INTERNET users in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region earn and spend more, and exert more influence in their organisations than their non-Internet using counterparts, a new survey from Synovate PAX found. But 'conservative' advertisers in Singapore still shy away from using online advertising to take advantage of the trend, preferring the tried-and-tested route that is the traditional media, a Microsoft official told BizIT.

Global market research firm Synovate will be publishing the findings of its latest Pan Asia-Pacific Cross Media Survey (PAX) today. An underlying theme in this year's survey is the greater affluence levels of Internet users in Singapore and across the region, compared with their non-Internet-savvy counterparts.

For instance, the study found that the average monthly income of Singapore Internet users is US$3,100. This is US$500 more than non-Internet users.

The same trend is observed in the Asia-Pacific (APac) region as a whole, where the average monthly income of the Internet-savvy is US$3,600 compared with the US$1,700 per month average that non-Internet users earn.

Synovate's study was conducted over a yearly period from Q3 in 2007 to Q2 in 2008. The study covered Australia, Thailand, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan - 11 APac territories in all. It polled some 20,000 people - roughly 1,700 respondents per market. Continuing on the path of web-savviness equating to more affluence, Synovate found that Internet users from Singapore and in the region are more likely to take up senior positions and are more influential in business.

Around 34 per cent of Internet users in Singapore are business decision makers, compared with the 19 per cent from the non-Internet user camp. And 21 per cent of Internet users here engage in 'influential' business activities, against 6 per cent from the other camp.

Internet users are also more frequent travellers and avid shoppers. In Singapore, 2.4 times as many Internet users travelled in the past 12 months compared with non-Internet users. Across Asia, the ratio is more marked, at three times more. The online-savvy crowd from Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region, in general, bought more luxury items, watched more movies, attended more concerts and owned more tech gadgets.

This year's findings amplified those found last year, noted Microsoft. The software giant is one of many firms - others included Home Box Office (HBO), Yahoo!, CNN and Channel NewsAsia - which subscribes to the Synovate PAX study.

Like Yahoo, Google and other Internet players, Microsoft develops and sells a raft of solutions and services that drive online advertising. An example is its multimedia delivery platform called Silverlight, which competes with Adobe's popular Flash technology.

Geert Desager, trade marketing manager for South-east Asia, Microsoft Advertising, disclosed the Synovate PAX survey findings to BizIT earlier this week. He said the findings confirmed the Internet's immense reach and engagement potential in the region.

Therefore, for companies in Singapore, the online platform is today a crucial medium to reach out to customers, he said. Yet, advertisers in Singapore are so far not biting when it comes to Internet advertising. 'Considering the findings (of the Synovate survey), the thing that surprises me is how little advertisers in Singapore spend on online advertising.'

The Microsoft official cited an April study by global investment firm GroupM, which showed that a low 1.6 per cent of all advertising spending in Singapore were on Internet advertisements. The same survey showed that advertisers in Thailand, India and China are spending 0.8, 1.9 and 2.1 per cent respectively of their total advertisement spending on the Web. In Japan, the US and UK, the ratios are 9.6, 7.4 and 17.6 per cent.

But while local advertisers are still not warming to the Web, the tide is turning, Mr Desager said. He noted that online advertising tools are improving, which will make Internet advertising more intimate and creative. The appearance of benchmarks that rate the effectiveness of online advertising in this region will also help its cause, he added.

This story was first published in The Business Times on 16 October 2008.