APAC > Agency

The rumours of a publisher exchange in Australia is the worst kept secret in APAC right now. Four of the biggest Australian digital publishers have allegedly been spotted in New York, negotiating a deal with AppNexus. The “gang of four” in this new exchange proposition are some of the unlikeliest bedfellows you could think of. Mi9, Yahoo7, Fairfax and News couldn’t be more diametrically opposed – in terms of where they sit politically and who their owners are. But there is one consistent and motivating factor for a proposed Aussie publisher exchange: a collapse in traditional ad revenue.

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In recent years, Japanese ad technology firms have announced their business alliance in ASEAN markets one after another, revealing a trend of applying their know-how and technological edge, accumulated in the Japanese market, extensively on a global scale. Last year, D. A. Consortium Inc. (DAC) formed a capital and business alliance with Innity Corporation Bhd.(Innity), a Malaysian digital media network company, and announced that the two companies would jointly enter RTB markets in seven countries. We interviewed Mr. Yutaka Shimizu, DAC ASIA PTE. LTD.’s President & CEO, about their strategy in the Southeast Asian market and the background of tie-up with Innity.

What is the background on your company’s entrance into the Southeast Asian market?

The online advertising market in Southeast Asia is expected to grow significantly, with an increase in internet penetration in each country in the region, and a rapid expansion of smart devices, boosted by the high economic growth of recent years. Singapore, situated in the center of the region, is home to the Asian head-offices of Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Facebook and many other global media companies.

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Much is spoken and written about the growing economic strengths of the BRIC markets, it is one reason why ExchangeWire has a growing presence in these markets. However, when it comes to ad tech, India often is left in the shadows for some reason. When commentators future gaze about the APAC market, the focus is predominantly around Japan, China, South East Asia and Australia; but India is a sleeping giant of ad tech that is about to awaken.

The opportunity in India is sizeable, with over 100 million people online and a fast-growing e-commerce industry. Whilst it is still one of the smallest e-commerce industries in APAC, its growth is predicted to increase at the fastest pace over the next five years, according to Forrester. In 2011 alone it took on an estimated $1 billion of investment, and the economy as a whole is the 10th largest in the world, with an ever-increasing GDP — but what is the opportunity around ad tech specifically?

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The rate of growth in Southeast Asia at the moment is some of the strongest in APAC. ExchangeWire caught up with Jordan Khoo, Regional Vice President of APAC at MediaMind, to discuss the state of evolution in Southeast Asia and how MediaMind are navigating the diversity of the region.

Can you describe the MediaMind business across the Southeast Asia region? What is the current stage of evolution of ad server deployment across the region?

Southeast Asia, as a whole, still represents less than 5% of digital adspend, but it is growing very encouragingly, at double-digit percent growth, across the region. We set up shop in the region six years ago and have certainly seen very positive growth momentum, but it is still very much an investment market for us. Markets like Singapore will obviously be the most advanced markets in terms of usage, focusing on Direct Response campaigns, which utilise feature sets of conversion tracking, retargeting and Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO). The rest of the markets are a lot more brand-focused, which have many more rich media and video components into the mix.

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James Robertson, Founder & Senior VP Market Development at Effective Measure International. Here he gives some insight into adoption of digital measurement in the region, its effect on the digital space and the role played by Effective Measure.

The pace of change in the digital sphere is accelerating in the APAC region, is digital measurement keeping up?

There is no doubt globally that digital measurement has challenges that it has to overcome and keep working at. The proliferation of people having multiple devices to access the internet with, including the rise of tablet computing and increased smartphone usage certainly adds to that challenge of being able to measure a digital individual. The multiplicity of digital environments that a consumer engages with at any one time will constantly shift and measurement needs to be agile enough to keep pace.

As an industry I believe we are certainly keeping up, but digital measurement is a constantly moving target. I would like to say that as an industry we are innovating to stay ahead of the game, but I feel the current status quo is that we keep up with what is becoming mainstream today, not necessarily looking at what that will be in the next 6 – 18 months.

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Publicis Groupe announced yesterday the acquisition of Resultrix, an award-winning digital marketing agency with an international footprint in India, Singapore, the UAE and the USA. This acquisition strengthens both Publicis Groupe’s presence in India as well as its digital dominance.

Resultrix was founded in 2008 and has aggressively grown to be the leading performance marketing agency in several strategic markets including India and the US. Resultrix employs over 100 specialists across its global offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Singapore, Seattle and Dubai. The agency provides a full suite of services, including search engine optimisation, search engine marketing, online media, web design, analytics, media-buying, social media strategy, and mobile marketing; with a differentiated set of performance-based business models. Resultrix’s clientele comprises both international and local brands including: Corbis Corporation, Bupa, Standard Chartered Bank, Airtel, Cleartrip, DBS Bank and Emirates National Bank, among others.

Resultrix will operate as a unit within Performics, under the name ‘Resultrix, a Performics Company’. Its founders, Vidur Luthra, CEO, and Gulrez Alam, COO, will continue to lead the agency and will report into Daina Middleton, Global CEO for Performics and Gareth Mulryan, Managing Director of Performics, Asia Pacific.

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Ros Allison is a Director at Vivaki. Here she discusses Vivaki’s cross-platform approach in the APAC marketplace, AOD’s multi platform addressability and the growth of the data-driven market in the region.

You’ve recently launched a world first offering in the addressable media space, with the multi platform capability through Audience On Demand. Is it a platform? Or a service? Could you outline its proposition and does this mean big changes to the current advertising landscape for advertisers?

We’re now buying multi platform, multi device campaigns, across mobile, video, display and tablet channels, in real time. It’s the first true cross platform execution – fully optimized in real time and executed within a single platform.

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Matt Hunt is Managing Director, Australia at Adconion Media Group. Here he discusses the evolving Australian digital ad market, the Adconion solution in the region, the commercial challenges posed by new players like DSPs and SSPs, and the unique data-driven media buying solution offered by Adconion.

You’ve worked in the UK for a number of years. How far apart are the two markets – in terms of adoption of digital advertising and proliferation of ad tech solutions?

The first difference is in the level of competition in the ad tech space in the UK. Apart from a heavily financed European tech start up environment out of London and Berlin, all major ad tech companies expanding out of the US do so by launching in the UK. So apart from the existing “traditional” competitors there is also a constant flow of new companies vying for market share. In Australia there is less room (revenue) to fuel the same level of innovation so there are fewer companies, fewer innovative business models and fewer niche specialists.

A second area of difference is in the automated trading and exchange ecosystem and Australia is significantly behind the UK in these areas. The DSP vs Network debate has shaken out and while unsophisticated ad brokers have been marginalised by DSPs, evolved ad networks that deliver real value are thriving based on a simple premise … they have capabilities beyond trading desks and deliver great results. Adconion is one of these thriving networks.

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