As part of the newly expanded exchange, cci will supply mobile inventory, including both smartphone and tablet inventory, from online publishers. Advertising agencies and Demand Side Platforms, which cci and OpenX will jointly supply, will then be able to purchase the stock of the mobile inventory.

OpenX Market Japan has grown rapidly since its launch in June 2011. The exchange is the first exchange in Japan to offer RTB functionality and already handles billions of impressions monthly. OpenX’s scalable mobile capabilities will allow the marketplace to add mobile inventory to the exchange’s existing desktop inventory.

Hideyuki Nagasawa, CEO, cci, comments: “The OpenX Market Japan partnership is going extremely well and we’re very excited to expand it into the mobile market. We are confident that the mobile advertising market will be the next frontier for advertisers, and we’re laser-focused on enabling rapid growth in this category by combining our publisher and advertiser relationships with OpenX’s world class technology platform.”

Jason Fairchild, CFO, OpenX, adds: “We’re thrilled to be on the forefront of introducing real time trading for mobile ad inventory to Japan, the largest, most advanced mobile market in the world. We believe that our sophisticated mobile ad exchange platform, in combination with our partnership with cci, the largest online media rep company in Japan, will result in significant acceleration of the mobile ad market in Japan and Southeast Asia.”

Japan is the third largest online advertising market in the world. In 2011, online advertising grew rapidly in Japan and represented 14.1% of total ad spend in that market. Japan accounts for the majority of the $1.6bn(USD) spent on mobile advertising in the APAC region in 2011. Mobile ad spend in the APAC region is projected to grow by over 300% to $7bn (USD) by 2015.

Maxifier, a global leader in inventory revenue management technology, announced this week the establishment of its business in Asia, the opening of an office in Tokyo, and the appointment of Tomoyuki Sato as Japan Country Manager.

This news follows the appointment in February of Xiaoming Shao as Managing Director for Asia Pacific, and enables Maxifier to introduce its ADMAX inventory management and optimisation technology in Japan as well as to the wider Asian market.

Bringing more than 14 years of online experience, Sato is responsible for launching Maxifier’s business in Japan and building a team that encompasses business development, account management and technical support, while establishing Japan as a hub to support other Asian regions.

Denise Colella, CFO, Maxifier, comments: “Japan offers great potential for Maxifier and we recognise it as a key market for the company. Sato has a wealth of digital experience and has been instrumental in introducing new advertising technologies into the Japanese market. Having also worked with many of the key online players in the market, he is the ideal candidate to develop our business here.”

Sato previously worked at AudienceScience in Tokyo where, as Associate Director Strategic Accounts, his responsibilities included both pre-sales activity as well as providing support for its top tier clients. He was also one of the first employees at Right Media in Tokyo when it launched its Exchange into the Japanese market in 2008, and has also worked for Overture Japan and DoubleClick Japan.

Sato adds: “Optimisation is something that is very rarely done for online campaigns in Japan. Maxifier is introducing a new technology into Japan, and one that delivers much more effective campaigns for publishers as well as agencies and their advertisers. I’m very excited about bringing this new solution to the Japanese market.”

eBay Brings Offline Audience Segmentation to Online Advertising

eBay announced last week their launch of an industry-wide educational campaign and microsite to highlight the power and impact of its introduction of geoTribes, a significant industry development, where for the first time Australian marketers can target ads online based on socio economic status, lifestage and needs.

eBay’s head of advertising, JJ Eastwood, comments: “Only a company like eBay, with the ability to segment a large database according to both age and address, could provide this type of offering and implement it online at scale. Marketers who are familiar with offline geo-demographical and needs-based segmentation, but have struggled to map them to digital campaigns, now have a tool that brings offline audience segmentation to online advertising.”

“e-commerce is now a $30bn industry here in Australia and marketers are looking for opportunities to connect with consumers while they shop online. Therefore, it’s important that as we bring new advertising partners onboard, we connect them with the right audience, and in turn, our customers receive advertising messages that are both relevant and meaningful to them.

