China Has Highest Number of Searchers and Searches in the World

In September, more than 340 million searchers conducted nearly 29 billion searches in the Asia-Pacific region, ranking it as the largest searcher population and search volume total of the five global regions reported by comScore.

China had the largest searcher population in the region with more than 149 million searchers, and the greatest number of searches conducted (12.8 billion). Japan ranked second on both measures with more than 61 million searchers and nearly 6 billion searches. Australia exhibited the heaviest search intensity with an average of 115 searches per searcher during the month, followed by South Korea (109 searches per searcher) and Singapore (106 searches per searcher).

Asia-Pacific Search Overview – Country Breakdown September 2008 Total Asia-Pacific Internet Audience*, Age 15+ - Home & Work Locations Source: comScore qSearch
Country	Searches (MM)***	Unique Searchers (000)	Searches Per Searcher
Total Asia-Pac Internet**	28,967	341,850	84.7
China	12,758	149,219	85.5
Japan	5,879	61,130	96.2
Korea	2,303	21,072	109.3
India	1,169	22,931	51.0
Australia	977	8,523	114.6
Taiwan	618	9,735	63.5
Malaysia	405	6,207	65.2
Hong Kong	199	2,773	71.8
Singapore	171	1,617	105.6
New Zealand	135	1,500	90.1

*Excludes searches from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
**Improvements to universe estimates in certain Internet markets have recently been made. We caution against trending with data prior to July 2008.
***The sum of distinct searches. Searches with the same search term by the same user at the same entity in consecutive sequence are counted as one search, regardless of the number of search result pages presented.

61 Million Active Internet Users in China

This according to the Universal McCann Report Wave 3 report (March 2008) that tracks social media growth. The following are the snapshots it gave in so far as blogging, social networking, and social media growth in China is concern:

• There are 61 million active Internet users
  
  
• 88.1% or 53.8 million read blogs
• 85% in 2007 (June)
  
• 58% in 2006 (September)
  
  
• 53.9% or 33 million subscribed to an RSS feed.
  
  
• 70.3% or 42.3 million have started their own blogs
• 61.1% in 2007 (June)
• 58% in 2006 (September)
  
  
• 64% or 39 million created a profile on a new social network.
  
  
• 73.5% or 45 million uploaded photos in a photo sharing website.
  
  
• 58.1% or 35.5 million have uploaded videos on a video sharing website.
  
  
• 89% or 54.4 million watch video clips online.
• 78.9% in 2007 (June)
• 56.2% in 2006 (September)
  
  
• 74.3% or 45.4 million have downloaded a podcast
• 51.8% in 2007 (June)
• 24.3% in 2006 (September)

In January 2007, China is recorded to have the second-largest Internet population in the world, with 86.8 million users.

10,000 DDoS Attacks Occur Worldwide - Daily

According to the Computer Security Institute, there are as many as 10,000 distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks occurring worldwide each day– the size of which go beyond 10 Gbps at times– and the likelihood of an organization experiencing an attack is growing. Without any warning, websites and web applications can be taken down, cutting off customers, partners and suppliers.

A DDoS attack occurs when a network or web service is rendered unavailable or inaccessible to its intended legitimate users, either temporarily or permanently, usually by flooding the target system with high volumes of traffic. Perpetrators of DDoS attacks typically target sites or services hosted by high-profile institutions such as those from the financial services sector, payment gateways, government sites, websites of major corporations, and entertainment sites, and the media.

The FBI/Computer Security Institute 2007 study indicated that the loss of revenue attributed to DDoS in just an hour could be $90,000 for a sales catalog company to $6,450,000 for a retail brokerage.

Prolexic Technologies, a US-based managed security service provider of DDOS mitigation solutions, in its July 2007 Zombie Report, noted that cyber criminals target organizations for financial gain, competitive advantage, corporate sabotage or ideological opposition. Their methods get more sophisticated, and more powerful, as businesses increase their security. The cyber criminals are determined and clever at targeting organizations and devising new attack strategies, it is truly a war of attrition.

Publicly-listed IT company IPVG Corp. (PSE: IP) had recently completed the acquisition of Prolexic Technologies Inc.

17.3 million IPTV subscribers in Asia Pacific by 2010

Ovum RHK has published the results of a 14-country independent assessment of broadband deployments and service drivers in the Asia-Pacific region, with a specific focus on fiber-to-the-x (FTTx).

The result was based on interviews with major carriers in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, the study addresses fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), fiber-to-the-building (FTTB), digital subscriber line (DSL), cable modem termination system (CMTS), and wireless initiatives throughout the region. It was conducted jointly by Ovum RHK and the APAC FTTH Council.

