Google Asia Pacific Blog: Asia Trends

“The Searching Planet” exhibition at Japan’s Miraikan

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Opening today at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo — known locally as the Miraikan — is a new exhibit called “The Searching Planet.” Using the museum’s famed “Geo-Cosmos” earth-shaped display, this video art uses icons and graphs to show how people are searching the Internet all around the world. Geo-Cosmos normally shows scientific data about the earth, but “The Searching Planet” will provide a window into human behavior — our hopes, curiosities, and moments of surprise.

Most of all, the exhibit shows that despite our differences, the globe is often united in the same hobbies, interest in major news moments — and surprisingly, the same foods.

Pizza is the most widely searched food across the planet

Searches for [brexit]

If you can’t make it to the Miraikan, you can explore “The Searching Planet” as a Chrome Experiment on your phone or computer. For the next 10 days, we are giving away special Google Cardboards at the Miraikan as gifts, but if you have one, you can use your phone to view the site in 360-degrees.

Posted by Mai Fukue, Product Marketing Manager, Google Japan

Want to tell news stories in new ways? There’s a MOOC for that.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Data journalism and the Internet are about telling stories in the best possible way. And it’s also allowing us new ways to teach people how to do it.

It is changing the way we work as reporters, giving us access to new tools which tell stories in new and exciting ways. Of course, busy journalists and editors struggle to find the time to catch up with this stuff.

The "World of Change"interactive visualizes how the world searches for information about climate change.

That’s why I’m so excited to be participating in an online five-week course offered by the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong that will kick off on April 4.

This five-week course will cover the fundamentals of data journalism, alongside experts from media houses across Asia such as IndiaSpend (India), Malaysiakini (Malaysia), KataData (Indonesia), Caixin (China) and DataLEADS (India). Aimed at busy journalists who want to take a crack at something new, we’ll be covering the basics of finding, collecting, assessing data and then visualizing those insights in a compelling way.

The class starts on April 4, please sign up!

Posted by Simon Rogers, Data Editor at News Lab

Asia’s Year in Search: What we searched for in 2015

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

From dubsmashes to gemstones, here’s a look at the memes and trends that gripped Asia this year in Google's 2015 Year in Search lists.

Apps and Tech
Homegrown Asian apps are on the rise. One of the biggest hits this year was Indonesia’s [GoJek], on-demand scooters to help commuters get around in Indonesia’s notorious traffic jams. Meanwhile, the inexorable rise of e-commerce in India continues as [Flipkart], and [Snapdeal] make it to India’s top ten searches, showing that the online shopping craze is as strong as ever.

But what people really love to do is play games on their phones. While [Agar.io] was the big viral app of the year globally, [Dubsmash] was unquestionably Asia’s big meme generator. Searches for the lip-syncing video app trended in the Philippines and Indonesia—no surprise there when you look at how celebrities and influencers have been using it, including the popular Governor of Jakarta, known affectionately as Ahok (check out his Dubmash). In India, Bollywood stars like Sonam Kapoor invited fans to submit Dubsmash renditions of her hit song “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.” Lip sync battles with pop stars on late night TV shows may be viral sensations in the West, but here in Asia, we prefer to do it ourselves.

Pop culture
Speaking of dubs, [Aldub] was the top term in the Philippines. The “dub” in this case actually stands for Yaya Dub, the lead female character on hit Filipino show Eat Bulaga played by “dubsmash queen” Maine Mendoza (check out her YouTube channel if you need any proof of her smashing talent). The “Al” is for Alden, her love interest. Their much-anticipated meeting and the accompanying hashtag #AlDubEBTamangPanahon (translation: AlDub, in the right time) drew more than 41 million tweets, smashing the previous Twitter record held by Brazil's defeat to Germany in last year’s world cup, according to the BBC. Watch out: when Pinoys catch on to a trend, it’s sure to become a social media phenomenon.

Local films normally rank high up in Asia’s lists, but this year we saw a surprising crossover: the British comedy caper Kingsman starring Colin Firth was the top trending film in Korea this year. As this BI article explains: “The film opened in South Korea in mid-February and has since earned $40 million, making it the film’s highest-grossing market abroad (behind the UK and Australia).” What could account for this success? The film’s storyline of the wealthy elite getting their comeuppance resonated after the “nutrage” incident embroiled the country. Korean Englishman, a British YouTube star who speaks fluent Korean, presents his own humorous take on the film here:

News and Events

Across the world, hostage crises and Paris emerged as top keywords. But Japan really stands out for this since it hadn't searched for those topics until two Japanese hostages were killed. [Islamic State] and the murdered journalist [Kenji Goto] were high up on Japan’s top searched terms of the year. Rugby gave the Japanese a reason to celebrate though, as the country’s underdog team defeated rugby giants New Zealand in the astonishing opener of the Rugby World Cup.

And in Korea, Japan, and Singapore, an epidemic that prompted recurring nightmares of 2003’s SARS scare, [MERS] or Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome was a top search term. This year’s record-settingly bad levels of haze meant that [PSI] was the top term in Singapore.

Economy
Speaking of recurring nightmares, [1 USD to MYR] trended in Malaysia when Malaysians were worried that a slide in the ringgit’s value against the dollar would trigger a 1998-style economic meltdown.