“As the leading online shopping destination in Australia with 6.9 million visitors to the site in March alone, eBay is proud to lead the market into the next phase of online advertising, retail media, and offer – what we believe is – the most robust segmentation available online.”

To illustrate the outcomes that the eBay geoTribes approach can yield, Eastwood unveiled results of rolling out the platform to existing clients in the six months since his appointment.

During the introduction phase, optimal results achieved have been four-fold increases in CTR compared with prior performance and – more importantly – clients have informed eBay that their ROI has doubled as a result of eBay’s geoTribes geo-demographic targeting. eBay states that clients who are achieving the best outcomes have followed a stepped process where they identify the correct geoTribe to target, then refine their messaging and offers to each tribe.

The microsite http://advertise.ebay.com.au/geoTribes/ illustrates the nature of each of the 15 Tribes, the accuracy of the targeting system and the reach and engagement that eBay can deliver. It incorporates an interactive tool for marketers to generate a free report based on age, gender and geographic location with social media sharing capabilities.

The company emphasised that its commitment to customer privacy remains paramount and that it maintains a strict policy of never sharing members’ personal information with third parties. Since 2007, eBay’s AdChoice program has been recognised as an industry-leading solution for providing transparency and choice in the field of behavioural targeting, with prominent notice and a persistent opt-out.

Men in Asia-Pacific Active on Social Networks

Social networks in Asia-Pacific—including those in Indonesia, Japan and China—are getting a lot of attention, and for good reason. As a whole, growth in the region has been spectacular, drawing in more users while also supporting a growing ecosystem of proven players and startups that are making applications to cater to the diverse and widespread user base.

eMarketer forecasts that base to hit 615.9 million users this year and 853.7 million in 2014.

China accounts for the bulk of users in the region, estimated to reach 307.5 million in 2012.

For service providers and marketers, young, professional men in the region are a highly desirable target. According to the November 2011 press release from Microsoft and MEC Global for their “Asia-Pacific Pre-Family Man Study,” men are avid users of social networks and increasingly using them for work, connecting with friends, and for entertainment, as their lives become focused on their career and earning money.

The survey of unmarried men ages 21 to 39 in Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Singapore and Taiwan found that they were highly engaged on social networks. Men’s activities varied across the region, but among the most popular activities were apps and social games. The survey found that 81% of respondents had used an app or game on a social network, while more than half (57%) used them at least once a week. In terms of how they accessed social networks, 70% of respondents logged on via a PC or laptop, while 25% used a smartphone.

Engagement was highest in Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and China.

eMarketer expects non-US social network ad revenues to total $4.09bn in 2012, accounting for 53% of the worldwide total. With the greatest number of social network users worldwide, Asia-Pacific is poised for an even larger share of total social network ad investment.

India Tipped to Overtake the U.S. to Become the World’s Biggest Facebook Market by 2015

It has just seen Brazil overtake it to become Facebook’s largest overseas market, but India is being tipped to overtake the U.S. and the Latin American country to become the planet’s largest collection of Facebook users by 2015.

India currently has 57 million registered Facebook members, putting it some distance behind the US (157 million) and narrowly below Brazil (59 million) — according to Socialbakers — but India has barely scratched the service of its online potential, and could bring hundreds of millions of its population online in the coming years.

Speaking to CNBC, Gartner analyst Shalini Verma predicted that a change of order will take place before the end of 2015, driven by a continued growth in mobile-based Web access:

“India could overtake the United States in the next three years. Last year, Facebook users in India doubled. Growth will be driven by mobile Internet users in second- and third-tier cities.”

Mobile is the key factor for the development of Internet access in India, which, in turn, would power Facebook and other services’ growth. Currently, fixed-line penetration is below 10% — the country passed 100 million users in November — with mobile already accounting for half of all Internet use, according to Statcounter data, and phone-based access is set to only increase.

Smartphones and Web-enabled feature phones are the driving force behind India’s online revolution. Smartphone shipments to the country passed 10 million for the first time last year, taking just ten months to set the new record, according to CyberMedia Research, but there is still much more to come.

