Meshing and stacking: APAC consumers lead world in multiscreening

The 2014 edition of the report comes from research with more than 12,000 people in 30 countries. In Asia-Pacific, 3,080 respondents from Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam took part.

Key findings:

• People in APAC consume just over seven hours of screen media per day—within a five-hour period.
• To be specific, study respondents in Asia reported 439 minutes (seven hours, 19 minutes) of screen usage, versus the global average of 417 (six hours, 57 minutes).
• Two hours of that (122 minutes or 39 per cent) is multiscreening, versus the global average of 109 minutes (35 per cent).
• Although in other regions smartphones tend to dominate daytime screen usage, in Asia-Pacific, they are the dominant screen in the evening as well.
• During multiscreen time, APAC users opt for meshing around 17 per cent of the time and stacking 21 per cent of the time.

Drilling down to the country level offers targeted and potentially more actionable items for brands:

• Indonesia and the Philippines lead the way in screen time, at almost nine hours, while consumers in Japan bring up the rear in Asia-Pacific (although they too rack up more than five hours per day).
• The top meshing markets are Thailand, the Philippines, South Korea and Indonesia, while Australia, Vietnam, and Japan mesh the least, spending more time on stacking activities.

The study also focuses on receptivity to advertising on various media. In Asia-Pacific and worldwide, TV is the most favourable medium, with digital devices lagging behind. However, Mark Henning, Millward Brown's head of media and digital for Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific, pointed out that the figures for APAC are ahead of global averages when it comes to paying "at least some attention" to ads on smartphones and tablets.

"Brands should keep in mind that the media itself—where you are seen—can be a part of the message," Henning said.

Henning also outlined 'four Cs' of advice that emerge from the research, according to Millward Brown: Be consistent, connected, considered and concise:

• 'Consistent' refers to making sure consumers can recognize your efforts on different media as part of a larger whole.
• 'Connected' means "thinking about how the different screens can come together for you," Henning said. He cited Kia's recent activity surrounding the Australian Open tennis tournament as a great example of "linking TV and mobile in a sophisticated way and getting people to really engage with the brand."
• 'Considered' highlights the need to take the time to figure out what purposes a particular medium serves best. Here too, Henning had a recent example: the 'Supergeil' sensation, in which a German supermarket chain reached a younger audience with edgier content online while running complementary but more traditional TV advertising at the same time. "Each device has a sweet spot, so think of different aspects of brand personality you can communicate with each device," Henning said.
• 'Concise' emphasises awareness of attention spans, especially when users are splitting focus between TV and a mobile device at the same time.