ASIA-PACIFIC – KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, JULY 2011 – Omnicom Media Group has unveiled the results of its first study profiling media consumption habits of consumers in East Malaysia.
“East Malaysia market has generally been ignored, because we normally focus on the bigger market of the Peninsula, and apply the same strategy across Malaysia,” said Andreas Vogiatzakis (pictured), managing director of Omnicom Media Group. "With expanding population and growing market needs, it is high time that we take a closer look into the market and understand the East Malaysia consumers a little bit more."
The research was conducted in conjunction with Synovate and covers over 500 consumers in the six major towns in Sabah and Sarawak, namely Kuching, Miri, Sibu, Sandakan, Tawau, Kota Kinabalu.
According to the research, East Malaysia, home to the 20% Malaysians, is diverse in ethnic makeup and media consumption but share similar characteristic traits as the urban consumers in the Peninsula. Key trend include: consumers in the major towns of East Malaysia tend to be go-getters, optimistic and open to embracing challenges in life as compared to urbanites in the Peninsula. The reason for this could be attributed to the stronger camaraderie and community ties – grounded on faith and pragmatism – that exist in East Malaysia.
The study revealed several interesting facts and insights and some of the highlights include slightly lower consumption of all media than the Peninsula urban and a high tendency of community interaction even in the urban areas.
TV marks the highest reach across different segments and ethnic groups (88%), with FTA channel consumption largely the same as the Peninsula. Satellite TV is prevalent with more than 55% penetration, but ASTRO only 37%.
Radio comes second, with 68% reach (compared to 90% in the Peninsula). Newspaper reading is high amongst the Chinese (60%), compared to Malays (37%) and Indigenous (31%). Magazine reading is higher in East Malaysia (27%), compared to Peninsula (18%).
Similar to the Peninsula, Internet consumption skew towards working adults and students, but interestingly, Internet has a higher affinity with the Malays. People in East Malaysia tend to behave similarly, online and offline – social networking is the key activities done online (82%), reflective of their community-centric nature.
The East Malaysia study is aimed to facilitate marketers with better understanding of consumer behavior, enabling them to reach out to East Malaysians more effectively.
