As most of you may know by now, We Are Social has released the highly anticipated Digital in 2020 report. Suffice to say, the said report needs no introduction. Knowing how to use this report, will impact how you do inbound digital marketing for this year.
In this article, we will digest the report by contextualizing the numbers. We will do this in a couple of ways. Part 1 of this article will assess the state of the internet in the Philippines and what it means for the brands. Part 2 will delve into the state of digital advertising and how brands can leverage the numbers.
Let’s get to it, shall we?
Part 1: Internet in the Philippines
The Digital in 2020 report gives us a statistical picture of the internet landscape across the globe. What it doesn’t tell us is the impact of these numbers on brands’ digital communication goals.
The first part of our Breaking Down Digital 2020 Report series will set these numbers in motion to exhibit what they mean for brands in the Philippines.
High Online Presence. Tougher Competition.
Out of 46 surveyed countries, the Philippines lands 43rd with 16.8mbps and 42nd with 25.6mbps of the report’s mobile and fixed internet connection speed ranking, respectively. These previous numbers not very encouraging for digital marketers but the next stats are.
Although the country recorded 11% and 34% year-on-year change in average speed of mobile and fixed internet connections, the Philippines has a long way to go as it remains shy by more than a half from the global average speed of 32.01mbps (mobile) and 73.6mpbs (fixed).
The report also finds that Filipinos spend 9:45 hours on the internet daily – 5:11 hours of which are spent browsing the internet using mobile phones and 4:34 hours using laptops, desktops, and tablets. Worldwide, the Philippines is topping the global chart, which has an average daily internet use of 06:43 hours.
Netizens spend 3:53 hours on social media, which is over an hour higher than the global average of 2:24 hours. Suffice to say, the Philippines is not dubbed as the world’s social media capital for no reason.
The report further notes that Filipinos spend 2:05 hours listening to music streaming services such as Spotify and iTunes. Additionally, the country follows the global trend of consuming more videos with 69% of Filipinos streaming video content.
Is Digital Marketing Keeping Up with the Rising Digital Consumerism?
The report finds that 87% of Filipinos are playing games on smartphones and 22% use game consoles. Additionally, 11% of Filipinos play a game on a cloud gaming or streaming platform, and 34% watch a live stream of other people playing games. It’s also worth noting that e-sports is booming in the Philippines, with it being officially included in the recently concluded South East Asian Games (SEAG). It’s no wonder why the report finds that 17% of Filipinos watch an esports tournament.
The report also notes that the Philippines recorded 58% increase in smart home penetration. This means that the country’s Internet Service Providers (ISP) are serving more than 420,000 homes that have smart home devices. Digital marketing has already replaced traditional media in these homes.
Moreover, 69% of Filipinos are heavy consumers of video-on-demand services such as Netflix, AppleTV+, Hooq, Viu, iWant, and Hayu.
Welcome to the Age of Digital Trust and Transparency
It is interesting to note that the Digital 2020 report leaves the Philippines out from the list of countries embattled by fake news, which reached new heights in the middle of the last decade and prompted several organizations to mount online and offline countermeasures. Upon its rise, in fact, social justice, truth, transparency, alternative facts, and post-truth era were some of the keywords or phrases that dominated the social conversation in the Philippines. As such, whether or not Filipinos are indifferent to fake news remains debatable.
On another note, the report states that 67% of Filipinos expressed their concern about how companies use their personal data. With it is the question of trust and transparency. Firms are getting more aggressive with their digital marketing. More than the usage of their data, Filipinos are skeptical about how companies protect their information. The report also notes that 63% of Filipinos use tools to block online advertising each month and that 75% deleted cookies from their web browsers.
Does this mean that Filipinos do not trust ads? Is digital marketing going down the road of diminishing returns? The same fate that has befallen traditional marketing? f so, what is the future of online advertising and what alternatives can brand resort to in reaching a wider audience?
To answer these questions, stay tuned for the second part of Breaking Down Digital 2020 Report.