“Ovum believes there will be over 195 million broadband subscribers in Asia-Pacific by the end of 2010,” said Lynn Hutcheson, Vice President, Communication Components at Ovum RHK. “Many operators indicated that content services were going to be a key component of their offerings. However, there are vast differences as to how each country regulates IPTV and content delivery over telecom infrastructures.”

I was able to correspond with David Kennedy, Ovum's Research Director (Telecoms - Asia Pacific) and got the following as well:

• There were 98 million broadband subscribers in Asia-Pacific region (including China and India) in December 2006.
• There were a total of 1.5 million IPTV services in the Asia Pacific in December 2006. This is lower than In-Stat's estimate of 2.7 million IPTV 2006 subscribers. This is probably due to differences in the definition of IPTV and markets included in their respective definition of the region.
• By IPTV, Ovum refers to ‘paid for’ television services offered to consumers by telecom operators and ISPs. According to Kennedy, "These services are usually provided using IPTV technology, but we use the term more widely to include services provided by those above using other technologies such as digital terrestrial television and satellite, often as a hybrid solution. They are sold as part of a bundled offering (typically including broadband access and fixed line telephony), or as a standalone service."
• Ovum excludes television services provided over the public Internet, often known as Internet or Web TV. They also exclude television services supplied by cable operators, satellite broadcasters, free-to-air digital television broadcasters, and free-to-air analogue television broadcasters.They also exclude video on-demand (VoD) services provided by telecom operators and others.
• Ovum projects 17.3 million IPTV subscribers in the region by December 2010.

The businesses that will be most affected by IPTV growth are those into DVD rental, Free to Air TV, and pay TV services. It will be interested to know how the business model of this segment shall evolve to survive this upcoming market changes.

Online Gaming Community Worldwide Reaches 217 Million People

comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR) released the results of a global study into online gaming, showing the number of unique visitors to these sites to have reached almost 217 million worldwide – a year-on-year growth of 17 percent.

The comScore World Metrix study took into account all sites that provide online or downloadable games, excluding gambling sites. The sector attracted 28 percent of the total worldwide online population in May and recorded an average of 9 visits per visitor. Said Bob Ivins, EVP and managing director of comScore Europe:

“With one in four Internet users visiting a gaming site, playing games online is extremely popular. The fact that these websites are pulling in over a quarter of the total worldwide Internet population shows what a global phenomenon gaming has become. The potential of the online gaming arena should be especially appealing for advertisers, as the average online gamer visits a gaming site 9 times a month.”

Yahoo! Games was the largest property, attracting 53 million unique visitors. MSN Games followed in second place, having grown by 16 percent since May 2006 to reach 40 million unique visitors in May 2007. Both properties provide a mixture of strategy, trivia, arcade, and board games, with puzzle and card games proving to be the most popular choices for gamers in both cases.

Other popular sites include Miniclip, EA Online, Free Online Games, Addicting Games, RealArcade sites, Zylom, and WildTangent.

IPTV to Make Big Gains in Asia

Competition between IPTV and cable/satellite TV is heating up in Asia, with IPTV poised to gain significant market share over the next several years, reports In-Stat. With the help of IPTV, incumbent telcos have the opportunity to fundamentally change their broadband customers' video service experience, from traditional video clip streaming to downloading and just plain watching TV.

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• There were 2.7 million IPTV subscribers in Asia in 2006, and this number is expected to exceed 33 million by 2012.
• Total revenue from consumers of IPTV content broadcasted in Asia/Pacific will reach US$8 billon by 2012.
• Mature markets include Japan and Hong Kong, contributing to about 60% of the total Asia/Pacific subscriber population in 2006; these markets are expected to continue to lead Asia/Pacific in IPTV development.

Conditional access products and technologies are gaining ground due to this growth trend.

Worldwide broadband subscribers to hit 567 million by 2011

Over the past 12 months, approximately 65 million new broadband subscribers signed up for high-speed access to the Internet, reports In-Stat. By 2011, total worldwide broadband subscribers will number 567 million, almost double the current 285 million subscriber base, the high-tech market research firm says.

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• DSL and cable modem services are the top access technologies, providing 92% of worldwide broadband connections.
• By 2011, worldwide DSL subscribers will account for 58% of all worldwide broadband connections.
• By 2011, there will be over 55 million households using a Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) architecture to provide broadband access.
  

The In-Stat research, "Broadband Gets Big: Global Broadband Subs Hit 285 Million" covers the worldwide market for broadband services. It provides forecasts for broadband subscribers by technology and by region through 2011. It also contains analysis of market drivers and barriers for each of the access technologies.