Take a peek into the digital trends of 2014

With the customer journey becoming less linear, it’s time for marketers to engage with their customers at multiple touch-points.In view of this, Digital + Direct Marketing Association Asia has put together a “Digital Factbook”, a wrap-up of last year’s statistics and trends on the various digital platforms and aspects of the online marketing ecosystem.The report shows Hong Kong’s internet audience grew by 2% to 4.6 million total unique visitors in 2013 compared with the previous year, and they spend an average of 23.7 hours online a week (Comscore).With a mobile broadband subscription penetration rate at 74% (We Are Social), internet usage on mobile in Hong Kong is the highest, in Asia with 96% browsing the internet daily. (Google)These are the best performed websites so far:The report suggests Hong Kong is following the global trend of slow growth in television advertising, but online advertising is not expected to overtake television advertising anytime soon.Television ad revenue is forecast to be more than twice the internet ad revenue in 2018, or US$713 million more (PricewaterhouseCoopers).About 42% of advertisers in Hong Kong have indicated they will spend more in 2014.While they will spend most of their budgets on television, newspaper and magazine ads, they will spend much of the extra money on internet advertising. (Nielsen)Among the region’s marketers, 82% have indicated they will increase their advertising budgets by 6% or more in 2014. They are set to spend 8% more on internet display ads, 8% more on social media, 3% more on paid search and 2% more on search engine optimisation. (Nielsen)A shrinking proportion of the region’s consumers trusted advertising in the form of content and messaging on brand websites in 2013, but an expanding proportion trusted consumer opinions posted online. (Nielsen)Here are two surveys showing how users behave in the digital space: Looking forward, social media and mobile social media will be the hottest trends in advertising in Hong Kong in 2014, followed by online video advertising and mobile apps. (Nielsen)“The customer and media landscape in Asia Pacific is changing so fast that marketers need a GPS to navigate the terrain, to seize new opportunities and evolve their businesses rapidly,” said David Ketchum, chairman of Digital + Direct Marketing Association Asia.“And that’s where the [D+D] Digital Factbook comes in. It provides the statistics and insights you need to maximise emerging opportunities.”