BE Asia 2010: Media survey of Asia's business elite

The results are based on a sample 7,418 respondents to represent the business elite universe of 236,858. The fieldwork period is from November 2009 to June 2010, covering Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

Access the articles below for a breakdown of the business elite's media consumption habits.

Media usage

TV channels

International publications

International websites

All results

"The Business Elite survey is the only study that currently focuses on the very top echelons of business," said Andrew Green, chief marketing officer at Ipsos Media CT worldwide. "It is therefore the benchmarks created by the BE Surveys that best represent consumers of high end products like first and business class air travel, platinum credit cards, luxury watches and important corporate purchases."

The business elite is a small but vitally important group of people that have helped lead many industries out of the recent economic slowdown. With an average personal net worth of US$1.1 million and an annual salary of more than US$167,000, members of this exclusive group key business decision makers and heavy users of both traditional and digital media.

69 per cent consider themselves an opinion leader with 83 per cent indicating it is important for them to have an international perspective on business and current affairs.

"Asia's business elite is a disproportionately important group. When they suffer, some businesses are hit hard. The opposite is also true," said James Torr, director at Ipsos Media CT.

With 80 per cent sitting in a director's position or above, individually they are responsible for an average of over US$1.1 million in business purchase decisions for their companies. Almost half make more than six international business trips annually with 43 per cent travelling in business or first class.

85 per cent own a car and 41 per cent have a sports club or spa membership.

On average they stay in hotels more than 18 night per year, two thirds own a smart phone, 29 per cent visit social networking sites and 73 per cent use digital media. 72 per cent agree that they like to own the latest technology products and services, compared to only 64 per cent in 2008.

98 per cent are regular readers of newspapers or magazines with 69 per cent reading international publications and more than half watching international TV channels on a daily basis.