Online access at home up against Internet cafés

MANILA, Philippines - Home is where the Internet is. This in a nutshell is what the latest Net Index study commissioned by Yahoo! Inc. discovered to be the prevailing trend in the country.

In its third year, the annual Yahoo! Net Index study was conducted in conjunction with Nielsen, one of the world’s leading market research groups. The study showed that home Internet access increased from 27 percent to 35 percent over the past two years.

But something has to give which, in this case, are the Internet cafés that are steadily losing up to 71 percent of their business from online browsing as more people go from shared to private access. In the previous year, the loss stood at 66 percent.

Filipinos aged 10 to 29 form the core audience group driving Internet use in the country, the research showed. They are the ones who primarily go online for leisure and entertainment and for this they use the Search tool (80 percent) to find their top content of choice, namely international music (68 percent), local music (65 percent), photos and videos (59 percent), and games (56 percent).

The Net Index respondents, selected using a multi-stage probability sampling technique, indicated that they also regularly log on to social networking sites, perhaps too regular that it scored 82 percent, the study showed.

According to Yahoo, the results of this year’s Net Index study revealed four overarching themes such as the continuing shift from shared to private access, the rising user engagement on the Internet, social networking being at par with Search, and the budding potential of e-commerce.

Mobile Internet, which had grown from virtually zero in 2009 to five percent in 2010, has remained stable (four percent) this year, based on the study.

Mail and Messenger, on the other hand, remain relevant platforms to connect and communicate with scores of 64 percent and 69 percent, respectively.

Social networking is at par with Search as the dominant Internet activity. Social networking is not just an activity but is the starting point for online experience for many (39 percent), the study showed. More than half of the respondents also indicated that they are becoming more selective and specific about choosing who they want to socialize with.

Meanwhile, e-commerce is yet to happen in a big way here. According to the study, online transactions remain in their infancy stage until now. However, deal aggregation sites like Groupon might just get more people into buying online with almost half (48 percent) of the respondents showing interest.

Yahoo! commissions the Net Index annually to provide marketers and advertisers with in-depth consumer insights that will help them craft meaningful strategies and gain real results, said Yahoo! Philippines sales director Arlene Amarante.