comScore: Hong Kong consumers online with Yahoo

For the first time, comScore researchers have been able to delve into the online lives of Hong Kong consumers, and have found some interesting results. According to a recent study, Hong Kong consumers prefer Yahoo sites and spend a plethora of time instant messaging. In fact, 16% of consumers online time is spent with IM platforms.

by Kristina Knight

Interesting findings in the report include:

• 4 million Hong Kong consumers logged on from home or work
• 80% of those consumers visit Yahoo sites during their online forays, followed by Microsoft sites
• Google, a behemoth in the US, ranks third as the most-visited property (2.5 million visitors

"An average Hong Kong Internet user spends more than 25 hours online per month, making it one of the most engaged Internet markets globally," said Will Hodgman, comScore executive vice president for the Asia-Pacific region. "Although Hong Kong is a smaller Internet market in Asia, its highly engaged and affluent audience makes it especially valuable to advertisers and publishers."

What could be most important for marketers, however, is how consumers spend time once they have visited these hubs.

Hong Kong residents spend about twice as much time instant messaging (15.9% vs. 8.3%) as other Asia Pacific residents. Both Hong Kong residents and other Asia Pacific consumers log on for entertainment (10%), email (4%) and to obtain news (2%).

But Hong Kong residents are more likely to play games online (5% vs. 3%) or to logon for business/financial purposes (4.6% vs. 1.9%). Meanwhile, Asia Pacific residents are slightly more likely to use social networking sites (8% vs. 7.7%) or to use search engines (4% vs 2.7%).

Tags: advertising, comScore, email, Hong Kong, online, search engines, social networks, Yahoo