But Indonesians apparently started parking their money elsewhere: [batu akik], or precious gemstones was the top trending term in Indonesia this year. The soaring prices of these gemstones has led to online searches on Google as well as offline searches—people have been found to be digging for them in urban parks. A healthy trade in these stones, thought to possess supernatural qualities, even increased Bali’s forex earnings. Is this Indonesia’s modern day tulip mania?

Go to Google.com/2015 to explore the rest of the 2015 Year in Search stories and top trending charts from the rest of Asia and around the world.

Posted by Joyce Hau, Communications Manager, Google Asia Pacific

#YouTubeRewind 2015: Asia’s top memes, spoofs, and songs

Thursday, December 10, 2015

As we wind up the year, we look back at what captured audiences across Asia Pacific in 2015. This year, local YouTube creators dominated the trending lists in each country, showing that local creativity and culturally relevant videos are still what prompt viewers to press play. From wacky musical numbers to heartwarming stories of homecoming, here’s a glimpse at what had Asia glued to their smartphones this year.

Kids

Korea: [Pororo Sing Along Collection S2] Pororo Songs for Children

Pororo the Little Penguin is one of Korea’s beloved animated characters — so much so that he’s even earned the nickname “Pororo the President.” This 40-minute compilation of songs features Pororo and his friends singing 14 tracks and has kept millions of kids entertained.

Australia: Peppa Pig - 9 Episode Compilation 2! by theofficialpeppa

Popular kids’ animation Peppa Pig took the top spot this year in Australia’s trending videos list, proving how popular kids’ content is Down Under, as we saw during the recent launch of the YouTube Kids app there.

Parody songs

Vietnam: [Mì Gõ Đặc Biệt] Parody MV Vợ Người Ta - Phan Mạnh Quỳnh by Ghiền Mì Gõ

Remade from a popular song depicting a young man crying over his ex-girlfriend’s wedding, this Vietnamese creator spiced up the story of Vợ Người Ta with creative twists on characters — less dramatic and a bit more hilarious. It’s more addictive than you think: as of writing, the video Vợ Người Ta racked up watch times equivalent to 128 years.

Indonesia: SYAHRINI STICKER PARODI (edhozell + ekagustiwana) #parodisyahrini

Local YouTuber and comedian Edho Zell collaborated with musician Eka Gustiwana to create a video that went viral, clocking over 3.2 million views. Edho and Eka tapped into the country’s unabashed love of celebrity parody, and combined it with Indonesians’ favorite activity: chatting online with friends to create a song inspired by stickers.

India: AIB : Every Bollywood Party Song feat. Irrfan

Comedy kings AIB team up with Bollywood legend Irrfan Khan to send up archetypical Bollywood party songs (that often lack context in the film itself) — and the result is oh so catchy.

Eye-catching ads

Malaysia: Home - #lundangtonewcastle

Boy meets girl, over long distance: Malaysian Airlines made a heartwarming love story about a U.K.-born Malaysian boy who falls in love with a girl in Malaysia, based on real interviews with real people.

Philippines: For Our #1 Lolas | NIDO FORTIGROW | Nestlé PH

Get ready for a tear-jerker as this Nestlé ad reminds us of where sassy women get their strength from: their #1 lolas, aka grandmas.

New Zealand: Men In Black Safety Defenders #AirNZSafetyVideo

Air New Zealand does it again: their safety videos are already the stuff of legends. This time their viral video had stars from the All Blacks, New Zealand’s national rugby team, rapping in-flight safety tips to the “Men in Black” theme song.

Performances

Japan: Egusplosion - エグスプロージョンチャンネル

In this video, dance team Egusplosion comically explains a historical event called the “Honnoji Incident.” Their catchy rap tune and quirky dance moves have captured the hearts of Japanese students who’ve had to prepare for history exams. Check out the live version they did at the recent YouTube FanFest with Japanese YouTube star Hikakin. Egusplosion saw four more of their videos in this year’s top ten trending list for Japan.

Thailand: The Voice Thailand - หนอยแน่ - กลับไม่ได้ ไปไม่ถึง

Music-obsessed Thailand watched a lot of videos from hit talent-spotting show The Voice—this video “Noi Nae” alone was watched over 10 million times.

Unique tunes

Hong Kong: BOMBA - 音樂故事

Hong Kong creators and filmmaking collective BOMBA dominated Hong Kong’s trending video lists this year with six out of ten of the city’s most popular videos. Their modern musical, 音樂故事 or Music Story, strings together classic lines from Cantopop hits over the past few years to tell the story of an unrequited love. Real enthusiasts should try to take this on karaoke-style.

Taiwan: 驚喜合唱民歌四十 Flash Mob Chorus at Ban Qiao Rail Station

A musical horde descends upon one of Taiwan’s busiest rail stations to sing some of Taiwan’s iconic “Campus Ballads,” a genre of music popular among Taiwanese from the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. No doubt this video prompted many memories — and singalongs — for Taiwanese viewers everywhere.

Singapore: Unbelievable - I so stunned like vegetable (Spouse For House 2 MV)

So popular that “stunned like vegetable” became a new Singlish phrase, this song was created to promote Mediacorp Channel 5’s sitcom Spouse For House. Singaporeans grooved so much to the humorous — and dare we say it — unbelievable lyrics and dance moves that this video shot to the top of the trending charts. Walau-eh!