Smartphones accounted for just 6% of the 160 million plus mobile devices that shipped to India in 2011. Shipments are very much in response and anticipation to sales and, with countrywide monthly smartphones purchases topping one million for the first time in November, retailers are set to order and sell devices in greater quantities than ever before this year.

The increasing affordability of low-end smartphones and Web-enabled feature phones is a key factor seen as having the potential to bring lower-income India’s online with a more app-centric mobile experience.

Nokia is making a particular push for the first time in the internet phone buyer market with a series of affordable feature phones, including its Asha series – which begins at $60 — while two sub-$50 phones were announced last week.

Facebook itself is also pushing its low-end offering, having added seven new Indian languages to its “Facebook For Every Phone” app, which caters to feature phones in the country.

There are also encouraging signs on the infrastructure side of things. India was a relative late adopter of 3G networks, but it already has its first commercial 4G deployment, after AirTel launched its LTE service last month.

Initially available in just two cities and via dongles only, the service will expand to cover more parts of the country in time and, once LTE-compatible device ownership swells, smartphones and tablets will be included too.

Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoor heralded the significance of the 4G service as “driving fundamental changes in society at large” and wider adoption of mobile Web and Internet-enabled devices is likely to see Facebook, Twitter and other online services seriously grow their presence among India’s 1.2 billion population.

Facebook itself has previously admitted that India will become its biggest market at some point, but it remains to be seen if Facebook user numbers there can accelerate at such a rate that it overtakes the US by 2015.

Based on recent growth (1.96% in the last three months) — which doesn’t account for saturation — the U.S. will pass 200 million members by the end of 2015. That would require Facebook to grow by more than three and half times its current user base in India – a big task.

Currently, half of India’s Internet users are registered members of Facebook, which suggests that the demand to support such growth is there. Assuming that the site held its popularity among Indians, it could break 200 million users if the country is able to bring a further 300 million new Internet users online by 2015.

However way you look at it, the requirement is challenging but Facebook will be concerned with growing its user base (and revenues) in India, and that is certain to happen regardless of whether India tops the US market, or not.

What will the AdHub partnership look like in the APAC region?

The Samsung AdHub Market (Market) will launch later this year and will be a major new private advertising exchange specifically for global mobile inventory, including smartphones and tablets.

The Market will not be limited to the APAC region, but will be open to mobile inventory buyers globally, including those in North America and Europe. As such, the Samsung AdHub Market will offer an innovative gateway into unique worldwide mobile inventory.

OpenX’s leading marketplace technology platform, which handles hundreds of billions of ad transactions per month, will power the exchange. This partnership builds upon OpenX’s extensive experience in the APAC region. We have been operating in Japan since 2011 through a partnership with cci-Dentsu.

What inventory will you have on the AdHub exchange? Will be all from Samsung domains on mobile? Is it app inventory or pure mobile display?

The new exchange will feature mobile inventory from third party mobile developers and Samsung Electronics owned and operated applications built on the Samsung AdHub platform.

The exchange will enable advertisers worldwide to purchase this inventory within a closed marketplace environment. Similar to Apple’s iAd’s program, the AdHub exchange covers app inventory not mobile web. Advertisers will have the opportunity to bid on any of the popular mobile ad unit sizes and types including MRAID compliant rich media ads.

Will this be available to buy through the OpenX exchange? How much volume are we looking at?

Yes, through OpenX Market. With Samsung Electronics’s global leadership in smartphones and mobile technologies, we expect the volume to be significant. When you look at predictions that suggest mobile advertising revenue is projected to grow to $20.6 billion by 2015, it’s likely that an extremely rapid acceleration is going to occur. We’re very pleased that Samsung Electronics chose OpenX in order to provide the technology to match the scale that will likely occur in this marketplace.

Will this inventory be made available to everyone in the market – DSPs, ad nets etc?

