M'sians love rich media but...

Malaysia's broadband penetration rate may only be 18 percent but that doesn't mean Malaysians are unsophisticated users of the Internet.

In fact, Malaysia recently emerged in the top 10 among media consuming nations, out of 52 countries surveyed by Nielsen.

"Malaysians are real entertainment and technology junkies," said Nielsen Malaysia managing director Paul Richmond. "They consume a copious amount of home entertainment, music, video games and digital media... Malaysians especially have an enormous appetite when it comes to consuming digital media ranking fifth out of 52 countries.”

He added: "They are also prolific and sophisticated users of the Internet, with 53 per cent having streamed or played content such as full-length movies or movie clips, movie trailers/ads, TV shows or clips from TV shows, music videos or other audio tracks or files, short video clips or individual/amateur clips and videogames in the past month."

That being the case, it should destroy the myth that Malaysians are not into rich media. The question is will they pay for it? I bet the bulk of the content being consumed is free stuff.