SingTel’s news app ‘NewsLoop’ reveals content consumption patterns in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia – ‘national news’ ranks first

Singapore, 25 March 2014 – People in Southeast Asia and Australia are well known to have embraced a mobile lifestyle, but it’s not all about fun and games. An analysis of SingTel’s NewsLoop, a top-rated news aggregation app with over 1.2 million downloads, reveals users in five countries – Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Australia – prefer ‘national news’, making it the highest ranking content category over more lighthearted categories such as ‘sports’ and ‘entertainment’. Indonesia was an exception, where ‘tech & gadgets’ was number one and ‘national news’ second.

‘International news’ was also a top-viewed choice, ranking second in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia, while ranking fourth in both Indonesia and Thailand. ‘Tech and gadgets’ ranked third in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Australia. Beyond that, individual countries revealed unique consumption patterns of news and information.

Michael Smith, Chief Commercial Officer, Group Digital L!fe, SingTel noted, “The analysis provides a number of interesting insights into the NewsLoop consumer’s behaviour. It is very interesting that national and international news typically rank first and second in all countries. It is easy to assume that most would use their mobiles for entertainment rather than hard news stories but NewsLoop users, who are said to be a majority of highly educated PMEB males, prove otherwise. A recent BBC global report supports this finding, as it notes that affluent consumers mostly use news apps on their mobile while the general population favours social network apps.

Over 60 per cent of NewsLoop users are highly educated PMEB males between 25 to 44 years old. Users are also technology savvy and tend to shop online. The report also found that NewsLoop users are a highly engaged audience, with a majority of users reading articles in depth, rather than browsing headlines and pictures. Between 60 and 70 per cent are engaged throughout the day, with peak periods of news consumption during the morning and lunchtime, with a drop during dinner, and a rebound later at night.

NewsLoop was recently given a facelift, providing easier navigation, with bold colours differentiating categories. With highly customisable features, NewsLoop allows users to select their preferred news sources and categories of interest to ensure they receive relevant content whenever they log on. The upgrade also included an addition of video content to the app with NewsLoop TV which will be further enhanced with additional video features and functionality.  According to comScore, about 83.1 per cent of the world’s population consume online video content, making it a promising channel for marketers to reach audiences.

NewsLoop is supported through a mobile advertising model, drawing a number of leading consumer brands, including in the food, education, retail and consumer tech areas. More than one million advertisements have been delivered to consumers while they read their preferred news content.

The data also shows the rapid rise of the iPad tablet, which accounts for an average of 18 per cent of users across the five countries, with a high of 23 per cent in Singapore, versus just 7 per cent in Malaysia. Smartphone penetration in Southeast Asia has increased to 63 per cent this year, while tablet penetration has increased to 39 per cent this year.

NewsLoop brings together the best news and lifestyle content from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and Thailand, into a single app, offering content from over 600 publishers with 30 news and lifestyle categories to choose from.