These are just some of the top YouTube hits from 2015 in Asia Pacific. Check out our YouTube Rewind channel for more of this year’s favorite videos from around the world, including a mashup of the top videos on YouTube — this time, featuring a look back at ten years’ worth of YouTube moments. You can also visit google.com/2015 next week for Google's annual look at the people, places and events that captured the world's attention.

Posted by Gautam Anand, Director of Operations and Content, YouTube Asia Pacific who recently watched “YouTube Rewind: Now Watch Me 2015”

Three numbers that tell you where Asia’s mobile Internet is going

Monday, November 16, 2015

Is Asia developing towards mobile, or away from it? Three numbers from the Google-TNS Asia Pacific Mobile App Usage Study suggest an answer: as it expands, it will move towards mobile, not away from it.

The study asked people from across Asia about how they used their apps, revealing how central mobile has become to Asia’s daily life. And in markets where smartphones are only just becoming mainstream, we can expect that trend to strengthen.

We can sum this up in three numbers and two colors in the following chart:
Screen Shot 2015-11-16 at 14.08.08.png

As is common in these kinds of surveys, Korea emerges as the smartphone paradise: they have the second highest smartphone penetration in Asia, the third-highest proportion of people who consider the smartphone their main device, and they install the most apps on their phone.

What’s interesting is India (IN) and Indonesia (ID). They have the lowest smartphone penetration in the survey and also the fewest number of apps installed on their phones (probably a consequence of having devices with far less memory). And yet, for them, the smartphone is more important to their daily life, not less: more smartphone owners in India and Indonesia consider their smartphone to be their primary device than in Singapore and Korea, even though they have fewer apps installed. Even when and if they do buy second devices like PCs and tablets, all their lessons about how the Internet works will come from that small touchscreen.

The mobile-first world of Asia doesn’t seem likely to be losing its center of gravity any time soon. Of course, each Asian country approaches the mobile Internet differently, and to get a more comprehensive outlook on what’s going on across the region, please read this article as we go through the study’s numbers at Think With Google APAC.

Posted by Masao Kakihara, Senior Research Manager, Market Insights, Google Asia-Pacific

Chopin briefly beats Shopping in search, largely thanks to Asia

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

For one brief moment in the world of Google searches last night, Chopin beat shopping. And that’s largely thanks to Asia.

The International Chopin Piano Competition draws a larger crowd than you might think. Here’s the chart of search interest in the competition, the composer and online shopping. As the finals were livestreamed online, people rushed to check out the performances and see who won.

Poland hosts the competition every five years in honor of one of its most famous composers and Poland generates the most search interest in the competition. But then Japan and Korea show the most search interest in the world behind Poland, far above the U.S. or France.

Within Korea, search interest in the competition even beat out K-Pop boy band Exo.

And no wonder: check out the winning performance from Korea’s Seong-Jin Cho at the 17-minute mark in the video below.

You can watch all the performances on the Chopin Institute’s YouTube channel and dive into the history of the competition and into Fryderyk Chopin’s history via two online exhibitions on the Google Cultural Institute.

Detail of gigapixel image of Fantaisie-Impromptu cis-moll [Opus 66] (1833 - 1834), Fryderyk Chopin’s autograph composition dated 1835 (collection: Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina)

Tune in for the broadcast of the winners’ performances on October 21, starting at 7pm Central European Time.

How Sri Lanka searched during the election

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

One of Sri Lanka’s most dramatic elections is now over. The suspense, twists and turns are reflected in this chart (also available here) showing how people searched for different parties and politicians over the past 10 weeks. The parties are ranked for each week and the lines, as they move across, show how they moved up and down the ranking. It should be remembered that a search isn’t the same thing as a vote; it might not even be a gesture of approval. These rankings reflect the shift in interest of Sri Lanka during the different twists of the campaign.

Posted by Sana Rahman, Communications Manager

Can a Japanese person explain “Lassen Gorelai” to a foreigner?

Monday, July 6, 2015

In the first half of 2015, the most-searched term in Japan was ラッスンゴレライ, more than Manny Pacquiao, more than Miyazaki’s new movie “The Wind Rises,” and more than the health fad of the year, coconut oil.

But what does the phrase mean? That’s actually what Japan wants to know. Global searches for the meaning of ラッスンゴレライ exceeded the searches for the meaning of “twerk” and “yolo” in the first half of the year.

In fact, ラッスンゴレライ is a song by Japanese comedy group 82 sec. Bazooka. They performed it on Japanese TV late last year, and then found it becoming a YouTube sensation and a pop-culture phenomenon earlier this year.

If Japan doesn’t understand this, what are the chances the rest of us will? I watched the video and asked my Japanese colleague Kaori for help. Here’s a cleaned up transcript of our Hangout chat, complete with that most Japanese of expressions, emojis.

So how should we transcribe this phrase? There's Lassen Gorelai and I've also seen Rassun Gorelai. What do you recommend?
I think it's best to go with lassen because that’s what another YouTube creator called it in his English version of the video, and his video was a big hit.

And, just to be clear, it means...NOTHING?

Well, we don't know.

... What ... ?!
Because the meaning of it was never addressed. So we don't know if it means anything, or if it means nothing.

