PHILIPPINES – MAY 2011 – TNS, the world’s biggest custom research company, conducted the largest ever global research project into people’s online activities and behavior: Digital Life 2011, which had drew from 48,804 interviews with consumers in 46 countries. In the Philippines, the study had 1000 respondents nationwide, with ages ranging from 16-60 years old, split equally between male and female.
This study discloses the major changes in the world’s online behavior. These include the four key findings of the study: People who have online access treat the Internet as the number one media channel; rapid growth markets overtaking mature markets in engaging in digital activities through their online consumers; blogging and social networking popularity in rapid growth markets; and the PC-to-mobile transition increased social networking.
Rapid growth markets like Egypt (56% growth) and China (54%) have much higher levels of online activities than mature markets such as Japan (20%), Denmark (25%) or Finland (26%) despite the mature markets’ more advanced internet infrastructure. Meanwhile, four out of five online users in China (88%) and over half of those in Brazil (51%) have written their blog or forum entry compared to only 32% in the USA.
In the Philippines, the study reveals that 36% of the online Filipinos, aged 16 to 60 years old across all classes, access the Internet daily. This makes the Internet the third most frequently-used medium against the 54% for TV, 36% for Radio and 32% for Newspapers. The number 36% of online Filipinos is 11 million individuals, three times more the population of Singapore or 1.5 times more than the population of Hong Kong. Filipino online consumers also spend an average of nine hours connected in the Internet, either through PC/laptop or their mobile phones, 29% of them checking their e-mail daily, 28% for the latest updates in their social networking sites and 20% for watching or viewing the latest in the multimedia.
It was further revealed that those who use their mobile phones spend an average of 3.1 hours per week on social networking sites versus 2.2 hours on e-mail. This is attributed to the “need for instant gratification” and the ability of the social networks to offer multiple message formats. The study reports that consumers expect their social networking on mobile phones to increase more than the use of PC. In fact, in the US a quarter of online consumers expect their use of social networking to increase in the next 12 months. This mobile phone wave has spread to the Philippines, where Facebook ranked as the third top mobile content service provider in 2010.
The prolific social networking site utility has also led to “brand friends” in the Philippines. Having these so-called “brand friends” means that people engage with brands and their activities on social media; this can be explained further through the Facebook Like Pages or an official Twitter account, both giving the latest updates.
According to the study, Filipinos have an average of 171 friends, significantly higher than the global average of 120, while their “brand friends” average is 5, compared to the global average of 4. This trend is driven mainly is the Filipino’s desire for information and special offers.
What does this mean for advertisers? They can tap the following online trends to gain more consumers: social media, e-mails and multimedia. They can also gain benefits of the digital space by targeting any of the Six Global Digital Consumer Segments:
-Functionars or those who use the Internet as a functional tool
-Aspirers or those who seek for a personal space online
-Knowledge Seekers or those who want to gain knowledge
-Networkers or those who want to establish and maintain relationships
-Communicators or those who want to express themselves
-Influencers or those who say that the Internet is an integral part of their lives, depending on what message the former wants to convey and to whom they want to focus.
Filipinos are predominantly “Aspirers”, with 83% of the Filipino respondents falling in this category. If brands help give them the space and belonging that they need through their gimmicks and promos, a high chance of success awaits. The study shows the trend now— fostering ties with the consumers and making them feel that they belong through the “brand friends” in the social networking sites.
There is no hard-and-fast rule when it comes to targeting these markets, given the variety of audiences they cater to. What matters is how these companies use their resources and the opportunity that digital affords.
