The Philippines has the highest population of vlog watchers and influencer followers: Report

Asia houses more than half of the world's internet users and the heaviest mobile users, but it lags when it comes to concerns about misuse of personal data, according to stats pulled from We Are Social and Hootsuite's annual Digital 2022 report.

The report consolidates data from multiple sources to paint a picture of how users are spending their time on the internet across the world.

Southern Asia contains 18.1% of the world's internet users, yet it has among the lowest internet adoption at less than half (46%) of the total population—which explains why it has become a key target for tech companies looking for new growth.

Internet adoption is highest in Europe and North America and lowest in Middle and Eastern Africa.

Eastern Asia has the highest proportion of global internet users, housing 24.7%, while Southeast Asia houses 9.8%. By comparison, the proportion of global internet users in Europe and North America is 13.6% and 7%, respectively.

It is a similar picture for social-media users, with Eastern Asia accounting for 27.6% of global users, followed by Southern Asia at 15.7% and Southeast Asia at 11.6%. 

There were 192 million new internet users in the past year, representing a 4% annual increase, and 424 million new social-media users, up by 10%. The growth for both is plateauing over time.

Mobile now accounts for 53.5% of global daily internet usage, an increase of 1.3% compared to 2020.

Internet users in the Philippines and Thailand spend the longest time on mobile in the world, at 5 hours 47 minutes and 5 hours 28 minutes per day, respectively, compared to the 3 hour 43 minute worldwide average. Japanese have the lowest mobile internet usage at 1 hour 39 minutes per day.

The Philippines has by far the biggest percentage of internet users that watch vlogs each week, at 60.4% of total internet users aged 16 to 64, compared to a 26.7% global average, and a strong influencer culture, with more than half (51.4%) of users following influencers on social media, more than double the global average.

It also has the highest proportion of internet users who use a streaming service each month, at 98.3%, compared to a 93.5% global average.

Streaming TV's share of total TV watch time increased by 4.4% to 44% between 2020 and 2021.

Indonesia has the second highest proportion of internet users who listen to podcasts, at 35.6% of internet users per week, compared to a 20.4% global average. Brazil has the highest at 37%.

Asian markets have the most internet users that play video games, at more than 90% of the total internet population in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, India and Taiwan.

Thailand has the highest proportion of cryptocurrency owners worldwide, with 20.1% of the internet population owning digital currency compared to a 10.2% global average. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and China all fall below the global average. In China just 5.7% of the internet population owns some form of cryptocurrency.

Asia lags when it comes to concerns about misuse of personal data. While more than half the internet population in Greece, Spain, Brazil and Portugal are worried about how companies use their personal data online, just over a quarter of users share these concerns in China (26.8%) and Thailand (26.1%). Singapore users have the highest level of concern of any Asian markets at 38.6% of online users.

This is despite Asia being home to the heaviest VPN users. Nearly half (42%) of internet users in India say they use a VPN for at least some of their online activities, compared to a 28.3% global average. Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and China are all above the global average for VPN usage as well.