The Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA), Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, has revealed the results of the Internet User Behavior Survey in Thailand for 2022 during the event "IUB 2022: WHAT'S NEXT INSIGHT AND TREND - Exploring Thai Lifestyle in a World Where Internet is Indispensable." The survey found that Gen Y has reclaimed the throne, spending an impressive 8 hours and 55 minutes online daily, surpassing Gen Z, the previous champion, who spent 8 hours and 24 minutes online. On average, Thais spend 7 hours and 4 minutes online each day, primarily for e-Health (booking medical services online), online communication, watching TV shows/videos/movies/listening to music online, viewing Live Commerce for purchasing goods/services, and conducting online financial transactions (e-Payment), which are the top 5 popular activities. Notably, government officials and state employees use the internet more than other professions, averaging 11 hours and 37 minutes daily, reflecting the government's readiness for full digital transformation.

Dr. Chaiyana Mitphan, Director of ETDA, stated that ETDA has been conducting the Internet User Behavior survey in Thailand for 10 consecutive years. Over the past decade, data analysis has shown that online activities with continuous growth trends include online communication, entertainment activities such as watching movies and listening to music, online shopping, financial transactions, and reading news, posts, articles, and books. Meanwhile, online activities that are declining and may disappear in the future include searching for information via search engines and sending emails, as people increasingly seek information and communicate through social media. Similarly, the activity of downloading software, music, dramas, and games for offline viewing may also fade away, replaced by streaming services that allow real-time and on-demand viewing.

The 2022 Internet User Behavior survey, conducted through an online questionnaire with a sample size of 46,348 respondents nationwide, covering various ages and provinces from April to July 2022, revealed that this year, Gen Y (ages 22-41) has reclaimed the title of the highest internet users, spending 8 hours and 55 minutes daily, surpassing Gen Z (under 22 years old), who previously held the title, now in second place with 8 hours and 24 minutes daily.

Following them are Gen X (ages 42-57) at 5 hours and 52 minutes daily, and Baby Boomers (58 years and older) at 3 hours and 21 minutes. Overall, Thais spend an average of 7 hours and 4 minutes online daily, with respondents in Bangkok spending the most at 10 hours and 5 minutes daily. In contrast, the northeastern, central, and northern regions have similar usage rates, averaging 6 hours and 59 minutes, 6 hours and 45 minutes, and 6 hours and 17 minutes, respectively, while the southern region has the lowest at 5 hours and 35 minutes daily.

          

When considering usage by profession, interesting new data emerges, as government officials and state employees rank first in internet usage compared to other professions, averaging 11 hours and 37 minutes daily, reflecting their interest and readiness to elevate their work to the digital era through electronic work or e-Office.

Next are students, spending 8 hours and 57 minutes daily, freelancers at 7 hours and 40 minutes, business owners at 7 hours and 29 minutes, and private sector employees at 7 hours and 6 minutes.

  The top 10 online activities favored by the online community include consulting and receiving medical services (booking appointments, consulting doctors) at 86.16%, likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has increased interest in booking vaccinations, testing for the virus, and consulting doctors online to reduce time spent in hospitals and minimize the risk of COVID-19 infection. Following this are online communication at 65.70%, watching TV shows/videos/movies/listening to music at 41.51%, viewing live broadcasts for purchasing goods and services (Live Commerce) at 34.10%, and conducting financial transactions at 31.29%. Reading posts/news/articles/books online at 29.51%, sending and receiving emails at 26.62%, online shopping at 24.55%, working/meeting online at 20.67%, and playing online games at 18.75% follow in order.

Notably, although Live Commerce was included in the survey for the first time this year, it has already made it to the top 5 most popular online activities among Thais, indicating that Live Commerce is gaining popularity. The demographic that engages the most is Gen Y, with 64.65% viewership, and females watching more than males. This has led Gen Y to dominate as the "online shoppers" (88.36%), surpassing all other generations, followed by Gen X (84.55%), Gen Z (81.53%), Baby Boomers (74.04%), and Gen Builders (52.30%).

The types of products that Gen Y purchases the most include clothing, shoes, sports equipment, and accessories, followed by cosmetics. Gen X also prefers clothing, shoes, sports equipment, and accessories, followed by consumer goods.

Gen Z prefers to buy clothing, shoes, sports equipment, and accessories the most, followed by cosmetics.

Baby Boomers primarily purchase consumer goods, followed by dry food.

Meanwhile, Gen Builders prefer to buy fresh food. The main reasons for online shopping are primarily due to lower prices (63.10%), product variety (58.73%), user-friendly platforms (45.81%), promotional events such as 11.11, 12.12, Flash Sales (44.39%), and low or free shipping costs (34.10%). According to the survey, the most popular online shopping channels among Thais are e-Marketplaces (such as Shopee, Lazada, Kaidee) at 75.99%, followed by Facebook at 61.51%, websites at 39.7%, LINE at 31.04%, Instagram at 12.95%, and Twitter at 3.81%.

For the Social Commerce channels that sellers prefer to use for selling products or services, Facebook leads at 66.76%, followed by e-Marketplaces at 55.18%, LINE at 32.05%, websites at 26.67%, Instagram at 19.91%, and Twitter at 9.90%. In terms of payment methods, Thais prefer to pay via bank transfer through websites or applications at 67.32%, followed by cash on delivery (COD) at 58.49%, e-wallets at 24.43%, credit cards at 17.09%, and online payment services like PayPal or Google Pay at 15.51%.

In addition to online shopping behaviors, this year's survey also found that Gen Y and Gen Z are more inclined to become content creators than other generations, as they are the most active in creating online content. The most popular types of content created include videos/clips at 49.85%, writing articles/content/websites at 41.79%, live streaming at 36.77%, game streaming/other streaming at 11.86%, online radio shows at 10.32%, and podcasting at 8.98%.