Global Media Intelligence 2019: Singapore

Key Features

Like Hong Kong, Singapore is a small, densely populated and relatively affluent market where the dominance of digital media has been consolidated.

• Smartphones are the leading digital device in Singapore and continue to increase their lead over PCs. According to GlobalWebIndex, 98.3% of internet users ages 16 to 64 owned an advanced handset in H1 2019, compared with 78.1% who owned a desktop or laptop.
• Tablets, owned by 47.2% of internet users in Singapore, were found most often among affluent and older individuals, per GlobalWebIndex.
• When looking at time spent with media, internet users spent 4 hours (4:00) daily with desktops, laptops and tablets in H1 2019—and a further 3:12 with mobile, on average.
• Social networking accounted for the third-highest amount of media time each day, at an average of 2:13. Just over 87% of internet users polled had visited social sites or apps in the prior month. (It should be noted that GlobalWebIndex includes YouTube in its social network category, which tends to raise both the level of engagement and the time spent with social media overall.)
• Smart TV penetration increased from 42.4% in H1 2018 to 46.0% in H1 2019, according to GlobalWebIndex. That’s in keeping with consumers in Singapore starting to shift away from traditional TV viewing to digital alternatives. More than 77% of internet users had watched broadcast TV in the previous month, yet 53.5% had viewed TV shows via broadcasters’ catch-up or on-demand services. Importantly, almost as many (52.2%) had watched subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) available through providers such as Netflix. In total, more than eight in 10 (80.9%) respondents had streamed video of some kind—surpassing the share of live TV viewers. On the other hand, online TV and video occupied just 1:03 per day, on average, compared with 1:31 devoted to broadcast TV.
• Streaming music is also widespread among internet users in Singapore. Nearly 63% said they had accessed music or other audio content via digital platforms in the prior month. Respondents ages 16 to 24 and 25 to 34 posted response rates well above average for this metric, at 89.0% and 74.9%, respectively.
• Meanwhile, consumption of traditional media—including broadcast radio, print newspapers and print magazines—is increasingly concentrated among older respondents.