In this week’s LATAM RoundUp, details of the launch of operations of HookLogic in Brazil, which is aiming to work with retailers in a billionaire e-commerce market; Numbers of the digital market in Argentina — a country in which native in-app ads account for two-thirds of the mobile market; and, finally, news of publisher Abril Group in Brazil, making available a new format seeking more interaction with the audience in campaigns.

HookLogic debuts in LATAM

The American HookLogic, focussed on performance marketing, announced the start of the Brazilian operations. The company is known to be the strategy behind big retail brands, such as Walmart, Best Buy, Macy’s, and Target.

The expansion is a result of USD$15.5m raised in September from Bain Capital Ventures, Intel Capital, Fung Capital, Mousse Partners, and LUMA Capital. The company is now setting up an office in Brazil, where it has contracts with the local commerce B2W, Walmart Brazil and Ricard Eletro, all in the retail sector. HookLogic has further plans to also be in Argentina and Mexico.

John Roswech, CRO, HookLogic (pictured left), reveals that Brazil should be one of the top-five markets for the company, especially due to the forecasted USD$22.2bn revenues coming from local e-commerce this year, representing an annual growth by 13.5%. “Brazil is among the top 10 biggest e-commerce markets in the world and we aim to work with retailers through a global perspective. We are expanding to countries with local markets above USD$1bn because we believe it is important to have global presence to succeed in the market."

HookLogic brings to Brazil their tech stack, including programmatic technologies, aiming digital agencies and brands. They want to hire 6-8 members of the local team, which will be led by Sandra Moraes, sales director, already working with local ad agencies.

Roswech also understands the economic challenges of working in the market, and the key for that is tracking source of revenues based on what was invested in campaigns. “For each dollar or Brazilian real invested in the website of a retailer, we can identify how much was directed to sales and this data is the exchange for the retailers."

In-App Ads: Highest impressions in Argentina

In terms of mobile, in-app ads account for the vast majority impressions of the Argentinian market: 75.5%, agains 24.3% in mobile web. Data comes from a Adsmovil’s report, published by eMarketer, which measured the first quarter of 2016.

In Brazil and Chile, this ratio is even larger from apps; whereas Columbia and Peru tend to have mobile web slightly higher. Still, in-app impressions are dominant.

As expected, Android devices are the majority of the market: in Argentina they represent nearly 80% of the market, followed (surprisingly) by Windows mobile (13.6%). iOS comes only at third place, with 4.7%.

Alongside Brazil, Argentina concentrates the higher percentage of the Android ad impressions, summing up 79.8%. Peru and Columbia had a share closer to 70%. Chile was the only country in which iOS outperform Windows mobile devices.

Yet, the Argentinian market is modest in terms of size: it should reach USD$218m this year, double of 2015’s numbers, according to eMarketer. By 2020, 70% of the ad investment is expected to go to mobile.

In Brazil, mobile already represents 29.8% of the total ad spending — a number which should jump to 71.6% in four years.

Abril introduces new format for mobile

Earlier this week, publisher Abril introduced a new format available in their inventory in Brazil, aiming to reach advertisers investing in mobile campaigns. The Animated Mobile Ads (AMA) format allows interaction with the movement of the user, including conversion buttons and tap activities.

Tiago Afonso, CMO, Abril, says that “the format allows creating a marketplace, once it takes advantage of the engagement moment to offer conversion right into it”. The audience can call a phone number, book a test drive or even download content directly from the campaign in AMA format.

He also mentions a recent study made by KPCB, Internet Trends, which claims that the format reaches CTR 63-times higher, 22-times more engagement and an extra five seconds of interaction.

According to the publisher, one in every three views of their content comes from mobile platforms. “This is why it is important to think more about friendly formats, which are creative and efficient. The human eye seeks for movement, and this is why we believe this sort of format works”, said Walter Longo, president, Abril group.