Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2017 Asia-Pacific Supplementary Report

Abstract

This report presents an analysis of data from a survey of online news users in seven markets in the Asia-Pacific region: Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Australia. It is based on data from the 2017 Reuters Institute Digital News Report but the regional focus provides more detailed analysis of developments across Asia-Pacific markets. To shed light both on similarities and differences within the region and between the region and more global trends, we include the UK and the US in the analysis as benchmarks. We focus on Asia-Pacific markets here in part because it is important to understand the specificities of how media and news use is developing across the region, and in part because the region – with several technically highly developed markets with young populations – provides a possible indication of what the future of digital media holds for less-developed markets with older populations elsewhere. Digital media use in many Asia-Pacific markets is more developed than in many other high-income countries in, for example, Europe and North America. In the report, we show how most markets in the region are deeply shaped by the spread of smartphones and the rise of platforms, but also characterised by some publishers who maintain a strong direct connection with their users.