Tech savvy youths still socialise offline

Hong Kong - Local youths are cramming the equivalent of 45 hours of activity into one 24-hour day, according to Synovate's survey on Young Asians.

The Synovate Young Asians study sponsored by Microsoft Advertising, MTV and Yahoo, shows 64% of Hong Kong youths between 8 and 24 years hang out in shopping malls compared to the regional average of 37% and 56% of local youths dine out with friends compared to 39% regionally. 

Additionally, 59% of locals spend their leisure time shopping compared to 44% regionally.

The survey also revealed local youngsters top the region to influence purchase decisions on video games and over 50% in computer/software as well as influence major household decisions from selecting a Pay TV service, family trips abroad to choosing a family car.

Susanna Lam (pictured), research director for Synovate in Hong Kong, said with so much time spent on media consumption, there is every reason to believe that brand communications have filtered through and influenced purchase decisions."

"It's vital that smart marketers continue to engage with these young audiences to build a loyal consumer base," she added. 

Local youths are media junkies who spend 13 hours per day on media activities from watching TV, videos, spending time online, reading newspapers and magazines and listening to radio.

Compared to a year ago, Hong Kong youths are spending more time on internet at 4.8 hours overtaking TV at 4.2 hours.   

While on the internet, local youths are trawling music sites, emailing, reading newspapers online and vote or enter competitions and engage in online auctions differing from youths in China who spend most of their time online to download and conduct information search.

Hong Kong youngsters are the highest in the region followed closely by Chinese youths to socialise on the internet by reading and contributing on forums and discussion groups.

While they have spent more time blogging and engaging in social networking compared to last year, the city's youth still lag behind Singapore in these areas.  

Not surprisingly, Hong Kong youths are gadget crazy, with 80% owning a mobile phone, 73% owning a computer or laptop, 51% with MP3 or iPods and 47% own portable electronic games.

Kenneth Andrew, marketing director for Microsoft Advertising Greater Asia Pacific, said Asia's youth are multi-tasking on multiple devices.

"The challenge is to reach them across multiple screens, it's no longer enough to reach them through one media," he said.

This is the fourth annual Synovate Young Asians study that focuses on the media consumption, purchase habits and attitudes of the region's youth across Asia with Japan and Vietnam included for the first time this year.