Media tablets grow in the Philippines

Warc, 2 June 2014

MANILA: The media tablet market in the Philippines is on course for double digit growth over the next three years, having already nearly doubled in size in the first quarter of 2014 compared with the same period last year, a new study has said.

Driven by the country's youthful population and the wide range of affordable devices on offer, quarterly sales of media tablets increased 95% year-on-year to 270,000 units, according to GfK, the market research company.

It found Filipino consumers spent about US$65.8m on the devices in Q1 2014, compared with US$49m in the same quarter last year, Campaign Asia reported.

Strong sales volume boosted the total market value for media tablets by 35%, GfK said, even though the average price of the entertainment devices fell by about 31% to US$246 in Q1 2014 compared with US$356 in Q1 2013.

Their ongoing popularity among tech-savvy younger consumers is a key reason for sales growth and GfK expected the market to remain buoyant because Filipinos aged 40 and under make up three-quarters of the population – and even children are beginning to adopt them.

"These days, it is common to see young children using media tablets as a form of entertainment on-the-go, proving that the product is now spanning a wider market to reach those even below 10-years-old," said Benny Villanueva, managing director for GfK in the Philippines.

With its portable functionality and affordability appealing to a broad target market, he expected the media tablet business in the country to record double digit growth over the next three years.

Data sourced from Campaign Asia; additional content by Warc staff