This week on JapanBuzz we’re looking at 5 trends in Japanese digital marketing 2017 !
1. Japan has over 100 million Internet users and they love Apple.
Japan has over 100 million internet users and like other countries this is increasing year by year.
Number of internet users in Japan from 2015 to 2021 (in millions)
Statista 2017 *After 2017 is estimated number.
About 70% of Japanese people have smartphones, and 54.3% access the Internet using smartphones. The amount of users accessing the internet via smartphone is actually slightly lower than those accessing via computer.
The percentage of the types of Internet Devices in 2015
(From the top) The whole rate of using internet / Computer / Smartphone
Ministry of Internal affairs and Communications in Japan (MIC)
However saying this, many young students use smartphones more than computers. So if you are looking to target young students in Japan, it’s well worth doing mobile first projects.
Trends in internet usage— computer and mobile phone. (elementary school students~highschool students) / PC, mobile phone, mobile phone main, Tablet (from right) Yahoo Japan
The most popular smartphone used by Japanese people is the iPhone, it has amazingly high usage rate of 54.1%.
2. In 2017 Japan’s internet advertising spend ranks fourth largest in the world
Online advertising revenue in major online advertising markets in 2017 (in billion U.S. dollars) © Statista 2017
Internet advertising costs were only 1.6 billion yen 20 years ago (1996) but exceeded 1 trillion yen in 2014. (*£1=¥150). This has grown yet further in 2017. Online advertising is now the second biggest ad market in Japan next to mass media, television.
3. Popular websites in Japan
Top website ranking in Japan
We all know Google is the biggest search engine site in the world, but how about Japan? Yahoo Japan used to be most the dominant website in Japan, however since 2016, Google became the most visited website. However, there’s still some noticeable difference between Japan and rest of the world. Yahoo is still popular in Japan, run by Softbank (a Japanese telecom company), it’s a portal site that has lot of information and many Japanese people start the day by checking the news on the site.
Also, another website you need to check is Korean born Naver matome, ranked 14, it’s popular among college students. It’s a web curation platform where users add information and stories from other websites.
4. Twitter Lovers
Japan does not follow the same global trends in terms social media networks usage. Although reportedly struggling in other parts of the world, Twitter dominates Social media share in Japan. There are about 40 million Japanese users on Twitter. The second prize goes to Facebook which has 27 million users. Instagram has 16 million active users.
Japanese also really care about privacy, so it could be one reason Japanese people prefer Twitter and Instagram. Many teenagers have more than one Twitter account, as they love to share funny videos.
In terms messaging apps, Line dominates the market, having dominant status in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia. There are 66 million users in Japan.
5.The influence of Television is still massive in Japan, but online is catching up.
The average usage time of major media in Japan, 2015
blue: TV(Live) Red: TV(Record) Green: Internet Purple: Newspaper Sky blue: Radio
Television’s influence is still massive in Japan, except for teenagers and 20 year old’s. TV occupies a large chunk of mass communication but its influence is decreasing as more views go online to sites like YouTube.
Information sources on new products in Japan Top 3
According to Nielsen, most people get information through the internet. The second one is at shops, and the lastly, television.
References
http://www.ditoday.com/articles/articles_view.html?idno=21057
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8-key-facts-japan-digital-marketing-landscape-chandler-nguyen
http://www.soumu.go.jp/johotsusintokei/whitepaper/ja/h28/html/nc252110.html
https://dazeinfo.com/2016/02/11/apple-iphone-android-smartphone-sales-2015-kantar-report/
http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASK685RCTK68ULFA025.html
https://www.statista.com/statistics/246570/largest-online-advertising-markets/
https://dentsu-ho.com/articles/4923
http://www.nielsen.com/jp/ja/insights/newswire-j/2015/nielsen-insight-vol5111.html
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/byline/fuwaraizo/20170418-00070004/