Hong Kong

There were 4,878,713 internet users in Hong Kong (representing 68.5% of the population) in June 2011, according to Internet World Stats. This represented 0.5% of the Asian population. (Internet World Stats, August 2011)

Internet access in Hong Kong has become near-ubiquitous, as 87% of consumers there have used the internet in the past year, outpacing neighbouring markets like Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, according to Nielsen.

Internet usage in Hong Kong is particularly high among 12- to 44-year-olds with over 9 in 10 accessing the internet on a monthly basis. (nielsenwire, December 2011)

Digital Media

88.5% of Hong Kong's internet population viewed video online in March 2010, with visitors averaging more than 10 hours of video viewing per person during the month, according to comScore.

Of the six Asia-Pacific markets where comScore currently measures online video, Hong Kong posted the highest penetration of viewing, demonstrating the importance of this platform as a vehicle to reach and engage consumers in this highly advanced digital media market.

In March 2010, internet users in Hong Kong (age 15 and older) watched 447 million videos, with Google Sites ranking as the top video property with 234.2 million videos, representing 52.4% of all videos viewed online. YouTube.com accounted for more than 99% of all videos viewed at the Google property.

Top video properties based on total videos viewed, March 2010 - total audience Hong Kong, Age 15+ (Home & Work Locations):
Total internet: total audience: 446,959,000 videos
1. Google sites: 234,234,000 (52.4% share of videos)
2. Tudou Sites: 16,288,000 (3.6%)
3. Youku: 16,198,000 (3.6%)
4. Facebook.com: 12,304,000 (2.8%)
5. Oriental Press Group: 6,433,000 (1.4%)
6. Next Media Interactive Ltd.: 5,596,000 (1.3%)
7. Television Broadcasts Limited: 4,950,000 (1.1%)
8. 56.com: 4,065,000 (0.9%)
9. Yahoo! Sites: 3,331,000 (0.7%)
10. Microsoft Sites: 2,081,000 (0.5%)

More than 3.6 million viewers in Hong Kong watched an average of 123 videos per viewer during the month of March. Google Sites attracted the largest video audience with 2.4 million unique viewers during the month (97.5 videos per viewer), followed by Facebook.com with 1.3 million viewers (9.6 videos per viewer) and Youku with 786, 000 viewers (20.6 videos per viewer). (comScore, May 2010)

Search Engines and Searches

Traffic to Google's Hong Kong servers has jumped since the web firm redirected its traffic there to avoid Chinese censorship rules. Since then, the traffic the Hong Kong site sees has jumped from virtually nothing to 3% of Google's global traffic, suggesting Chinese users are still looking to use Google's search, according to stats from analytics firm Net Applications.

The analytics firm said it would keep a close eye on the traffic to the Hong Kong site indicating that if Google Hong Kong's share drop back to near zero, it is an indication that the Chinese government has blocked access from mainland China to the Google Hong Kong website. (ITPRO, March 2010)

Experian Hitwise revealed the most popular travel websites in Hong Kong for the week ending December 11 2010 in the categories Agencies; Destinations and Accommodation and Airlines.

Top Agencies websites in Hong Kong for the week ending December 11 2010 by % of visits:
1. Ctrip.com (www.ctrip.com): 13.40%
2. China Travel Service (Hong Kong) Limited (www.chinatravelone.com): 7.73%
3. Cathay Pacific Holidays (www.cxholidays.com): 5.44%

Top Destinations and Accommodation websites in Hong Kong for the week ending December 11 2010 by % of visits:
1. MSN Macao (macao.hk.msn.com): 14.93%
2. MSN Hong Kong - Travel (travel.hk.msn.com): 14.90%
3. Yahoo! Travel Hong Kong (hk.travel.yahoo.com): 7.87%

Top Airlines websites in Hong Kong for the week ending December 11 2010 by % of visits:
1. Cathay Pacific (www.cathaypacific.com): 30.23%
2. Tiger Airways (www.tigerairways.com): 9.10%
3. Dragon Air (www.dragonair.com): 5.92%

(tnooz - talking travel tech, December 2010)

Social Networking and UGC

Groupon Hong Kong unveiled its travel deals site - Groupon Getaways.

The new speciality deal site - http://www.groupon.hk/deals/getaways,  launched in the beginning of August 2011 offers Asia travel deals including discounts on flights, hotels and cruises through the service, with updates every Sunday. Through the new site, consumers will be able to access various travel packages and useful travel information on vibrant cities and exotic hideaways around the world.

Groupon Getaways provides holiday planners vacation options that suit a wide range of tastes and budgets, all under unbeatable prices. Meanwhile, merchants will enjoy significant exposure and streams of new customers through the group-buying platform. (eTN eTurboNews Global Travel Industry News, August 2011)

Experien Hitwise revealed the top social networking and forums websites in Hong Kong for the week ending May 22 2010, ranked by visits.

Top websites for the industry "Computers and Internet - Social Networking and Forums" in Hong Kong, for the week ending May 22 2010 by % of visits:
1. Facebook: 39.48%
2. YouTube: 17.47%
3. Discuss: 3.89%
4. UWants: 2.76%
5. Tudou.com: 2.13%
6. Yahoo Hong Kong - Knowledge: 1.83%
7. QQ Qun: 1.73%
8. Xanga: 1.49%
9. HKgolden.com Forum: 1.38%
10. youku: 0.93%
(Experian Hitwise, May 2010)

Mobile Devices

Mobile / Smartphones

54% of Hong Kong digital consumers aged 15 years old and older who use an internet-capable tablet computer for online activities claimed to have accessed travel/transport information via their device, according to Nielsen. The figure reaches 52% among internet-capable mobile phone.

For travel booking/buying the figures reach 29% and 21% respectively. (nielsenwire, December 2011)