comScore has released the first comprehensive review of Internet behavior covering 10 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.  The comScore World Metrix study reveals that in May there were nearly 284 million people age 15 or older who accessed the Internet from either a home or work computer in the region. 

This represents 10 percent of the Asian-Pacific population 15 years of age and older. The average person in the Asia-Pacific region visited the Internet on 13.8 days in the month and spent 20.2 hours viewing 2,171 pages.

This compares to the global averages of 17.1 usage days per month, 25.2 hours per month, and 2,519 pages per month, indicating that the Asia-Pacific region’s PC-based Internet usage is somewhat lower than the rest of the world.

The comScore study compares activity across the 10 countries where comScore reports on Internet usage with a consistent panel-based measurement ensuring harmonized cross country comparisons. Significant findings from the study include:

• South Korea boasts the greatest rate of Internet usage, with 65 percent of its population using the Internet in May (home and work locations, age 15 or older), followed by Australia (62 percent), New Zealand (60 percent) and Hong Kong (59 percent).  India has the lowest penetration at just 3 percent.
• China clearly has the largest online population with 91.5 million people (age 15 or older accessing the Internet from either a home or a work computer in May 2007), but this translates to a penetration of only 9 percent of the country’s population. 
• Japan has 53.7 million users (49 percent penetration) and South Korea 26.3 million (65 percent penetration).  Combined, these 3 countries account for 60 percent of the region’s Internet population.
• South Korea has the most active online population, using the Internet an average of 17.4 days per person in May, and dedicating 31.2 hours to viewing 4,546 pages during the month – twice as many pages as the regional average of 2,171 pages per user.
• New Zealanders constitute the smallest online population in the region (1,949 million people) but are online 16.4 days per month, versus the regional average of 13.8 days. 

These stats all exclude traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs. Since so much Japanese traffic may involve phones while elsewhere so many people use Internet Cafes exclusively, these results may not tell the full story–although they certainly tell an important story. Bob Ivins, executive vice president of comScore, commented:

We all know that the Asia-Pacific region is large and that Internet usage is growing rapidly.  What is fascinating about this study is that it allows us to compare Internet usage across countries using a consistent measurement methodology and to then determine where PC-based Internet engagement is most developed.  We are looking forward to providing additional insight into the online dynamics of this important region in the future.

Source: comScore. “First Comprehensive Review of Asia-Pacific Internet Usage,” Press Release 07/09/07.

Related Post: “Billion Asia-Pacific Mobiles,” EBT Blog 04/05/07.

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