Who owns the Web in Asia?
SINGAPORE - Amidst a recent dark cloud of pessimism shrouding the Internet and IT related industry in Asia, a ray of light appears. According to Internet measurement company NetValue, there is still room for growth and time for leaders to stake their claim in Asia’s burgeoning Internet sector.
The report, taken from NetValue’s Wide Angle Solutions Suite, indicates which companies are competing for control in Asia’s online war. Share of minutes is a tangible measure of brand loyalty on the Internet – companies controlling a greater proportion of online minutes are considered industry leaders.
The US sector is considerably more stabilised; the top five properties control close to 50 percent of all Internet user minutes. AOL Time Warner, showing a clear dominance in the US market, holds about 20 percent of these minutes. Compare this with Asia, where the top five companies in each market control only 25 percent of the total minutes spent by users online.
“Within the individual Asian markets, the industry is extremely fragmented. Share of minutes by companies outside of the top 10 properties drops to less than one percent each in most markets,” said NetValue’s vice president of Sales & Marketing (Asia-Pacific), Clayton Fitts. “This illustrates a potential for a handful of companies to take control. The right strategic partnership or alliance could move a company into a position to dominate the market. Right now, it’s still anyone’s game.”
One player that has managed to gain ground in Asia is Yahoo, who holds the top position in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. Interesting to note is that AOL Time Warner, who controls the bulk of user minutes in the US, does not appear within the top five companies for any of the Asian countries surveyed.
Unlike the US, Asian markets are dominated by a mix of both International and local players. In Hong Kong, for example, Nextmedia group edges out MSN while in Korea, the top three companies controlling share of minutes are locally based.