Media Passport The lowdown on local media landscapes

Feature

Web viewing on upward curve

All seven markets in Asia-Pacific, where Comscore measures online video usage, saw more than 75% of their web populations view online video in September. In Hong Kong, almost nine in 10 online consumers viewed online video during the month. India had the lowest level of penetration, but even its video viewing reach has grown five percentage points since January.

Online video viewing also accounts for a growing amount of digital time. All seven markets have seen average viewing time increase by double digits since the beginning of 2011. Japan, where viewers averaged more than 33 hours in September, has experienced the strongest growth at 81%. In markets such as Malaysia and India, where widespread broadband adoption still poses a challenge, average hours per visitor are among the lowest at less than eight. But both markets have seen growth since the start of the year. Viewing time has risen 57% in Malaysia and 40% in India.

EMBRACING ALL AGES

Online video used to be considered an activity for younger users, but as content options have continued to expand, viewing has become ubiquitous across demographic segments.

Although Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia have higher engagement rates among some segments, viewing is no longer dominated by a single age group. Malaysia has experienced the greatest disparity in demographic usage, with users aged 15-24 accounting for 38.1% of video viewers in September. Much of that video consumption is via YouTube, but as local video properties from Media Prima and Maaduu.com become more popular, this consumption will even out across age groups.

There is no doubt that video will continue to play a strong role in the online consumer experience as it matures as a medium, with more professionally produced content capturing consumers’ attention.

What will be important for the industry is how to monetise online video content. With more consumers spending a growing amount of time engaging with it, the opportunities will be integral to many digital strategies.

Joe Nguyen is Comscore vice-president for Southeast Asia