Singapore: Digital Media Statistics

                                                      

My interest in Singapore is based on three factors. First, I have been impressed a lot by the unprecedented growth it has registered in the last four decades. Once a sleepy town which was expelled out of Malaysia due to various reasons; it has come a long way to evolve as center for trade, tourism and innovation. Second I was commissioned a consultancy assignment early this year, which involved devising a social media strategy for an organization based out of Singapore. This helped me understand the nuances of digital media consumption for Singapore. Third and perhaps the most important reason is my recent association with Jade Magnet, an India based creative crowd sourcing platform. Jade Magnet has a white label brand called id8on particularly created for the Singapore and greater Asia Pacific region. A part of my role with Jade Magnet involves doing some marketing and branding exercise for id8on.

This small analysis has been prepared to give a snap shot of the digital media consumption behavior of Singapore. It could be helpful for digital media consultants, research agencies, business strategists and business owners.

The population of Singapore is 5.184 million. The overall GDP is estimated around USD 239.7 billion and per capita gross national income stands at USD 42, 930 (high income group).

Singapore is a leader in global innovation and ranks 3^rd in Global Innovation Index after Switzerland and Sweden.

Internet penetration stands at 78.5 percent with over 3.6 million inhabitants having access to internet.

The overall mobile penetration stands at around 150 percent as of late 2011. Over three fourth of the mobile subscription comprises of 3G networks.

Smart phone penetration stands at 88 percent, i-Phones are the market leader in smart phone segment with around 73 percent market share. Android based operating systems account for 17 percent of the market.

Smart phone usage is more or less equally distributed across different age group, gender and income level.

Internet access via Wi-Fi and 3G network is more or less equally split with Wi-Fi and 3G accounting for 45 and 55 percent access respectively.

Google is the leading search engine with 77 percent market share.

In 2010 the overall e-commerce in Singapore was worth over a billion USD, unlikely for a small country where things are available nearby. It is expected to be fourfold by 2014, according to research conducted by PayPal.

28 percent of the e-commerce activities are from the travel sector followed by fashion (13), IT/electronics (13) and gifts and collectibles (11).

In 2011 m-commerce accounted for 23 percent of online spend. The overall value of m-commerce was USD 382 million where as the spend each mobile shopper was around USD 354.

The city state is adopting Near Field Communication (NFC) faster than any other country. Presently there are over 20,000 shops and taxis accepting NFC.

In April 2010, an average internet user spent 10.5 hours watching video averaging 130 videos. The most engaged demographic segment was 15-24 age group watching 192 videos.

4 out of 5 internet users have a Facebook account. Five most popular Facebook pages include- LAMC Productions, Singapore Flyer, Resorts World at Sentosa, Justin NG Photography and FlyScoot. 

You Tube accounts for over 61 percent of the multimedia traffic.

Source: World Bank, Black Box, Social Bakers, World Intellectual Property Organization, Experian,

Image Source: Apple

Qatar: Digital Media Insights

Following are the “Key Insights” derived from the Qatar Digital Media Report 2011. (The report is based on a survey conducted over 633 respondents from Qatar.) It could be helpful to media companies, researchers, strategist and web and mobile entrepreneurs.

·         Qatar's digital media is considered to be in its nascent stage. However double digit growth is expected for another four years, pertaining to high investment in Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure, young demographics and higher technology adoption rate.

·         95 % of the very large businesses (> 500 employees), 68% of large businesses (>100 employees), 40 % of medium (10-99 employees) businesses and 6 % of small businesses (fewer than 10 employees) in Qatar have web presence.

·         Overall internet penetration in Qatar stands high at 82%. Mobile broadband penetration has increased by 130 % during the time period 2009-10.

·         Majority of internet user fall under low to mid income groups. More than 90 % of users at least have a high school degree.

·         One fifth of the internet users, which include students, housewives and retired person are not involved in labor market.

·         Internet users in Qatar use internet through multiple mediums such as laptop, desktop and mobile phones. 75 % use laptops, 51% use desktops and 24% use mobile devices to access internet.

·         Majority (89%) of users, access internet from home.

·         Most popular sites in Qatar include social media, search engines, e-newspapers and news channels.

·         Most popular social media is Facebook (28.3 % penetration) followed by Orkut and Twitter as distant second and third.

·         The most popular search engine is Google followed by Yahoo and MSN.

·         The most popular e-newspaper website is Gulf Times followed by Al-Sharq and Al-Raya.

·         Internet users in Qatar do not tend to watch TV programs or listen to radio songs over internet. However technologies enabling better video streaming can change the trend in near future.

·         42% of internet users have their native language as Arabic. In spite of this, there is a dearth of good quality Arabic contents both in Qatar as well as in the Middle East region.  

·         Outsourcing of website is very popular as 69 % of companies with website host their website with external vendor. (44% use a local provider where as 25 % use  international provider)

·         Online marketing and e-commerce are gaining popularity. However online advertisements are not very popular. Only 14 % of organizations use the web media to promote their products and services. 40 % of large organizations use online advertisements compared to just 11 % of smaller ones.

·         Internet security is a major concern as 43 % of users are not assured of the security features over the internet.