So if, in 2012, I was to say those words to someone in Japan, they would have no clue as to what I was saying?
Yes, in normal Japanese it doesn't mean anything.

Does it sound like some other kinds of words? Does it sound technical? childish?
It sounds foreign. It’s written in Katakanagi, which is common for foreign phrases.

Like English foreign? Or just ... from elsewhere?
Yeah, not English.

Can you set the scene a bit. They first did this on a TV show — had they done stuff like this before? or did this come out of nowhere?
Yes, they first did this on a late-night TV show in late 2014. And soon after that, they uploaded an official YouTube video, which immediately became popular. The comedians were unknown before Lassen Gorelai.

Is the English version an accurate translation? I just thought it was someone putting together English-language phrases in random order.
The English version is accurate. That's really what the original song is saying. Including the "spider flash rolling thunder."

What? OK. I'm going to listen to it more closely. [Watches the movie again, eyes wide open]

So "wait a minute, onisan"... one of them is called Oni?
Onisan means "brother" (as in, “hey bro”).

This song is even weirder than I thought. So it's these very intense scenes involving hotels and cars with the added ingredient of “lassen gorelai.” Suddenly, this phrase of yours makes sense: "we don't know [the meaning], because the meaning of it was never addressed so we don't know if it means anything, or if it means nothing." I thought you were just being zen, or something. So when this got big, how did this filter into daily life? Is it a catchphrase people would say in a bar?
Yes, people would say it when they're having dinner, at someone's house, or if you are a student you would be doing this in a classroom.

Have you used it?
No ... but my friends did at a party once. And there was a group of people who were so into it, and the rest of us were just observing, not wanting to believe that it's a thing.

The dance and everything?
Yes, they actually learned the dance from watching the YouTube video! The people who would go that far are definitely from the younger generation.

All right, so finally. What do you think Lassen Gorelai is, if you had to guess? I think in Pulp Fiction when they look in the briefcase and there’s something in there with a big glow ... THAT'S LASSEN GORELAI.
To me it sounds like a kind of Indonesian food.

Like nasi goreng!

Yes!

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, onisan. Nasi goreng, what the hell's that!" Makes sense. Thanks, Kaori.

Posted by Robin Moroney, Communications Manager, Google Asia Pacific

Consumers in Asia live in the mobile-first “micro-moment”

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

According to new research from Google’s Consumer Barometer, Asia no longer “goes online,” it lives online. More than any other region, Asia’s smartphone users are more apt to shop online, watch videos, and solve most problems with a smartphone, rather than a PC. These findings have big implications for brands and marketers.

Mary Meeker cites research showing that smartphone owners reach for their devices an estimated 150 times a day. Often it’s for basic tasks like checking the time, or seeing what friends are up to on social media. But then there are those moments that really matter: the I want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I want-to-do, and I want-to-buy moments.

We call these “micro-moments,” and they’re absolutely key to the Asian Internet. These are times when people need to learn, discover, watch, find, or buy something, and reflexively turn to the closest device—usually a smartphone—to act on that need. The brands that will win in this new era of fast choices are those that have given consumers a compelling reason to choose them here and now. Asia especially will be the proving ground for how brands fare on capturing hearts and minds on mobile.

Let’s dig a little deeper into the Consumer Barometer research. Here are our top five Asia trends:

Asia is a global leader in mobile

Asia has 5 out of the global top 10 markets when it comes to smartphone penetration, including Singapore (#2) at 88%, followed by South Korea (83%) and Hong Kong (79%)

Screen Shot 2015-06-04 at 11.39.43 AM.png

Asia is a global leader in mobile. Asia has 5 out of the top 10 markets when it comes to smartphone penetration.

Mobile is Asia’s primary computing platform

Most of the countries in the world where smartphone adoption is higher than PC adoption are in Asia. These include markets such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

More activities happen on smartphones in Asia than the West

Smartphone owners in Asia use their phones for searching, shopping, and maps more often than their Western counterparts. For instance, 31% of Thai smartphone owners shop on their phones — a rate far exceeding that of the US (10%) or UK (7%).

Asia has more I-want-to-do moments than the West

In the Philippines, 55% of smartphone users watch online videos to learn something new: everything from how to curl their hair, to fixing a bike, or baking a cake. That number is just 22% in the US.

Asia has more I-want-to-buy moments than the West

In South Korea, 51% of online consumers compared products on a smartphone prior to a purchase, compared to 36% in the US.

For years, marketers have made predictions about the shift to mobile, but until now, it’s been hard to see what it might mean in practice. Finally, in Asia, we can see the implications of all the power that mobile has put in consumers’ pockets — and what this means for the mobile future that awaits the rest of the world.

Editor’s note: This is just a short sample of some of the insights from an article by Karim Temsamani, VP Google Asia Pacific, published on Asia-Pacific’s Think with Google site.

Who’s the biggest pavlova lovah lovah? You’ll be surprised

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Sometimes when you use Google Trends data to settle a debate, it just opens up a whole new mystery.

Just as the noodle’s true origins have led to angry debate among the Chinese and Italians, the pavlova’s genesis is a constant cause of tension among Aussies and Kiwis. This cream-filled, strawberry-topped meringue dessert was created in honour of the famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova on the occasion of her tour through Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s. Yet the exact birthplace of this dessert — a mainstay of Down Under cuisine — is as much a matter of national contention as a Wallabies v. All Blacks match.

