AT LEAST seven in 10 Filipinos post photos of their dining experiences on social media, effectively giving free promotion for  restaurants and food brands, according to a study by market research firm Kantar Media Philippines.

The Kantar Media study showed at least 72 million Filipinos, including 20 million in Mega Manila alone, regularly eat at restaurants and food outlets.

Trends in media and advertising are influencing the restaurant industry, as more Filipinos go to restaurants that their family and friends have posted about on social media.

“Television continues to dominate the media landscape with the highest reach of 98% to Filipino diners in Metro Manila and 90% reach across the Philippines,” Kantar Media Managing Director Jay Bautista was quoted as saying in a statement.

Billboards or Out of Home advertisements were the second top influencers for Filipino diners, reaching 67% in Metro Manila alone and 64% across the country.

“There is a unique shift in media evolution with platforms complementing each other. Television is going digital while radio is evolving, billboards or the Out of Home advertising remains relevant and Internet has grown social media users,” Mr. Bautista said.

With more Filipinos having access to the Internet, social media has become another major influencer, with a reach of 64% in Metro Manila and 47% in the entire country.

The use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Google Chat has also become more evident, with usage in the provinces rising to 86.7% in 2016 from 83.4% in 2014. This rate is slightly higher than the usage in cities, which stood at 84.2% in 2016.

“Young urban Filipinos aged between 10 to 19 years of age are the heaviest users of social media at 80%, followed by the millennials aged between 20 and 29 years old with 70% users of Internet,” Mr. Bautista said.

In contrast, the influence of print media suffered a major drop, reaching only 1% for magazines and 22% for newspapers, based on metrics from Metro Manila.

Ad placements in cinemas recorded the lowest reach at 1% both in Metro Manila and across the country. — Arra B. Francia

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