All eyes on Southeast Asia, where all eyes are on mobile
Southeast Asia is a diverse corner of the world. In some countries, technology is highly advanced and ingrained into people’s lives, while, in others, the majority of the population leads traditional, simpler lives.
One thing the region has in common is its obsession with the mobile phone, a fact that advertisers and publishers alike are sitting up and taking notice of.
Across the region, device penetration may still be relatively low, but with such huge populations, significant audiences are already available and even incremental increases in adoption generate enormous growth.
SOURCE. We Are Social, Guide to Digital, Social and Mobile, Jan 2015
Mobile dominance is not just a facet of developed countries. In fact, developing nations rival, and in some cases eclipse, developed for mobile use, often using mobile as the primary, if not only, point of internet access.
This ‘leapfrogging’ desktop to mobile trend can be seen vividly in data from We Are Social.
SOURCE. We Are Social, Guide to Digital, Social and Mobile, Jan 2015
Asia’s ad market is entering an era of transformational change with automation tipped to capture up to half the market this year. Mobile video will be no exception. Currently one in five online video ads are bought programmatically in Asia Pacific. We expect this to rise to 30 per cent to 40 per cent of the market by the end of the year – 50 per cent in maturing countries, like Singapore and Hong Kong, and 15 per cent in new countries, like Vietnam and Thailand.
The time to invest in programmatic is now
Digitally native publishers are leading the charge into the mobile video space, using programmatic to take advantage of this new ecosystem. Legacy media are typically slower to invest in the content, tools and infrastructure to make the most out of programmatic mobile video.
Yet in a data-driven, customer-centric world, programmatic buying will become an unavoidable reality of the market. It gives both publishers and brands the opportunity to gain increased control and transparency, while also providing granular reporting to enable real-time campaign adjustments to meet changing objectives on the fly.
Mobile ad spend will continue to outpace supply for the foreseeable future. It’s an opportunity that publishers should be jumping on without hesitation.