Google Trends can’t settle the debate from a historical perspective, but it can at least help us see which country searches most for the dessert now. And the answer came (drumroll please): Norway. And then…Malaysia. Are you taking the mickey, mate?!
Pavlova - global comparison.png

The data from Norway hinted at one reason as to why the pavlova’s popularity pipped those Down Under. When you see spikes like that, it typically has to do with a holiday. And, sure enough, pavlova searches in Norway spike every year in May:
Pavlova last 5 years.png

Pavlova spikes most dramatically in the week of May 11-17, leading up to Norwegian Constitution Day on May 17. What can explain the seasonal popularity of this dish in northern Europe? Speculation posits that the dessert’s colorful use of blueberries and strawberries makes it resemble the red-and-blue Norwegian flag.
Pavlova in Norway.png

But what about Malaysia? Unlike Norway, searches for pavlova in Malaysia are fairly steady all year round, with the highest volume of searches in mid-November last year. Perhaps the love of the dessert Down Under hopped the straits to Malaysia, known also for its sweet treats?
Pavlova in Malaysia.png

For most of the rest of the world, pavlova spikes around Christmas time.

But as for our original question of who wins between Australia and New Zealand: it’s New Zealand. The search interest in “pavlova recipes” is much higher in New Zealand too.
Pavlova Recipe - AU v NZ.png

So, while we may not be able to settle who first served Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova the first slice of pavlova almost 100 years ago, we can see that New Zealand has a sweeter tooth than Australia today.

Posted by Shane Treeves, Communications Senior Associate, Google Australia and New Zealand

Manny Pacquiao and the Philippines: Search trends scorecard

Monday, May 4, 2015

So, Manny lost. Mayweather won. Have we learned anything? We took a post-game trawl through Google Trends to find out what, if any significance, we can take from the fight.

Pizza goes well with boxing

Searches for Jollibee and Pizza spiked just before the match began, and went up again after the decision came.

Live venues and livestream

Searches for cinemas were strong throughout the Saturday before the match, as people hunted for public locations to watch the game. In the hour before the event, however, people furiously looked for livestreams of the game.

People are looking to history and for allies of Manny

Filipinos looked up Rocky Marciano as Floyd Mayweather Jr. got a step closer to beating his record. They also were interested in celebrities who supported Manny (Jimmy Kimmel) or were surprised that the judges favored Mayweather.

There’s always the NBA

Even though Manny Pacquiao can shut down a country every time he plays, his country doesn’t extend that interest to his sport as a whole. Even with an enormous spike in search interest on Sunday, search interest in the NBA was actually larger over the past 7 days than in boxing.

Posted by Gail Tan, Country Communications Manager, Philippines.

Pacquiao v. Mayweather: The search for a winner

Saturday, May 2, 2015

One of the most hotly anticipated fights in history is nearly here. Who knows who will win in the ring. But in search...?

It's too close to call.

When it comes to search, they both beat out David Beckham, Christiano Ronoldo and Usain Bolt. And though Pacquiao is the only of the two fighters to beat their country's national leader in searches, Mayweather isn't nearly as far behind in terms of search interest in the Philippines as Pacquiao is in the U.S.

Focusing in on Asia, it's no surprise that Pacquiao gets more search interest than Mayweather in the Philippines, but there are quite a few other places where, over the past year, Manny's garnered more search interest than Floyd. (If you get out a magnifying glass, you'll see that Macau is indeed shaded blue).

We also had a look at how search interest in the two fighters compared over the past year in other areas as well.

And finally, both fighters can take comfort in the fact that when it comes to the categories of Floyds and Mannys, they've both attracted far more search interest than their nearest competing namesakes. It's a decent fight when it comes to Floyds:

But no contest when it comes to Mannys:

Now that we've settled that, all that's left is for the fighters themselves to settle it in the ring.

Posted by Robin Moroney, Communications Manager

How India knocked mobile for a six

Thursday, April 16, 2015

We all know that cricket is very important to India. But here’s a chart that shows why India’s love of cricket is important to our understanding of the world’s Internet and, also, how the Internet is changing.

It shows what devices Indians used to make cricket-related searches during a single match from this year’s two-month-long tournament — India vs. Pakistan on February 15:

Over the space of the chart an average of 78% of cricket-related queries came from mobile. In comparison, 48% of searches from Australia during the Australia v. England match came from mobile.

This reflects two things. First, it shows just how hungry Indian cricket fans are for in-the-moment, on-the-spot information on everything from their favorite players' hairstyle to where they can get fireworks to celebrate a win. Second, this shows just how much the world's Internet is changing as more people in India and other emerging economies come online for the first time through their smartphones, setting new trends on how to use the Internet and in some senses leaving more developed markets, and their old desktop-based habits, behind.

If you want to read more insights from the world cup, please take a look at the larger study on our Asian edition of Think With Google, aimed at giving marketers and businesses better insights into how to reach and serve people in the world’s fastest growing region.

