Internet user.
About 52.1% of the time spent online were spent through non-web protocols such as instant messaging, e-mail, chat and online games. Except for China, usage of such protocols surge pass 50% in the region’s major markets.
Hong Kong Internet users topped the scale with about 32% of them reportedly using the instant messaging protocol. Singaporeans, on the other hand, love to chat. The Taiwanese, on the other hand, engaged most frequently in emailing activities while the Koreans emerged first with audio-streaming and gaming protocols.
“Considering the broadband incidence in Korea, it is not surprising to see Koreans using audio-video streaming and playing games online,” Fitts noted. “About 61% of the households connected to the Internet are broadband enabled. Broadband enables faster downloading, better video-effects, and greater multi-player capabilities. So if you have broadband connection, then streaming and online games become easier to access, and the audio-video experience also becomes much more entertaining.” Report provided by NetValue