Hong Kong – CASBAA launched its first exclusive Members Report for 2009, the multi-layered Online Video in China, Japan & Korea, assessing the video services sector in these three markets. According to the Report, there are well over 250 million online users in China, of which at least 180 million are regular viewers of online video content. Some 50 per cent of Chinese netizens are under 30 years of age, with online video being the fourth most popular internet application in the Middle Kingdom. “Unlike the West where the internet has developed primarily as an information and business tool, China’s web application usages would appear to be more predominantly for entertainment,” said CASBAA. In Japan’s mature advertising market, mobile TV advertising has emerged in the last year or so as a newly dominant channel for revenue growth. Japan’s mobile centric culture has also driven strong usage of video sharing sites on mobile phones. “These models may have strong implications for the rest of the region,” said Simon Twiston Davies, CEO of CASBAA. “Traditional pay-TV platforms will continue to grow but online video is not to be ignored.” CASBAA notes that more than a third of Korean internet users, predominantly males, watch movies online in some form, with file-sharing as a mainstream activity. Video quality is also identified to be a strong consumer incentive and paid-for high-definition video channels are being launched to match this demand.