This inventory will not be available to everyone. It’s a private market in which Samsung directly approves all demand partners. OpenX is introducing select demand partners to Samsung and facilitating a direct relationship between the demand partner and Samsung with OpenX technology as backbone of the private exchange.

Given the lack of a universal cookie in mobile, how will buyers drive performance in mobile display?

The lack of a universal cookie is somewhat offset in mobile by the availability of precise location, device, and connectivity characteristics which are often used in buying decisions. The lack of a universal cookie in mobile is certainly a problem that needs to be addressed by the mobile industry to allow for growth in audience based buying and there are some unique solutions such as device fingerprinting that might offer a PII-free alternative.

With the recent deprecation of UDID by Apple, we’ve seen heightened momentum behind solutions. It seems most of the players are highly motivated to cooperate and put a solution in place quickly. We intend to support whatever becomes the standard.

The great thing about Samsung inventory is that the apps are approved by Samsung. So, this inventory is premium to begin with and that will help keep the value of the inventory high within the Samsung AdHub Market.

Publicis Groupe announced this week it has acquired Beijing-based Longtuo, a digital marketing company with strong eCommerce expertise in creative, customer acquisition, marketing solutions and measurement tools. Longtuo will be part of the Groupe-owned Razorfish network and will be named Razorfish Longtuo China.

Founded in 2000, Longtuo employs 200 people throughout its Beijing headquarters and Shanghai and Guangzhou offices. The addition of Longtuo will more than double the size of Razorfish in China, which currently employs 130 people and provides e-Commerce services to clients such as Converse, Hertz, and GM Onstar.

Longtuo serves a prestigious roster of Chinese marketers, including 360buy, Kohler, Masamaso, Taobao (the country’s two largest B2C e-Commerce portals) and Yves Rocher. Longtuo also contracts work for Renault, providing website development and content management, as well as traffic measurement and analysis.

Publicis Groupe hopes the acquisition of Longtuo will give them more commanding clout in China’s booming e-Commerce market, which Forrester projects to be a $94.6bn business in 2012. eMarketer estimates the market to grow at more than 92% annually for the next three years and forecasts China will become the world’s largest e-Commerce marketplace by 2015.

Longtuo’s CEO and founding partner, SU Yi, will become Managing Director of Razorfish Longtuo China, and will report to Vincent Digonnet, President of Razorfish Asia Pacific and Executive Chairman of Razorfish Greater China.

Bob Lord, CEO of Razorfish and member of the VivaKi Board of Directors, comments: “The Longtuo acquisition establishes Razorfish as a Chinese leader in digital marketing services. By integrating Longtuo with Razorfish, we are expanding the e-Commerce services we deliver to our multinational clients, while providing all local and global marketers a comprehensive offer and proprietary tools that extend across the entire e-Commerce consumer journey.”

Jean-Yves Naouri, Publicis Groupe COO and Chairman of Publicis Groupe China adds: “The forecasts for e-Commerce growth in China are spectacular. With new advances in payment technology, broadband access and safe delivery systems making e-Commerce an attractive alternative to retail shops, China has the potential to become the world’s premier e-Commerce market very swiftly, outstripping even the United States. This acquisition means we’re now perfectly positioned to offer our international clients first-in-class local expertise. In addition, with 70% of e-Commerce spend in China currently going to Chinese businesses, Longtuo opens our doors to a number of key clients. The Groupe is accelerating our drive to meet our ambitious targets for growth in China.”

SU Yi, Founder and Managing Partner of Longtuo, concludes: “The alignment of Longtuo and Razorfish in China combines two growing concerns to create a market leading e-Commerce partner for a rapidly expanding roster of clients. We are thrilled to leverage the scale and clout of Publicis Groupe to build a stronger proposition for our clients.”

The acquisition of Longtuo is another step towards Publicis Groupe’s objective to double its size in the fast-growing Chinese market between 2010 and 2013. This goal is part of an overall strategy of strongly boosting revenue derived from emerging economies and from the digital sector. In the past four months Publicis Groupe has acquired four agencies based inChina: UBS (February 2012), King Harvests (March 2012), Luminous (March 2012) and now Longtuo. Since 2010, the Groupe has acquired W&K (April 2010) G4 (July 2010) Eastwei Relations (November 2010), Interactive Communications Ltd (February 2011), Dreams (May 2011), Genedigi (June 2011), Wangfan (November 2011), and Gomye (November 2011).

