Spread of Mobiles in Asia Pacific

It's hard to find anyone over the age of fifteen in Hong Kong that doesn't own a mobile phone, according to the latest findings from Nielsen Media's Media Index and Panorama. The survey looks at media habits, lifestyles, attitudes and product consumption across Asia Pacific.

According to Helen Pemberton, Director, Media Index, Asia Pacific, 'As Hong Kong reaches saturation point with over five million mobile phones in the hands of a population of 6.9 million, 93% of Koreans, 89% of Singaporeans and 87% of Australians also say they own a mobile phone, leaving little room for doubt that Asia Pacific is home to some of the world's earliest and keenest adopters of mobile phone technology.' Such high rates of penetration compare to 92% ownership in the UK, according to data from Nielsen Media partner, TGI. By contrast, penetration in the US sits at 71% and has been surpassed by China, where 73% mobile penetration shows an incredible rate of uptake.

Aside from China, the Index flags up Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and India as offering great potential - mobile penetration in these countries sits at or below the 50% mark.

To help drive the penetration of mobile phone ownership across the region, telecoms companies committed a hefty US$750.8 million to advertising in 2005 (based on published rate card), according to Nielsen Media Advertising Expenditure Information. 'Mobile phone companies are now looking at deepening usage of features and prompting brand switching' says Pemberton. 'Korea and China gobbled two thirds of the region's advertising in the sector, accounting for nearly US$476.9 million in advertising'.

Across the Asia Pacific region, the clear market leader is Nokia, with nearly two thirds of mobile phone owners in Singapore preferring a Nokia, followed by half of Australians and Hong Kongers. The only Asia Pacific market where Nokia is not market leader is Taiwan, where Motorola takes first place with a 29% share ahead of Nokia's 26%. Pemberton says the telecoms sector is 'hugely competitive and the battle for market share is fierce'. Nokia maintained its market leadership through a spend of almost US$194 million in advertising across the nine Asia Pacific markets surveyed, followed closely by Samsung ($172.5m) and Motorola ($125.8m). Combined, these three advertisers accounted for nearly 66% of the total ad spend for the mobile phone sector in 2005.

Nielsen Media Index and Nielsen Media Panorama tracks the media consumption of newspaper / magazine reading, TV viewing, radio listening, cinema visits, internet surfing
and public transport usage of consumers in nine Asia Pacific markets - Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

Nielsen Hong Kong is online at www.acnielsen.com.hk .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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