The online habits of Singaporeans

The online habits of Singaporeans

By SMBWorld Asia Editors | Dec 14, 2010

Singaporeans like continental cars more than Japanese cars, are addicted to visual entertainment, adore Google and Facebook, love Liverpool more than Manchester United, and bet on horse races across the region.

Experian Hitwise, an online competitive intelligence service, has released an analysis of web searches by Singapore Internet users in the past six months, providing a host of interesting insights into Singaporean social habits relevant for marketers and commentators alike.

"Local web search patterns are a reflection on the interests and, in some instances the psyche, of Singaporean consumers. These patterns have become a great tool to help marketers understand their target audience across verticals that are most relevant to their marketing campaigns," said Graeme Beardsell, Managing Director for South Asia, Experian. "These insights identify key search trends among Singaporeans, providing marketers with intelligent and actionable information needed to market forward and improve audience engagement in the digital media space."

"Predictive insights across key local verticals can further help marketers implement well planned Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns that are an extremely cost effective, measurable form of online advertising. These campaigns can also provide a highly targeted lead generation tool for marketing success," added Beardsell.

Computers and Internet
Social networking continues to be popular among Singaporeans, with Facebook taking almost 17% share of visits compared to search engines like Google Singapore, which held on to second place with almost 14% share of visits.

Singaporeans revealed they liked Google more than Yahoo, with Google Singapore and Google.com taking the top two spots and holding over three quarters of total share of visits to the top five search engines.

Forums just didn't make the cut for Singaporeans, with social networking leading the way and Facebook, YouTube and Twitter taking a combined total share of visits of 66% in  the  top 10 sites for social networking and forums.

Facebook continued to maintain its social networking dominance as the top search term driving traffic to the computers and Internet category.

Automotive
In the automotive arena, interactive platforms that offer different types of motoring information are king of automotive resources, with SGCarMart.com and MyCarForum holding a one-two lead over other websites in the list of top ten automotive websites. Singaporeans showed a preference for continental car brands over Asian car brands, with Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen outranking Toyota and Honda 3-to-2 in the top five manufacturer rankings.

In a country governed by speed limits, Singaporeans seem to have a taste for speed online, with F1-related websites taking five of the top ten websites for motorsport. SGCarMart.com, a local motoring resource was the top search term driving traffic to the automotive category, accounting for almost 4% of total search clicks.

Entertainment, Lifestyle, Sports
Singaporeans love anything visual with the top five entertainment sites searched for including Razor TV, xinmsn Entertainment, Channel NewsAsia and Tudou.com, with YouTube leading the pack with 22% of total share of visits.

Singaporeans shopped everywhere for good fashion online, with local brands like Forever 21 and ASUS popping up alongside international brands like Kate Spade, Coach, Louis Vuitton and Victoria's Secret in a top ten ranking of fashion websites.

Singaporeans love soccer more than any other sport locally with soccer-related sites like ESPN Soccernet, LiveScore.com, AsianBookie.com, Goal.com and Footytube collectively taking almost 30% of total share of visits among the top ten listed sports sites.

Singaporeans showed their love for betting online, particularly on horse races, exploring not just local sites like the Singapore Turf Club, but also searching for regional websites including The Hong Kong Jockey Club, Pan Malaysia Pools, Sky Racing and TAB Racing NSW and Victoria.

Beardsell adds, "With capabilities to help businesses convert data into insights and delve into the search patterns of about 1.5 million internet users in Singapore, Experian Hitwise can play a vital role in helping marketers identify local opportunities in specific verticals to strategically conduct effective marketing campaigns. Thus ensuring sustained brand visibility and awareness among their target audience in an increasingly competitive environment."