Australia Embraces “Gamification” as New Way to Reach Customers – Top 10 Gamification Executions

Gamification, or the use of gaming dynamics to influence user behaviour, is gathering steam as a marketing tool for engaging consumers and delivering messages. It’s been praised for its ability to help brands engage with consumers on a deeper level and step the consumer through to purchase intent. While it is still a discipline in its infancy, pioneering brands are turning their attention to it as an alternative to advertising to get their messages out. Going deeper, the technique shows the potential to redefine the customer-product relationship and involve consumers in experiences that help them develop stronger relationships with brands.

Marketing presents this Top10 looking at gamification executions, primarily from Australia but also including a few stand out examples from around the world. Game on.

10. Fruit Ninja Kinect, Neuroscience Research Australia
A version of Fruit Ninja, where players smash virtual fruit, is being used by Neuroscience Research Australia to assist the elderly in recovering from medical problems, staying fit and even preventing devastating falls. As part of the research body’s iStoppFalls program, which also uses other video games to the same effect, a slowed down version of the game is available on Xbox Kinect, allowing the elderly to play along with their grandchildren.

9. Fallen Angels, Lynx
Lynx involved commuters in an interactive augmented reality game in a subway in London in March 2011. Passengers were lured towards patches on the floor of the open concourse, which activated by sending a virtual angel to earth when someone stepped onto them. Participants could then watch themselves interact with the virtual angel on the a big screen overlooking the concourse.

8. Coinland, Commonwealth Bank
Designed for children aged five to 10 years, Coinland is a virtual world where children can learn about the benefits of earning, saving and investing money by undertaking a series of tasks, designed to help them develop financial literacy skills. Players create an avatar which represents them as they explore and interact in Coinland, as they complete tasks or jobs to earn and save coins. Players can then choose to save their coins by depositing them in the bank, or spend their coins on games and rewards. Children can play alongside their friends by adding other users to their buddy lists.

7. Dream Team, AFL
AFL’s Dream Team game is open to anyone to join for free, select a team of 30 players, and then receive point based on the performance of those players in order to go into the running for a prize pool. Participation rates in the game are high, and the AFL generates content around the game including a Dream Team show and news updates on player performance. Teams must be selected in a realistic manner, within the salary cap restrictions. Players also compete in public or private mini-leagues against friends to go into the running for the grand prize of a Toyota FJ Cruiser.

6. Nike+, Nike
Nike has essentially taken a lone sports in running and other training pursuits, and made them social with its suite of Nike+ applications. For example, the Nike+ tag running app, links running directly with social gaming, pitting users who have downloaded the app against each other in a game of tag. Nike’s gaming strategy makes it easier for people to get motivated to exercise, by using gaming mechanics such as rewards and trophies in return for challenges met, incorporating the social element of competing against friends.

5. Re-Mission, HopeLab
Re-Mission is a video game developed by HopeLab specifically for adolescents and young adults with cancer. Players of the game pilot a nanobot named Roxxi as she travels through the bodies of fictional cancer patients destroying cancer cells, battling bacterial infections, and managing side effects associated with cancer and cancer treatment. Messages delivered through this game hit home, to the point that kids involved in the game were more likely to take their tablets and had better recovery rates than those that didn’t.

4. Sparx, New Zealand Ministry of Health and University of Auckland
SPARX is a self-help computer program for young people with symptoms of depression. A 3D fantasy game, it was was developed by adolescent depression specialists from the University of Auckland, to engage youth in a self-learning depression management program. Players learn cognitive behavioural therapy techniques for dealing with symptoms of depression by travelling through different stages of the role-playing game geared at addressing different aspects of the illness. Results from the trial of the game found it to be more effective than medication and as effective as face-to-face treatment.

