YouTube most dominant video platform in APAC

According to the research firm, YouTube has a penetration of 81 per cent across the region, higher than anywhere else in the world and the global average, which stands at 78 per cent.

Nearly half of of digital video viewers, or 576.8 million people, will regularly watch video via the YouTube app or website this year, a number that is expected to grow by 13.4 per cent this year.

Both India and Indonesia were said to be the fastest growing mobile video markets in the region this year, increasing by 25.3 per cent  and 18.2 per cent respectively.

EMarketer pinned YouTube’s rapid ascension on the growth of video mobile usage over the past five years. The number of people watching videos on their mobile is expected to increase by 14.5 per cent this year after encountering double-sigit growth over recent years.

However, China, a market where YouTube is banned, remains the gaping hole in YouTube’s APAC growth.

There, video viewership remains dominated by Youku, Tencent, iQiyi, LeTV and Sohu, while penetration is expected to reach 65.8 per cent in 2018.

“YouTube usage is on the rise and has become the most popular video streaming service throughout Asia-Pacific, except in China where it is censored,” said Oscar Orozco, senior forecasting analyst at eMarketer.

“While regional Netflix adoption is still low, awareness and intent to subscribe is growing. We expect Netflix adoption will continue to expand, while at the same time providing much-needed competition and influence on local streaming providers.”