A new online survey conducted by The Nielsen Company has found that

A new online survey conducted by The Nielsen Company has found that while Western countries tend to be heavy users of media hardware like DVD players and gaming consoles, next-generation devices like video-enabled handsets are more popular in the up-and-coming markets, particularly in Asia.

The survey was conducted from Sept 22 – October 6th 2008 among 26,202 Internet users in 52 markets from Europe, Asia Pacific, North America and the Middle East.

The online population of the Philippines, for instance, emerged first among the 52 countries surveyed with the highest levels of usage across a range of devices, one of five Asian-Pacific countries that filled the top 10. Philippines also topped a pair of rankings tracking usage of digital media and video games.

While the Philippines was joined in the top 10 by China, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, the quartet of booming economies known as the BRIC countries–Brazil, Russia, India and China–fared even better on a regional basis. Brazil finished second to Philippines in the overall media usage ranking, and finished first in the music category.

Philippines is a media market known for remarkably high mobile usage, largely due to the fact that landline penetration is quite small. Research has noted high levels of text messaging and social networking; the site Friendster gets about one-fifth of its global traffic from Philippines alone. While its broadband infrastructure pales in comparison to other Asian countries, Philippines compensates somewhat with a robust market for cafes that provide Internet access.

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