Malaysia

There were 17,723,000 internet users in Malaysia (representing 60.7% of the population) at mid-year 2012 (30 June 2012), according to Internet World Stats. (Internet World Stats, December 2012)

More than 11 million people age 15 and older accessed the internet from a home or work location in Malaysia in August 2011, according to a report by comScore, Inc. (comScore, October 2011)

The number of Malaysians accessing the internet reached 41% in 2010, a 15% increase over the previous year, according to The Nielsen Company's Mobile Insights Survey.

The highest usage was recorded among people aged 20-24: almost six in ten (57%) regularly use the internet, spending an average of 22.3 hours online per week.

Once online, Malaysians primarily use social networking sites. Almost three-quarters (71%) are keeping in touch with friends and family via these sites, a 24% increase from 2009. Instant messaging and reading local news rounded out the top three online activities. (The Nielsen Company, April 2011)

Malaysian internet usage is driven primarily by people in Central Region. The Central region, which consists of Negeri Sembilan, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, led as the most dominant region for online usage, accounting for 54.4% of the total internet audience in Malaysia in August 2010, 51.3% of pages consumed and 52.6% of minutes spent online in the country, according to comScore.

Visitors in the Northern region (which includes Kedah, Perak, Perlis and Pulau Pinang) accounted for nearly 15% of visitors and more than 16% of total pages consumed and minutes spent. The Northern region was also home to the most-engaged users in August 2010, with an average visitor from this region spending 16.6 hours online during the month and consuming an average of 1,392 pages.

Regional breakdown in Malaysia, August 2010 (Total Malaysia internet audience, Age 15+ - Home & Work Locations):
Total Audience: 100.0% of unique visitors
- Central Region: 54.4%
- Southern Region: 14.9%
- East Coast: 4.0%
- Northern Region: 14.9%
- Sabah: 5.9%
- Sarawak: 5.9%

(comScore, October 2010)

UGC and Social Networking

Social Networking accounted for one third of all time spent online (32.1%) in Malaysia in August 2011, ranking as the top online activity for the market, according to a report by comScore, Inc.

In August, Facebook.com ranked as the second most-visited property behind Microsoft.com with nearly 9.9 million visitors, up 15% in the past year, as the social networking giant continues to attract more users. (comScore, October 2011)

Online travel market

Travel planning

An analysis of select online site content categories in Malaysia found that visitor trends varied considerably by region. In August 2010, online users in the Sabah region were 28% more likely to visit a Travel site than an average Malaysian internet user, while visitors in the Sarawak region were 48% more likely to frequent a Gambling site. Online users from the East Coast region were most likely to visit the Newspapers category, while Southern region visitors were 12% more likely to frequent online Personals sites. Social Networking and Retail demonstrated more balanced visits with an index near 100 across all regions.

Regional profile of visitors to the Travel category, August 2010 (Total Malaysia internet audience, Age 15+, Home % Work locations) - Composition index unique visitor by region:
- Central Region: 102
- Southern Region: 93
- East Coast: 71
- Northern Region: 89
- Sabah: 128
- Sarawak: 117

(comScore, October 2010)

Travel booking

Malaysians are now looking at a much wider range of destination options, according to a Wego study of the behaviour of 100,000 travellers who use the travel comparison site wego.com.my.

Wego allows search over 900 more destinations for flights than in 2011, reaching a total of 2,500 covering some of the most remote airports around the world. For accommodation, Malaysians can check 400 new destinations as well, amounting to almost 2,000.  

Kuala Lumpur is the primary search, with one in every eight users of wego.com.my looking for the cheapest flights to the capital, and an even higher proportion for the best rates at its 655 hotels.

A quarter of flight searches overall are domestic. For international, Asia's capitals still hold the top slots: Bangkok, Jakarta, Taipei and Singapore. An appetite for secondary destinations is, however, evolving rapidly as Malaysians make use of Wego's metasearch technology to discover alternative options for leisure online.  (TravelDailyNews, March 2013)

With mobile broadband becoming more widely available and affordable, a growing number of Malaysians are accessing the internet via notebooks and smartphones, according to The Nielsen Company's Mobile Insights Survey.

More than half of consumers (55%) are using laptops and netbooks while 11% said they are using smartphones, a nine point gain from 2009. Almost two in ten (19%) Malaysians aged 20-24 access the internet via their mobile phones.

The penetration of 3G phones is a key factor in the increasing use of phones to access the internet.  Almost half of Malaysians aged 20-34 own one. But almost half of these users do not use 3G functions, primarily due to cost. That should change, however, as service providers offer more competitive pricing schemes.

Reasons for not using 3G functions:
- Too expensive: 38%
- Did not register for 3G usage: 18%
- Do not need, only when required: 30%
- Do not know how: 16%
- No family members/friends use: 14%

(The Nielsen Company, April 2011)