August 2018
A Novema survey of several Asian markets revealed high consumer involvement in online activity, video gaming, and TV viewership, with a correspondingly low involvement in physical activities such as team sports or martial arts.
The online survey, conducted in Q1 2018, included 16–50-year-olds within China, Indonesia, Korea, and Thailand, representing a range of quite contrasting Asian markets, but showing some similarities in terms of consumer past times.
Because the survey was conducted through online panels, consumers’ participation in online activities was expected to be higher than normal, as shown by a high proportion of consumers taking part in social media and online shopping.
The most common past time though is gaming on one’s mobile phone, encountered by around 75% of consumers in Korea and Thailand, 66% in Indonesia, and 82% in China.
Gaming also extends to PC and consoles, but less common than for mobiles usually at about 40% in Korea and Thailand, but higher in Indonesia at 48%, but China far ahead at 71%. Despite the advance and popularity of gaming on mobiles, traditional video gaming is still holding up quite well. This is partly because consumers want a better gaming experience, e.g. through a larger screen, better audio, and even 3D. Gaming companies are even remastering their more popular video games so that consumers relive their bygone gaming experiences.
One observation from the Novema survey is the relatively low participation in ‘real games’, e.g. team sports. Only about 25% of consumers partake in team sports in China and Indonesia, and even lower in Thailand and Korea at 19% and 13% respectively.
In China, participation in team sports is quite similar between males and females whereas in the other markets it is more skewed towards males.
But common to most markets is that under 25 years olds are less likely to take part in team sports compared to older generations. In China for example, only 18% of under 25-year-olds in our survey state they take part in team sports, compared to 35% of 25–44-year-olds. In Korea this was 7% and 17%, and 13% and 24% in Thailand for the same age groups respectively. In Indonesia participation in team sports is more comparable across age groups with 21% of under 25-year-olds participating compared to 27% of 25–44-year-olds.
The proliferation of entertainment options across different platforms is making it easier for the new generation to opt out of sporting activity. This clearly has negative implications for both the physical wellbeing and team spirit of a new generation.
