Indiantelevision.com Team

(9 November 2006 7:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Global market research company, Synovate has released its second annual Young Asians survey keying in on the lives of young Asians aged eight to 24, revealing their product ownership patterns, spending habits, favourite brands, idols and aspirations.

Synovate research director Betty Wu said, "Conducted in conjunction with MTV, Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions and Yahoo!, Young Asians is a wide-ranging study now covering ten countries in Asia that reveals the hearts and habits of Asia's connected youth."

"Young Asians is the only syndicated survey that gives media organisations and agencies information and insight into what's driving Asia's affluent youth - ensuring they make knowledgeable, targeted advertising and marketing decisions," she added.

The study suggests, that as an entirely digital generation, today's young Asian accepts computers, mobile phones and MP3 players as the norm and views the internet as fundamental to their lives. The study adds that 15-24 year olds, use the web to search for information (81 per cent), correspond interactively (76 per cent), download music, videos or software (72 per cent), access search engines (68 per cent), listen to the radio or music (52 per cent) and play online games (41 per cent).

The average young Asian spends three hours instant messaging a day, one and half hours on emails and 1.4 hours participating in various online community activities. The average young Asian accesses the internet 4.8 times a week; while two thirds of young Asians aged 15 to 24 use it on a daily basis.

Requiring the hardware to support their digital drive, 46 per cent own a desktop computer or laptop, 19 per cent have their own TV game console and 16 per cent have their own digital still camera. A further 56 per cent own a mobile phone and 34 per cent own an MP3 player, adds the study.

Yahoo! Asia senior director, Asia Pacific sales Ivy Wong said, "As the internet is now an inevitable part of the lives of Asia's youth, advertisers need to communicate with them through fresh, new ways. With its interactive and targeting capabilities, the internet provides an ideal brand and promotion platform to target and engage with youth."

And it's clear that for this generation much of their media is new, with 48 per cent of 15 to 24 year olds viewing or contributing to a blog in the past 30 days, 45 per cent having accessed a personal homepage and 14 per cent of young Asians participating in online dating in the past month.

A group who know who they are, what they want, and how they plan to get it, 71 per cent believe education is more for personal development than preparing for a career, 60 per cent agree that they feel a great sense of personal freedom, and another 60 per cent agree that they prefer to be the leader of a group rather than a follower.

Just under half of all young Asians (47 per cent) agree that they are easily bored, a figure that highlights the challenges for marketers in connecting with these important consumers.

Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions regional media analyst, Asia Pacific, Greater China and Japan Celia Fan said that with its multiple platforms and products, the company is well positioned to help brands reach and engage this important audience. "It's key for marketers to further integrate online media as driving factors of their brand campaigns as more young Asians consider the internet indispensable for information and daily interaction with their peers."

A list of their favourite brands across different categories:

In line with their well developed sense of self, this generation of young Asians are financially savvy. Fifty six per cent of full time workers save some or all of their income and 54 per cent of 15 to 24 year olds who work part time or receive pocket money do the same. Forty six per cent of young Asians will finance an expensive product by saving until they have enough to buy it later, but consumption clout is still strong, with 34 per cent of young Asians indicating that they would finance such a purchase by asking their Mum or Dad for the money.

Relationships are key, with family, friends and the future the three areas that young Asians rate as most important to their lives. And while online communication helps keep many of these vital relationships going, when it comes to connecting, phone calls, face-to-face time and SMS are the preferred options.
Only 1 per cent of young Asians will now take the time to write a letter to connect with friends or family. Just under a third of young Asians (32 per cent) believe they need money to keep them content.

Despite their digital life, some things in young Asian worlds are the same as it was for their predecessors. Although 52 per cent turned to the internet for entertainment purposes in the past 30 days, a greater number had turned on the television (87 per cent), listened to music (66 per cent), participated in some form of sport (64 per cent) or read a book or magazine (61 per cent). 30 per cent watch DVDs while alone and 15 per cent have gone to see live theatre on their own.

When it comes to their idols, David Beckham is number one for sports, Jackie Chan the favourite movie star, Jay Chou the number one music idol and Doraemon the favourite cartoon character - with Tom and Jerry a close second.

"The new section on celebrities and idols sheds more light on the interplay between global icons and the growing interest in stars from within the region, clearly highlighting the growing 'Asia loving Asia' trend that MTV has been tracking for some time," said MTV Networks Asia-Pacific's vice president of research and planning Ian Stewart.

Stewart added, "Young Asians provides a great deal of critical benchmarking information that we see as the standard currency on youth lifestyles in the region."

"Companies hoping to win the minds and wallets of this unique generation of consumers need to understand how they think, why they act and what they buy. This survey arms marketers and advertisers with this complex information, enabling them to make savvy, targeted marketing decisions," Wu said.

The survey was conducted among a total of 11,590 youth from affluent and mass households across ten Asian markets were surveyed. The countries covered include China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

For youth aged eight to 11, respondents were screened according to household product ownership. Young Asian respondents aged 15 to 24 were required to have access to the internet in order to complete the survey.