YouTube, Others Succeed In Singapore

Stories about growth in Asia tend to involve China – it’s hard to ignore 1.3 billion potential users.  But there are other countries in the region, and in one of them – Singapore – Hitwise’s Sandra Hanchard has recorded some impressive growth.

“Multimedia industry, which includes animation, music, radio and video production and sharing websites enjoyed a 116% increase comparing September 2006 and September 2007 by Singapore Internet users,” according to Hanchard.  This market is the only one she mentions – Hanchard’s data won’t be of any help to eBay, in other words – but there are still some important details.

For instance: it seems that, thanks in part to YouTube, Google has a well-established presence on this island nation.  YouTube controls a market share of almost 43 percent in its industry, up more than one-third from its standing last year.

Also, Veoh, which we’ve checked in on from time to time, experienced a 129 percent surge in user numbers, and the audience of Tudou, another YouTube competitor, grew by 47 percent.

As Singapore’s entire online entertainment industry swells, there don’t appear to be many losers.  Nonetheless, it’s interesting to see Google and YouTube outpace the competition, and – if we have to bring China into it – outperform Tudou, which is based in Shanghai.