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SCMP Reporter

A growing, wealthy and well-educated Asian middle class has led to a dramatic increase in readership for regional publications, an ACNielsen.SRG triennial survey has revealed.

 The Asian Profiles survey, conducted since 1976 to track the consumption pattern of senior management in seven Asian cities, showed some heartening results for editors in Asia.

  Findings of the survey, to be released today, reveal that readership for regional dailies among businessmen displayed the biggest jump in 1997, by 118 per cent from 61,000 in 1994 to 133,000.

  Regional monthlies followed with a 55 per cent leap in readership to 622,000. Weeklies also soared by 44 per cent to 478,000.

  'This is attributed to the growth in the upper class in all cities surveyed and the gradual re-skilling of the population which is shifting away from manufacturing,' said Steve Garton, media research director of ACNielsen.SRG in Hong Kong.

  The total size of the top management sector in the AP survey this year was two million compared to 1.5 million in 1994.

 'Profiting in these expanding economies are the wealthier members of Asian society, whose numbers have grown by 30 per cent to two million over the last three years and have doubled since 1988,' Mr Garton said.

  To capture those consumers who do not occupy senior management positions, ACNielsen.SRG expanded the AP survey for the first time to include consumers over 20, with skilled, full-time white-collar jobs, above-average incomes and above-specified education level.

  The expanded survey, called Asian Target Market Survey, increased the total size of the survey universe by 1.1 million to 3.1 million, representing the top 10 per cent of Asian society.

  Hong Kong had the highest proportion of the elite and affluent consumers. They made up 19 per cent of the population.

  Jakarta was at the other end of the scale as the ATMS universe only constituted 3.4 per cent of its population.

 Reading habits were just one of the many findings of the survey. The respondents share a total income of US$115 billion and have distinctive spending traits.

  Two-thirds own at least one car. Over half, 1.6 million, own a computer and about one-third use the Internet.

  The fastest growing group within the top tier of Asian society is professional women.

  'When women were first included in the survey back in 1988, they represented 18.5 per cent of the total,' Mr Garton said.

  The figure has increased to 30 per cent of the Asian Profiles core and 37 per cent of the expanded ATMS consumers.

  'That represents over 500,000 affluent career women with substantial buying power in the region,' he said.

  The seven cities in the survey were Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.



Affluent Asians provide good news for publishers