3. Investorville, Commonwealth Bank
Combining actual market data with innovative technology, Investorville is an online simulator that lets users try their hand at property investing without risking their own equity. It’s an engaging way for the bank to deliver complex messages around investing and whet the appetite of consumers thinking of taking on an investment property. The site has had over 100,000 visitors and of those 23,000 have taken the time to register and enter their details into the game, resulting in 630 loans. The game also supported the position of being technology leaders that CBA is gunning for, and resulted in significant PR for the business with editorial coverage in 88 pieces reaching an audience of 6.6 million.

2. Taste Invaders, Moove/Masters/Big M
Created by RedLever, interactive augmented reality game Taste Invaders enabled event goers to participate in a game where they watched a screen that showed themselves with virtual milk cartons falling around them which they needed to catch in a butterfly net. The experience developed for Lions’ milk brands Moove, Masters and Big M’s, visited three states alongside giant sculptural ‘Mphones’, which added to the visual spectacle and entertained the crowd with music.
The buzz factor of augmented reality appeared to capture the attention of the milk’s brands’ target audience, integrated new technology with simple, fun gameplay.

1. Jay-Z: Decoded, Random House Publishing Group (RHPG)
For the launch of Jay-Z’s memoir Decoded, RHPG launched using a unique social game that attracted public interest and incentive. Engaging the curiosity of customers, pre-released pages of the memoir were printed on various surfaces and hidden around the world – from food wrappers to the silk lining of a Gucci jacket. Conducted as a partnership with Bing and headed by New York ad agency Droga5, the campaign aimed to get an audience not known for reading books interested in doing so. Over 300 pages in 600 placements in 15 locations worldwide were hidden, for players to find, assemble and decode the book together online before its release date.

APAC Tech M&A Q1 Down, But Value Up

The number of technology merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in Asia-Pacific and Japan in the first quarter in 2012 dropped by 33% from last year to 33. However, the average value per deal increased by 123%–far more than any other region, according to a study.

According to the report by Ernst & Young (E&Y), Asia-Pacific and Japan buyers were particularly acquisitive of out-of-region targets, especially in the United States.

Geographic expansion was prevalent, as roughly two-thirds of deals involved out-of-region targets, noted E&Y.

The report noted that expansion beyond a sluggish home economy motivated the purchase by Japan’s NEC of US-based Convergys. It was one of 10 regional deals that targeted U.S. companies. Japanese buyers acquired only one domestic target, five U.S. targets, three in India and one in Argentina, according to the study.

“Aggressive cross-border M&A by Japanese companies, encouraged by the country’s strong currency, was seen in other industries last year but until 1Q12 had not been as visible in technology M&A,” stated E&Y.

Deals in line with key mega trends
The report also noted that the top deals illustrated the region’s alignment with key mega trends.

“Deal-making in Asia-Pacific and Japan in 1Q12 focused mostly on strategic technologies such as online video, Software-as-a-Service (SAAS), mobile advertising and application development for mobile platforms,” said the company.

It cited the example that smart mobility drove two of the top five deals by dollar value: SingTel’s purchase of U.S. mobile ad firm Amobee, and RDA Microelectronics’s acquisition of Coolsand.

“The SingTel deal is an example of a non-technology company buying mobile advertising campaign management and analytics software, thus expanding into technology-enabled services with high growth potential,” stated E&Y.

The largest deal by dollar value saw China’s top online video site, Youku, acquire its main rival, Tudou, in a transaction worth US$1.1bn.

Optimistic outlook
The total value of the 33 deals was US$2.04bn–up 26% from last year. This compared with the global total which fell 12% year-on-year to US$25.1bn. The total volume of announced deals in the quarter was 756, including non-disclosed-value deals, up just 1% from the same period in 2011.

Joe Steger, Global Technology Industry Transaction Advisory Services Leader at Ernst & Young, said in a statement: “Even though technology M&A activity is down year-on-year, it’s doing a lot better than M&A in other industries.”

