In Southeast Asia, when people watch online videos, mobile phones are the screen of their choice. Southeast Asian countries report a higher rate of watching mobile video than Western countries (72% of people in Thailand vs 41% in the US). In many of these countries, the gap between watching desktop video and mobile phones is wider. In Indonesia, 12% more people watch on mobile phones than desktops while in the UK, the distance is only 5% lower.
The Internet has changed from text-based information sources to one that comprises 70 percent of video traffic. This is not surprising, because our brains are programmed to understand the world graphically. A study from MIT says we only need 13 milliseconds to identify an image. That's about 10 times faster than we can move our eyes. So that way, we can understand online video is Youtube, which allows us to identify through images.
Watching Youtube is a time-consuming and more accustomed activity. People increasingly accustomed to watching youtube along with the displayed content is also more diverse. In fact, the creators on Youtube now can be said as a public figure / celebrity.
Youtube has surveyed their users. The survey was conducted in several regions of Southeast Asia. Including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Philippines are the largest users.
There are interesting findings about the behavior of respondents in the use of Youtube or Google's online video channel. Veronica Utami, Head of Marketing at Google Indonesia, explained, "This research aims to understand the relationship between citizens with Youtube and understand the changes that occur in terms of their consumption of video."
People currently live in urban or rural areas. They depend on mobile phones when accessing videos on Youtube. What's next about their behavior in consuming online video?
1. Youtube's popularity and TV shows are the same
The role of TV was once very essential for the category of audio-visual media. The rating of every TV show has been always debatable.
Each TV station is looking for as much traffic as possible to improve their show rating. But now, the number of video viewers on Youtube reaches 53%, almost offset the number of TV viewers who reached 57%.
2. The prime time term no longer exists
Many TV programmers still consider Prime Time as the perfect time to broadcast their show. Prime time here is meant as a fitting time where people sit to watch TV, which is around 6 pm to 10 pm. According to Google survey, prime time has disappeared considering the video lovers no longer care about the right time, both weekend and weekdays.
The user's time flexibility can not be measured. Children's users can have a high audience frequency at night, otherwise the parent user can have a high audience frequency early in the morning.
3. Not only urban people, rural people also watch online video
If you watch Youtube videos using mobile phones, surely the rendering is a form of data packets, offered by each provider. The Google Survey said that the average Youtube user spends 42 minutes on the Youtube app on his phone. That means, they can watch videos on Youtube up to 6 or 8 videos per day. This can not be separated from the role of telecommunication providers in each region, bringing bargain offers for Youtube users.
4. Local brand shows off
There is a presumption from the advertiser that Youtube only devoted to big brands and expensive. Not for the bulk brands in the stalls. In fact, according to Google survey results, urban users of 92% and rural users by 85%. So, any goods and services sold in the stalls will remain relevant when they sell through their Youtube channel.
The difference between urban users and rural users lies in how they access Youtube, when urban users prefer to use wi-fi: office, cafe, home, while rural users prefer to spend their data packets with their phones.
5. Youtube is used because of content variation and ease of access
Youtube users are growing rapidly in the Asian region. It is undeniable that creators are very creative in delivering useful content. The diversity of the content becomes a towing factor in addition to the user's ease to find videos they follow.
This the difference Youtube with conventional TV. Based on the survey, people judge Youtube frees up the content contained in it, although there is guidance to watch, such as pornographic content that requires confirmation of age, violence, sadism, and harassment content.
6. The latest trend, people looking for TV content via Youtube
Production house and TV Production are sensitive to the situation and phenomenon of online video. They finally resigned to the behavior of the people who promote flexibility. To that end, they instantly upload their TV content to their own Youtube channel.
Do you know vlog phenomenon? Such a blog is just passed through the video. This proves that the Youtube audience is more like content created by people of their age and not necessarily the really famous person who made it. Vlogs from Youtube users can be used by a brand to increase their traffic.
Source: Marketeers, thinkwithgoogle, Google Analytics (google.com/analytics), Google Surveys (surveys.google), consumerbarometer