Posted by Simon Kahn, Chief Marketing Officer, Google Asia Pacific

Year of the Goat, Sheep or Ram? Ewe Decide

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

The Chinese Year of the 羊 (“yáng”) starts on Thursday and still it seems like English speakers are debating whether to call it the year of the “sheep” or “goat,” with some rearing their head occasionally to make the case for “ram.” The confusion’s understandable. In Chinese the single character 羊 can be combined with the character 山, or mountain, to specify “goat”, or 綿 to specify “sheep.” We thought the conundrum might have been on your minds because, well, autocomplete:

The press has been wrestling with the horns of this dilemma. Some point to traditional Chinese herders’ rearing of goats to argue against sheep. On the other hand, celebrating the year of the sheep serves as a great excuse to buy absurdly cute merchandise.

Do the Internet’s users have a preference? We looked at the worldwide volume of Google searches for the phrases “year of the sheep”, versus “year of the goat” and “year of the ram”:

At first glance, it appears that in English at least, sheep bleat the loudest. Over the past week though, as anticipation for the holiday grew, searches for “year of the sheep” and “year of the goat” have been neck and neck:

Maybe there's a regional-differences story here? The Philippines had the highest search levels for “year of the sheep,” while the phrase “year of the ram” is used most commonly in India, followed by Canada and the U.S. “Year of the goat” was popular again in the Philippines, then Australia.

What is it about sheep/goats that the Philippines loves so much?

But let’s not wander too far from the pen: let’s take a look at how Chinese speakers search. For starters, comparing the Chinese word for goat 山羊 to sheep 綿羊 shows clearly that the goat is the king of the hill for Chinese speakers:

Searches for 山羊 (goat) have been rising all through 2014, and the related searches for the single character 羊 in English are mostly for “goat.” But therein lies an issue. That same result also shows that it’s not searches about the zodiac driving this—it’s one goat in particular, called Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf:

The Chinese children’s show Pleasant Goat is a huge hit among Chinese-speaking children worldwide. And to add to the confusion, the white fluffiness of Pleasant Goat suggests it is more of a sheep than a goat, at least to this Googler’s eyes...

Is Pleasant a goat in sheep’s clothing? Does this ambiguity extend to the very definition of what a sheep or a goat is to Chinese speakers? At the end of the day, does it really matter? Baa.

What does matter is that you and yours have a happy, healthy, and prosperous Year of the ____. 恭祝您羊年快樂，喜氣洋洋！

Posted by Joyce Hau, Communications Senior Associate, Google Asia Pacific

Asia’s hottest tech trends of 2014: Most searched wearable

Friday, December 19, 2014

This post is part of our series that looks at the tech gadgetry and geeky moments that went truly viral in Asia in 2014. Check out google.com/2014 for lists of the most popular searches around the world. Enjoy!

No, it’s not a smartwatch, exactly. But in Japan, even kids’ toys are entering the realm of wearables. This year was all about the Yo-kai Watch (妖怪ウォッチ), a hugely popular video game and animation that is a runaway hit with Japanese kids. The way Yokai Watch works is that kids have to get a watch and collect the little fictional monsters with their watches. It’s like Pokemon, but instead of battling it out with collectible cards, you have a much niftier piece of hardware.

Yokai Watch’s search popularity in Japan even beat that of Disney’s Frozen. Is Frozen’s moment in the land of the rising sun melting away?

Yokai Watch (red line) enjoys a sustained high volume of searches; Pokemon (blue line) had a quiet year but suddenly spiked in popularity; Frozen (yellow line)’s search popularity is declining slowly.

Posted by Sakura Tominaga, Communications Manager, Google Japan

Asia’s hottest tech trends of 2014: Most searched chat apps

Thursday, December 18, 2014

This post is part of our series that looks at the tech gadgetry and geeky moments that went truly viral in Asia in 2014. Check out google.com/2014 for lists of the most popular searches around the world. Enjoy!

Just how much do Indonesians love to chat? A lot. On average, Indonesians have at least 3 chat apps installed on their smartphones—25% of Indonesian smartphone users have more than 5. In fact, Indonesians searched for and downloaded so many chat apps that we have a whole list of the most searched-for chat apps in Indonesia.

Top gadgets in Indonesia

iPhone 6
Nokia X
Samsung Galaxy Core
ASUS Zenfone 5
Samsung Galaxy S5
Samsung Galaxy V
Samsung Galaxy S4
iPhone 5S
Blackberry Z3
Samsung Galaxy Grand

Top chat apps in Indonesia

BBM
WhatsApp
Line
WeChat
Skype
Yahoo Messenger
Facebook Messenger
Kakao Talk
BeeTalk
Kik Messenger

What’s notable is the fact that while Blackberry used to be king in Indonesia, searches for Blackberry’s latest device comes in 9th place, while various Samsung models take up five spots out of the top ten. However, it seems like everyone is still tied to Blackberry Messenger, as BBM reigned as the most searched-for chat app of 2014. In fact, BBM was searched for twice as much as WhatsApp, its nearest rival. What’s clear though is that no matter the device they’re on, Indonesians are certainly agnostic about which app they use to communicate with each other.

Google search trends capture just how competitive Asia is for homegrown messaging apps, whose popularity completely eclipses those that are popular in the West. For instance, note that for all of Indonesia’s obsession with chat apps, the one that didn’t make it big in Indonesia was one that exploded in popularity in the West this year: Snapchat.

As this chart shows, although Snapchat got more search interest globally than WeChat, it’s striking how little the two chat apps overlap in their spheres of influence.

