Instagram Mobile Ads to Snap Up $595m Revenue; APAC Brands Must Meet Customers on Mobile
In this weekly segment, ExchangeWire sums up key industry updates on ad tech from around the Asia-Pacific region – and in this edition: Instagram mobile ads to snap up $595m; APAC brands must meet customers on mobile; Australia leads global programmatic industry; GroupM shuffles SEA leadership positions; and ExchangeWire seeks participants for DMP survey.
Instagram mobile ads to snap up $595m
Instagram is projected to generate US$595m in mobile ad revenue globally this year, with spending fuelled by improved targeting capabilities and new ad products.
According to eMarketer’s inaugural forecast of ad spend on Instagram, the social platform will see high demand for its ad tools, which will expand to include direct response. Spending also will be driven by the option to buy ads via an API as well as improved measurement and targeting features for the social media.
Instagram’s ad products currently only run on mobile devices and are offered only in seven global markets, of which two – Japan and Australia – are in the Asia-Pacific region. The other five markets are Brazil, Canada, France, German, and the UK.
eMarketer expects Instagram’s global ad revenue to climb to US$2.81bn by 2017, contributing more than 10% of Facebook’s global ad revenue. The photo-sharing platform is further projected to account for 5% of its parent company’s mobile ad revenue this year, before climbing up to 14% in 2017.
eMarketer’s principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson said: “The rollout of new features over the next several months means, by end-2015, Instagram will have a host of new ad products for advertisers large and small.
“In particular, Instagram advertisers will be able to use a full slate of Facebook targeting tools, including the poplar Custom Audiences feature. That will be a key drawing card,” Williamson said.
According to the research firm, the US market will contribute the bulk of Instagram’s ad revenue, accounting for 92% of global spend in 2016, before dipping to 85% the following year.
eMarketer noted that, globally, the social platform has not seen strong growth, though, brand engagement on Instagram has been high.
APAC brands must meet customers on mobile
By 2019, there will be more than two billion unique smartphone users across the Asia-Pacific region, making up 83% of the overall unique mobile subscriber number.
With consumers making their way to the mobile platform, brands also will need to follow suit and adopt different strategies to better engage with their customers, urged market analyst Forrester Research. It noted that, unlike in some Western nations, smartphone adoption in most Asia-Pacific countries was driven by all age groups, not just Millennials. This underscored the need for brands to have different strategies to engage different customer segments.
“This could mean having a mobile website, a mobile app, or both,” Forrester said. “This will soon become the baseline for all brands operating in the region, but just building a mobile touchpoint is not sufficient. Your ability to win, serve, and retain customers will hinge on what digital services you build for smartphones and how they help customers along their entire journey with you.”
To be successful in reaching their customers, marketers would need to enable consumers to discover their brand on mobile, especially with more of them turning to their smartphones to search for products, services, and reviews, among others.
Brands also should to operate mobile-optimised or responsive websites, Forrester urged, noting that this was particularly pertinent since Google began showing “mobile-friendly” labels on its mobile search results.
The market analyst further pointed to the need to enable consumers to transact with the brand and provide secure payment options in order to establish customer confidence.
Australia leads global programmatic industry
According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Down Under is the global leader in programmatic advertising and outpaces the US market in digital video programmatic ads.
Australia has a sophisticated infrastructure and is home to an ad tech market that boasts trading desks specifically pushing programmatic, reported AdNews, which cited a BCG report. It added that the Australian market has taken to mobile and video programmatic, with the former contributing significant volume that the US and UK markets were unable to match.
Programmatic digital display ad spend Down Under would hit US$724 million this year, climbing 24.9% over 2014 to account for 73.6% of overall online display ads.
BCG called on agencies to beef up their user data to drive the local market.
GroupM shuffles SEA leadership positions
The media agency has promoted Singapore CEO Jon Thurlow to COO of its Asia-Pacific operations.
Reporting to GroupM Asia-Pacific CEO Mark Patterson, Thurlow is responsible for the company’s data and analytics offerings, IT operations, ad ops, and GroupM Knowledge. The new COO also will provide advice on acquisition strategies and integration, and collaborate with teams within the GroupM and WPP networks in the region to drive market adoption and development.
Thurlow’s former role in Singapore has been replaced by GroupM’s Philippines CEO Puneet Arora, who now oversees three Southeast Asian markets in his new position. Based in Singapore, Arora is responsible for the Thailand market as well as Singapore and the Philippines, where he will retain his CEO role until a replacement is found.
ExchangeWire wants participants for DMP survey
If you are a marketer or publisher based in the Asia-Pacific region, ExchangeWire Research wants you!
In partnership with Oracle, ExchangeWire is running a survey to investigate the level of understanding and adoption, as well as expectations of DMPs in different markets around the world.
The research will explore the key reasons marketers and publishers invest in DMPs, how these platforms are used, and the evaluation criteria used to assess the effectiveness and value of a DMP.
The survey should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete. We appreciate you taking time out to go through the questions, and as a token of our appreciation, all respondents who complete the survey will be sent a copy of the report prior to its general publication.
So, go ahead and take the survey now!
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