HONG KONG: Children of school-going age now comprise up to a third
of the internet population in several Asian countries, according to
Nielsen//NetRatings, which said this group had the potential to form a
valuable core market for ecommerce activities.
The research company's quarterly Asia-Pacific internet trends report
showed a substantial shift in the demographics of internet usage. In
several Asian countries, school-aged children were spearheading growth
in the number of people accessing the web.
In Hong Kong, 21 per cent of surfers were aged 17 years or under at the
end of the second quarter of this year.
In South Korea, school-aged children made up one-third of the surfing
population - an increase in unique audience of 13 per cent since the
first quarter.
Singapore and Taiwan also showed a high proportion of children surfing
at 26 per cent, followed by New Zealand. Australia showed the lowest
proportion of children in its surfing population of 19 per cent.
Hugh Bloch, managing director, North Asia for Nielsen//NetRatings, said:
"In future, this group of technology-savvy, heavy web users has the
potential to form a valuable core market for ecommerce activities".