Snapchat and WeChat: never the twain shall meet?

The interest in Line in Indonesia also heralds how Asia’s mobile Internet is becoming truly pan-Asian. Five years ago, Japan’s mobile Internet was dominated by flip NEC phones. Indonesia’s was dominated by Blackberrys. Korea had only just been given the regulatory approval to bring in the iPhone. Now Line, an app developed in Japan by a Korea-owned company, is rivaling Skype and Facebook Messenger in Indonesia for domination. Seen in that light, Indonesia’s love of chat apps looks less like a national obsession, and more like a regional leading indicator.

Posted by Jason Tedjasukmana, Communications Manager, Google Indonesia

Asia’s hottest tech trends of 2014: The gadget scene

Thursday, December 18, 2014

This post is part of our series that looks at the tech gadgetry and geeky moments that went truly viral in Asia in 2014. Check out google.com/2014 for lists of the most popular searches around the world. Enjoy!

It was a big year for Chinese handset maker Xiaomi, as searches for their devices—the Redmi, Xiaomi 3, and phablet Redmi Note—all spilled over to various parts of Asia, especially in nearby Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Malaysia. In Taiwan and Malaysia, searches for Xiaomi trended just behind searches for iPhone 6.

Searches for Xiaomi were most concentrated in Greater China and nearby Asian countries

2014 was also the year that the phablet hit the mainstream. We had noticed how Asians were touting 5” beasts way back in 2011 (the Samsung Note anyone?), and people in the West were laughing at the sheer size of them. Now, phablets have gotten the ultimate stamp of smartphone approval as Apple wholeheartedly embraced the larger screen size with their flagship phones, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus.

We have some theories as to why the phablet first emerged in Asia: some believe that phablets took off here because the larger surface area made writing Asian-language characters with a finger or a stylus easier. For hyperconnected countries like Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, where commuters on the train can stay connected to fast Internet during their entire ride, they can stream video content via YouTube or other video players onto their phones. (Already, the bulk of YouTube views from Japan and Korea come from mobile.) Of course they’d want a bigger screen size to catch up on their favorite Korean dramas. Eventually, the rest of the world caught on to the glories of the huge phablet screen.

As this chart from Flurry Analytics shows, Koreans were way ahead of the curve, with more bigger size smartphones in that market than in the rest of the world.

Everyone else eventually caught up, as the share of Phablets (5 - 6.9” screen) phones grew dramatically over the course of a year.

Faithful readers: do you think phablets are fab, or do you think they’re clunky monsters? Does the larger form factor cramp or expand your style? Share your thoughts with us below.

Posted by Joyce Hau, Communications Senior Associate, Google Asia Pacific

Asia’s hottest tech trends of 2014: Most viral game

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

This post is part of our series that looks at the tech gadgetry and geeky moments that went truly viral in Asia in 2014. Check out google.com/2014 for lists of the most popular searches around the world. Enjoy!

Flappy Bird, the frustratingly addictive mobile game, is the pride of Vietnam, and this year’s most viral gaming app. Flappy Bird is not only hugely popular in Asia, this app even made the Google’s top 10 global trending searches list—above Disney’s Frozen. Made in a weekend by creator Dong Nguyen, the adorably low-tech Flappy Bird was the highest spiking game of 2014, above Destiny, a multi-million dollar game. In addition to being a global phenomenon, Flappy Bird spiked in searches in Malaysia, the Philippines and Hong Kong.

Flappy Bird, the innocuously addictive game out of Vietnam

Just how big are gaming apps in Asia? According to Google’s Consumer Barometer, more Asians play games on their phones than anywhere else: In Thailand, 65% of smartphone owners play games on their mobiles, and in China that number is 64% — compared to very serious Germany where only one in five smartphone owners play games on their mobiles.

Most Asians use their smartphones for gaming. Germans? Nein.

When you’re talking about a clear majority of very populous countries all playing games on their smartphones, that’s literally hundreds of millions of people glued to games. Is it any wonder then, that in this brave new world of mobile games, a humble game featuring a hapless bird made by one Vietnamese developer could become a viral hit? Watch this space for more global hits made by Asian developers.

Posted by Amy Kunrojpanya, Head of Communications & Public Affairs, New Emerging Markets

Google’s Year in Search: Asia’s hottest tech trends of 2014

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

As we look back at this year’s hottest trends, we give you the tech gadgetry and geeky moments that went truly viral in Asia. Check out google.com/2014 for lists of the most popular searches around the world. Enjoy!

The selfie stick

A spectre is haunting Asia—the spectre of the selfie stick. A phenomenon that first peaked in Malaysia, then jumped the straits to Indonesia, the skinny banner has been raised in the Philippines more times than in any other country. This humble stick has caused such a stir that even the South Korean government has apparently banned its sale—what could be the cause of such alarm?

The Philippines: the Himalayas of the selfie stick emergence. The US is just crawling out from the Mariana trenches of selfie stick searches.

In any case, if 2013 was the year of the selfie, 2014 was the year of the selfie stick (well, here in Asia, at least). As you can see from the chart above, people in Malaysia first started searching for selfie sticks on Google early this year, then by the summer Filipinos were all wielding the contraption, just as searches gained in popularity in Indonesia.

