Asian young spend nearly 10 hours a day consuming media: study

Nation Multimedia.com - Asia's youth spend an average of nine-and-a-half hours each day consuming some form of media. Listening to music is very important to the lives of two-thirds of young Asians and 34 per cent said that they had spent more time listening to music in the last year.

The fourth annual Synovate Young Asians study looks at what's in the hearts and minds of the region's youth, revealing their media consumption, purchase habits, attitudes, favourite singers and cartoons. It covers 12 markets across Asia, including Japan and Vietnam for the first time.

Synovate, the market research arm of Aegis Group, generates consumer insights that drive competitive marketing solutions.

The research director of Synovate in Thailand, Rattaya Kulpradith, said Synovate, in conjunction with the research sponsors - Microsoft Advertising, MTV and Yahoo! - had uncovered the driving forces of media influence on Asia's youth.

"Media across different platforms have certainly taken hold of youth across Asia in a significant way and this influence continues to grow. In fact, 25 per cent admitted that they just couldn't live without the Internet while 23 per cent said they planned to watch more TV," she said.

The survey also explored the engagement levels of eight to 24 year olds on the different types of activities and time spent on media. Synovate found that 35 per cent had used the Internet more than a year ago, while close to a quarter (23 per cent) had spent more time watching TV.

Newspaper and magazine reading remained unchanged, with 64 per cent of respondents spending roughly the same amount of time on both media. More than a quarter (29 per cent) of young Asians set aside time and plan their schedules around their favourite TV programmes, hoping to catch every episode.

"This is great news as young people are continuing to use a wide variety of media and spending a good part of the day doing so," she said.

The biggest media junkies can be found in South Korea (13.7 hours a day), Hong Kong (12.7 hours) and Singapore (12.6 hours). This covers time spent on the Internet, watching TV or DVD/VCD/videos, reading newspapers or magazines and listening to the radio.

"Asia's young people have certainly embraced multi-tasking. Kids are watching the TV, but also talking on the phone. They are on the Internet with the radio on in the background. Or they may be sending e-mail, texting on their mobile phone and playing an online game all at the same time," she added.

Respondents were asked if they had a say and influence when it came to the purchase decisions on a variety of household goods and services. Eighty-four per cent of Asia's youth believe that they have the biggest say and are able to influence the purchase decisions as well as buy their own snack food, candy, chocolates and soft drinks.

Over two-thirds (70 per cent) of young Asians were able to influence the purchasing of toys and games. Seventy-two per cent of young Asians were able to influence the purchasing of clothing and apparel while fast-food chains would be pleased to know that 66 per cent of Asia's youth dictate the choice of venues when it comes to fast-food outlets and quick service restaurants.

Topping the list of purchasing influence and decision making among individual markets were young Thais (94 per cent) when it comes to buying snack food, followed by Indonesians (92 per cent) and Indians (89 per cent), while Hong Kong youngsters (64 per cent) were able to influence the purchasing of video games.

Young Thais (62 per cent) again together with Koreans (51 per cent) top the influence scale when it comes to buying skincare and grooming products while Indonesian youngsters have the biggest say on mobile phones.

"Apart from voicing an opinion and having influence, we also discovered a sense of proactiveness among Asian youth, particularly young Indians (59 per cent), Taiwanese (47 per cent) and Vietnamese (43 per cent) who indicated that they would not only influence purchases but get their own snack food, candy, chocolates and soft drinks," she added.

Moving beyond consumer goods and services, Asia's youth had a say on purchase decisions of big-ticket items such as the family holiday trip abroad (26 per cent) and the family car (22 per cent).

"With so much time spent each day on media consumption, there is every reason to believe that brand communications have filtered through and influenced purchase decisions. It's vital that smart marketers continue to engage with these young audiences to build a loyal consumer base," said Rattaya.

Synovate asked young people how they felt about one of the world's biggest issues -the effects of climate change.

An encouraging 67 per cent of Asia's eight-24 year olds said that they were concerned about the effects of climate change. Most concerned are the Filipinos (87 per cent), Thais (81 per cent), Hong Kongers (78 per cent) and Koreans (75 per cent).

"Far less conscious were youth from India (38 per cent), Indonesia (14 per cent) and Malaysia (13 per cent) who said that they do not believe that the climate is changing. This is somewhat alarming and there's certainly a clear need for more education on this global issue," she said.