The number of Internet users in Southeast Asia increased by 9% to 62 million, outpacing the global Internet growth rate by more than 60%, according to comScore’s “2013 Southeast Asia Digital Future in Focus” report.

With 16.1 million monthly internet users, Vietnam now has the largest online population in Southeast Asia.

More than 40% of global internet users are now based in Asia Pacific with an audience of 644 million. Southeast Asian markets account for approximately 10% of the Asia Pacific internet population.

The report examines how the prevailing trends in web usage, online video, digital advertising, search, social media and e-commerce are defining the current marketplace, and what these trends mean for the year ahead. There is also a special country spotlight, which covers detailed digital media trends, on Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. (Download a complimentary copy here).

Key highlights:

• Internet users in Vietnam and Thailand, driven in part by their younger populations, spend the greatest amount of time online in the region.
• Multi-platform device usage in Southeast Asia varies significantly by time of day. Desktop internet usage dominates during work hours, while mobile phones and tablets are relatively more popular during the evening hours.
• Facebook continues to be the number one social network across markets in Southeast Asia. The region boasts three of Facebook’s top 15 markets ranked by visitor penetration.
• Twitter, LinkedIn and Tumblr are also gaining popularity in the region, as the Social Networking category captures the largest percentage of consumers’ time in the region.
• YouTube ranked as the top Entertainment website in each of the Southeast Asian markets.

Note: Kerry J Brown, VP of Southeast Asia at comScore, shares key insights from the report at a complimentary webair on August 13, 11am Singapore time. Register here.