Speculations are rife as to why the selfie stick originated in Asia, and various countries contend for the title of selfie stick originator. We do know, however, that front-facing cameras were a fixture on Asian feature phones, long before smartphones even emerged. In the early days of flip phones in Japan, circa mid-2000s, Japanese carriers even promoted a whole campaign around “jidori” 自撮り or selfies, and encouraged people to email photos of themselves to their friends over WAP (remember that?!).

Whether you call it a monopod, 自拍神棍 (“selfie magic stick” in Chinese), or tongkat narsis (“narcissistic stick” in Indonesian), this phenomenon is truly on the rise in Asia—watch out, other regions, before it jumps the pond to a selfie-taker near you. And remember: you saw it here in Asia first.

Posted by Robin Moroney, Communications Manager, Google Asia Pacific

#YouTubeRewind 2014: Celebrating what Asia-Pacific created, watched and shared

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Everyday, the world’s pop culture unfolds on YouTube. If you needed any proof that YouTube represents so many things to so many people, look no further than some of the year’s top videos across Asia. From great white sharks to local comedy acts, and letting it go millions of times, here’s a celebration of the people, memes and moments that made up an epic year for Asia on YouTube:

Taiwan: 頂尖對決之穿褲子篇 Top Battles - Wearing pants

We all know how tough it can be to kick off the day on the right foot sometimes, but this guy in Taiwan managed to start his day by getting his pants on without using his hands. Since then, he’s not only spurred a global meme (look out for the shoutout in this year’s Rewind video), but also his new “Top Battle” series where he completes crazy, hilarious challenges based on his fans suggestions.

Australia: GoPro: Man Fights Off Great White Shark In Sydney Harbour

Uploaded in June, this video made waves in Australia as people watched, re-watched and speculated about whether or not this encounter with a shark was a stunt. Have a dive in through this GoPro and let us know what you think.

New Zealand: Safety in Paradise #airnzsafetyvideo

Over in New Zealand, one Kiwi brand got playful and had over 6 million people tune in to their video. In an effort to make safety sexy, Air New Zealand worked with Sports Illustrated to feature some of their top swimsuit models in their new in-flight safety video.

Hong Kong: Ronnie Chau [公屋潮文] 公屋●居屋●私樓

This Hong Kong hit was inspired by a trending article on HKGolden about what happens when a girl brings a boyfriend home to meet her parents. This parody of the different reactions to the boyfriend figure, based on where he lived, went viral shortly after it was uploaded in March.

Malaysia: I Give You Chance!

For Malaysians, YouTube is still as Malaysian as nasi lemak. Poking fun at the nation's favourite worst excuse for losing — by saying “I give you chance”, which is another way to say “I didn’t want to win anyway” — this video features two of Malaysia’s top YouTube vloggers and has been seen by over 2 million people.

Indonesia: Dodit - Pembalasan Buat Radit (SUCI 4 Show 8)

Indonesians love to laugh. This year, five of the top ten non-music videos in Indonesia were local comedy acts, including this one by Raditya Dika, a popular Indonesian YouTuber, writer, and stand-up comedian.

Singapore: Past vs Present: Teenagers

This year’s top videos in Singapore showed us that there’s nothing Singaporeans like better than laughing along with local creators, whether it’s revisiting school memories like in this video, or everyday life with Wah Banana’s “10 Types of People in The Hawker Centre”.

India: AIB: Alia Bhatt - Genius of the Year

While many of this year’s top videos in India highlight independent video creators who went viral covering spoof parodies of leading politicians and news anchors, this clip shows how India gave a thumbs up to leading Bollywood star Alia Bhatt for her self-deprecating humorous video created by the popular AIB group.

Thailand: คงไม่ทัน - สงกรานต์

In Thailand, music soared to new heights on YouTube. This music video by Songkran Rangsan, the winner of the Voice Thailand in 2013, has garnered nearly 100 million views — which is like everyone in Thailand watching the video 1.5 times since it debuted.

Philippines: Sarah Geronimo sings Frozen's 'Let It Go' on ASAP

Did you know that the Philippines was the top country in the world searching for “Let It Go” this year? It’s no wonder then that one of the most-loved YouTube videos in the Philippines in 2014 was a rendition of the song by popular singer and actress Sarah Geronimo, with nearly 6 million views.

Japan: Let It Go Beatbox Cover (from "Frozen") アナと雪の女王レットイットゴー

Meanwhile in Japan, “Let It Go” found a new beatboxing groove. This special collaboration between Daichi and HIKAKIN, two of the biggest human beatbox stars in Japan, landed over 5 million views.

Korea: 양띵 [탈옥을 꾀하는 자, 협력하라! 마인크래프트 감옥탈출 1편] 마인크래프트

In Korea, YangDDing had an explosive year on YouTube. By making Minecraft videos like the one above, she's become the first Asian female gamer to have a following of over a million strong on YouTube.

These are just some of the top YouTube hits from 2014 in Asia-Pacific. Check out our YouTube Rewind channel for more of this year’s favorite videos from around the world, including a mashup of the top branded videos and the top ads on YouTube. You can also visit google.com/2014 next week for Google's annual look at the people, places and events that captured the world's attention.

Posted by Gautam Anand, Director of Operations and Content, YouTube Asia-Pacific who recently watched "YouTube Rewind: Turn Down for 2014"