Almost 8 hours a day : Thai Gen Y is now the biggest net users.

It penetrates deep into Thai lifestyles at a time when the Internet has become indispensable. It has discovered that Gen Y has reclaimed their throne of maximum net usage with an average figure of 8 hours and 55 minutes, beating out Gen Z, the former champions, who this year used on average 8 hours and 24 minutes of Internet.

Overall, Thais used the net on average 7 hours and 4 minutes a day. They mostly used the Internet for e-Health (making online medical appointments) communicating online, watching TV shows/ clips/ movies/ listening to music online, watching Live Commerce to purchase goods and services online, and making financial transactions online (e-Payment). These were the Top 5 popular user categories.

Meanwhile, in terms of occupations, civil servants and government employees use the Internet more than other occupations by up to 11 hours and 37 minutes a day, meaning that the state sector is the readiest for digital!

EDTA Executive Director Chaichana Mitrpant said that ETDA has conducted the Thailand Internet User Behaviour survey continuously into the current Year 10.

Over the last decade, analysis of data from every survey year found that the online activities with continuous growth trends were online communication, online activity for entertainment such as watching movies or listening to music, buying and selling online, making financial transactions, and reading the news, online posts, articles or books.

Online activities with the trend to be reduced and which may eventually disappear in the future are searches for information with a search engine and sending and receiving e-mail. This is because, at the current time, people tend to search for information and send it to others more often through social media.

At the same time, downloading software, music, TV drama, and games to watch afterwards may no longer exist in the future, as they are replaced by streaming services which can be watched in real-time and retroactively on the same platform.

The survey of Thailand Internet User Behavior (IUB) 2022 was conducted with online questionnaires from a sample of 46,348 respondents nationwide. Distinguished by age cohort and province of residence in each region, between April and July 2022, it was found that this year, Gen Y (22-41) has regained their championship of Internet usage with 8 hours and 55 minutes, overtaking Gen Z (under 22), the Champions for one season, who came second with the Internet usage of 8 hours and 24 minutes.

They were followed by Gen X (42-57) with 5 hours and 52 minutes, and then the Baby Boomers (58 and up) with 3 hours and 21 minutes.

In the overall picture, it was found that Thai people use the Internet on average 7 hours and 4 minutes per day. The portion of the sample resident in Bangkok used the Internet the most at 10 hours and 5 minutes per day.

Meanwhile, the Northeastern region, the Central region and the Northern region were not very different from each other with averages of 6 hours and 59 minutes, 6 hours and 45 minutes, and 6 hours and 17 minutes, respectively. The South registered the least usage with an average of 5 hours and 35 minutes.

When considered by occupation, the new data was very interesting because civil servants/state employees took #1 ranking with the most Internet usage compared to other occupations of 11 hours and 37 minutes, reflecting the interest and readiness of state sector personnel to upgrade their work in the digital age, and working more electronically in e-Offices. They were followed by students, at 8 hours and 57 minutes, freelancers at 7 hours and 40 minutes, business owners or self-employed at 7 hours and 29 minutes, and private sector workers at 7 hours and 6 minutes.

The top ten online activities popular among online society found that Thai people mostly like to use the Internet for medical consultations and services (making appointments and medical consultation) at 86.16%, which may be from the COVID-19 pandemic generating the interest to book vaccinations, tests and telemedicine consultations, which can avoid spending time at hospitals to reduce the risk of infection with COVID-19.

This is followed by communication at 65.70%, watching television/ clips/ movies/ listening to music at 41.51%, watching Live Commerce for buying and selling at 34.10%, making financial transactions at 31.29%, reading posts/ news/ articles/ online publications at 29.51%, receiving and sending e-mail at 26.62%, shopping online at 24.55%, working/ meeting online at 20.67% and playing games online at 18.75%.

The activity to watch out for is Live Commerce because although it was only added to the survey for the first time this year, it hit the Top 5 most popular online activities for Thai people. This illustrates that Live Commerce is another activity worth watching as an item becoming more popular among Thai people.

The segment watching the most is Gen Y, at a rate of 64.65%, with females outnumbering males. This gave Gen Y the championship of "online shoppers" (88.36%), overtaking every generation. In this, they are followed by Gen X (84.55%), Gen Z (81.53%), Baby Boomers (74.04%) and Gen Builders (52.30%).

The product category most preferred by Gen Y is apparel (clothing, shoes, sports equipment and accessories), followed by cosmetics. Meanwhile, Gen X chooses to purchase apparel the most, followed by consumer products.

Gen Z goes for mostly apparel, followed by cosmetics. Baby Boomers buy consumer goods the most, followed by dried food, while Gen Builders mostly choose to buy fresh food. As for the reasons for shopping online, most choose to do so because of the price at 63.10%, the product range at 58.73%, user-friendly platform at 45.81%, promotions such as 11.11, 12.12 and Flash Sales at 44.39% and cheap or free delivery at 34.10%. The outlets most chosen by Thai people for their online shopping are e-marketplaces (such as Shopee, Lazada, Kaidee) at 75.99%, followed by Facebook, 61.51% Website, 39.7%, LINE, 31.04%, Instagram 12.95%, and Twitter at 3.81%.

As for social commerce channels most favoured by sellers to sell products or services, the most popular at 66.76% is Facebook, followed by e-Marketplace, 55.18%, LINE, 32.05%, Website, 26.67%, Instagram, 19.91% and Twitter 9.90%. As for payment channels, it was found that Thai people mostly favour payment by transfer through bank website or app at 67.32% followed by Cash on Delivery (COD) at 58.49%, payment from e-Wallet at 24.43%, credit card at 17.09% and online payment services such as PayPal or Google Pay at 15.51%.

As well as online shopping behaviour, this year's survey also found that Gen Y and Gen Z were trending to become content creators more than other generations, as they are the Gens who most like to make online content. The content categories most popular among creators are video/ clip at 49.85%, writing an article/ content/ website at 41.79%, live broadcast at 36.77%, streaming games and other streaming at 11.86%, online radio at 10.32% and podcasts at 8.98%.

Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA)