Communications professionals throughout the Asia-Pacific region are facing up to a digital future. The Asia-Pacific Communication Monitor 2015/16 gathered 1,200 responses from communication professional across 23 countries in Asia-Pacific. It is the first survey of its kind to explore the status quo and trends of communication management in the region.

As the respondents look to 2018, a little less than half (46.9 per cent) see traditional media relations with print media as important while just 53.7 per cent see media relations with radio and TV as important. In comparison, an overwhelming majority (92.2 per cent) rate social media such as blogs, Twitter, Weibo, and so on, as important for strategic communication, while 85.6 per cent favour websites, intranets and e-mail.

Social media are also now almost on level-pegging with traditional media in terms of perceived importance in Asia Pacific, with exactly three-quarters of communication professionals rating social media as important, compared with 76.5 per cent who see traditional media as important.

Given that communication professionals in Asia-Pacific see social media and mobile communications as the most important developments in the field, and the modest levels of social media skills and knowledge reported, it is perhaps not surprising that coping with the digital evolution and social web is perceived as the most important issue for communication management in Asia Pacific over the next three years (53.1 per cent).

In Asia-Pacific, linking communication to business strategy, including showing the contribution of communication to organisational outcomes, is seen as the second most important issue for communication management (41 per cent).

A research group of professors from leading universities in several countries, led by Professor Jim Macnamara, Associate Professor May O. Lwin, Professor Ana Adi and Professor Ansgar Zerfass, has conducted the project for the first time in the region.

The Asia-Pacific Communication Monitor is jointly organised by the Asia-Pacific Association of Communication Directors (APACD), Quadriga University of Applied Sciences and the European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA). It is also supported by PRIME Research International. The Asia-Pacific Communication Monitor uses a similar methodology as the European Communication Monitor and the Latin-American Communication Monitor, making it part of the largest study in the field of strategic communication worldwide.

 You can explore more insights from the study via the summary video or via the PDF report on Slideshare.