China has without question the biggest
internet population in the world with 420 million people online. It
has 180 million more users than the US, which has the second
largest internet population.
But Asia is not only significant
because of its large population. The way Asia consumes digital
content is also very different to the rest of the world and it
shows a continent hungry for digital engagement. Compared to the
Western world, Asians are far more involved with online content and
is leading the way for both online and mobile video use.
Digital involvement scores:
Bird's-eye-view
At MediaCom, we have developed the
"Digital Involvement Score" to explain digital involvement in a
simple way, market by market, audience by audience. It provides an
easy to use but essential digital bird's-eye-view of the market and
of consumer groups. However, the framework also provides an
excellent way to illustrate the higher digital engagement of most
of Asia.
To derive the metrics, we separate the
online population into levels resembling Forrester's digital
involvement ladder, from the less involved 'joiners/spectators' up
to the 'creators'; those uploading video and written material.
In the illustrated "Digital
Involvement Score" you can already see the difference in shape
between developed and developing markets, with the latter producing
a characteristic 'inverted pyramid' with most people being
'Creators' instead of 'Joiners/Spectators' opposed to the pyramid
shaped developed markets. In fact we found that generally,
developed markets are less involved in digital (even Japan shows
much lower scores). However, overall Asia showed the highest
engagement levels of any region in the world.
For Brand owners there are two key
learnings from this:
- Firstly, it is important to note that
within all the regions and within markets, large differences in
digital involvement can exist. In order to understand these
differences Digital Involvement Scores and similar relative
frameworks are important tools that will allow faster and clearer
justification and guidance for allocation of digital budgets.
- Secondly, it is now an undeniable fact
that Asia is the leading region in regards to digital involvement,
led not by the developed markets like Japan, but by the massive
user base of China. Any company who fails to grasp this, presuming
the Asian internet population to be like their domestic
populations, or worse, less sophisticated, are likely to make
costly mistakes.
Sources:
http://www.internetworldstats.com
Global web index
The Nielsen Company, Global Online Survey, March 2011