Mobile Key to Reaching Youth in Asia, Study Shows

March 14th, 2008 by NGT

How many hours do you spend on the Internet and your mobile phone? Probably not as much as your average teenager in Hong Kong. According to a new survey, of the 38 hours of activities Asia’s youth manage to squeeze into a day, 10 are spent on some form of media.

The Synovate Young Asians survey, conducted annually, studied the media, purchasing and leisure habits of young people aged 8-24 in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. This years’ results showed that multitasking, media-rich lifestyles are the norm in these countries. “The Young Asians survey makes it clear that, as far as young people go, the mobile is taking off as an all-in-one portable device. Coupled with young Asian’s dependency on their phones, this means the mobile is rapidly becoming a vital part of the media mix for brands seeking to interact with young consumers,” said Susanna Lam, Associate Director of Synovate in Hong Kong.

Here are some of the key stats on the wireless front:

Of all 8-24 year olds who have mobiles…
- 50% are using them to listen to music
- 47% are playing games
- 26% are taking video footage
- 19% downloading
22% of Chinese youth use the mobile web
The two most popular features on mobile are SMS (64% do it, with young Indonesians leading the way at 85%) and taking pictures (55%)
Hong Kong’s youth have the highest mobile phone ownership at 83% and the highest digital camera ownership at 41%
Young Thais are also racking up the most talk-time, spending a total of two hours 47 minutes a day on the phone (more than two hours of which is on their mobiles.)

What does this mean for marketers? Lam said, “It’s definitely the age of perpetual partial attention, meaning marketers have to work even harder to get the message through. Smart marketers need to understand before they can build and maintain a loyal consumer base in a notoriously trend-aware and media-savvy generation.”

From my observation and personal experience, these results also apply to (slightly) older people like me. I am addicted to SMS and my Blackberry.

- Kitty Lee, NGT Contributor from FH Hong Kong

Tags: Asia · Marketing & Branding · Teens · Tweens · Twenty-Somethings · Wireless World · Youth Trends