Singaporeans show preference for national news

According to SingTel’s news app ‘NewsLoop’, consumption of ‘national news’ content ranks first.An analysis of SingTel’s NewsLoop revealed that users in five countries – Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Australia – prefer ‘national news’, making it the highest ranking content category. Indonesia was an exception, where ‘tech & gadgets’ was number one and ‘national news’ second.This is preferred over more lighthearted categories such as sports and entertainment. International news was also a top-viewed choice, ranking second in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia, while ranking fourth in both Indonesia and Thailand.Tech and gadgets ranked third in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Australia. Beyond that, individual countries revealed unique consumption patterns of news and information.Michael Smith, chief commercial officer, Group Digital L!fe, SingTel said the analysis provides a number of interesting insights into the NewsLoop consumer’s behaviour.“It is very interesting that national and international news typically rank first and second in all countries. It is easy to assume that most would use their mobiles for entertainment rather than hard news stories but NewsLoop users, who are said to be a majority of highly educated PMEB males, prove otherwise,” Smith said.A recent BBC global report supports this finding, as it notes that affluent consumers mostly use news apps on their mobile while the general population favours social network apps.NewsLoop was also recently given a facelift, providing easier navigation, with bold colours differentiating categories.The upgrade also included an addition of video content to the app with NewsLoop TV which will be further enhanced with additional video features and functionality.  According to comScore, about 83.1% of the world’s population consume online video content, making it a promising channel for marketers to reach audiences.NewsLoop is supported through a mobile advertising model, drawing a number of leading consumer brands, including in the food, education, retail and consumer tech areas. NewsLoop brings together the news and lifestyle content from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and Thailand, into a single app, offering content from over 600 publishers with 30 news and lifestyle categories to choose from.Over 60% of NewsLoop users are highly educated PMEB males between 25 to 44 years old. Users are also technology savvy and tend to shop online.The report also found that NewsLoop users are a highly engaged audience, with a majority of users reading articles in depth, rather than browsing headlines and pictures. Between 60% - 70% are engaged throughout the day, with peak periods of news consumption during the morning and lunchtime, with a drop during dinner, and a rebound later at night.