“During the first quarter of 2012, the same disruptive mega trends that have been fueling global technology M&A since 2009 are now sustaining technology M&A against the continuing macroeconomic pressures that are holding back other industries,” said Steger.

He added that macroeconomic pressures will hold global technology M&A activity to flat or slow growth in 2012.

“But the fact that technology M&A is off to a much stronger start than in most other industries demonstrates once again that social-mobile-cloud, big data and blur are driving strategic transactions and enabling innovation throughout the global economy. And over the long-term, M&A growth will remain a relatively safe bet for the technology industry because of these megatrends,” Steger added.

DSPs are gaining traction in India with Neo@Ogilvy, the digital media planning and buying arm of OgilvyOne, and Marmalade Digital, a digital media trading technology and services provider, announcing the launch of their new DSPs in India. The model has been established globally for a few years, but is now finally gaining acceptance among advertisers India.

Neo@Ogilvy launched its DSP last week in partnership with Brandscreen, a leading DSP in the Asia-Pacific region, and has already done a couple of pilot campaigns for two of its clients in New Delhi and Mumbai, according to R. P. Singh, Vice President, Neo@Ogilvy.

Marmalade Digital, a relatively new digital technology company established in 2011, will launch its DSP on May 15.

Hemant Kumar, Founder and CEO, Marmalade Digital, comments: “DSPs use behavioural targeting data, collected from cookies and data exchanges, to identify audience segments. The advertiser then uses that targeting data to define the kind of audience it wants to target with its advertising and the amount it is willing to pay per impression. The DSP then bids on the ad impressions using that advertiser’s criteria and budget, and serves the ads. At Marmalade Digital, we want to focus on control and transparency and provide agencies/advertisers/ad networks with a better, refined form of targeting through our DSP. Greater transparency would at least mean full disclosure about inventory sourcing, a basic understanding of the algorithms used to identify targets, and identification of the behavioural data that enhanced performance.”

While Neo@Ogilvy will use Brandscreen’s technology in India, Marmalade Digital has tied up with multiple SSPs, such as Rubicon, PubMatic and AdMeld.

Singh adds: “DSPs have taken time to be established in India primarily due to the overall low acceptance of digital advertising here, as well as the fact that very few have the expertise to use the platform effectively. There is little awareness among advertisers and agencies about DSPs. For the pilot campaigns we’ve already executed, the model has allowed us to bring down significantly the cost of acquisition for both clients, compared to traditional display advertising,”

Being optimistic about DSPs’ future in India, Singh says that constant education is a part of digital media anyway and the agency will continue to do so. The agency is betting on certain advertisers that it sees as being evolved enough and are more accepting than others.

Singh concludes: “Consolidation is already happening because of the sheer number of ad networks in the country. In a year’s time, I see most ad networks transforming into DSPs, or at least launching their own DSP.”

Andhra High Court Approves Ybrant Digital/LGS Global Merger

The High Court of Andhra Pradesh approved last week Ybrant Digital’s merger with LGS Global Limited. The AP High Court has sanctioned the scheme of amalgamation of Ybrant Digital with LGS Global, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The High Court orders will be filed with the offices of the registrar of companies, and the scheme will become effective with appointed date being April 1, 2011.

Earlier in 2011, the shareholders of both the companies had approved for a merger. As per the scheme, the combined entity will be referred to as “Ybrant Digital Limited”, in which Ybrant Digital will have 89% and LGS will have 11% shareholding.

Ybrant Chairman and CEO Suresh Reddy will be the Chairman and CEO of the combined entity and Subba Rao Karusula, Managing Director of LGS, will be the Business Head of the LGS Division of Ybrant. The new entity will offer digital marketing services for businesses, publishers and agencies.

Founded in 2000, and headquartered in India, Ybrant Digital holds offices in 20 countries, including U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Ukraine, Serbia, Israel, China, India, Australia, and with representatives or partners in Spain, Greece and The Netherlands.

Besides proprietary media, Ybrant Digital partners with top global publishers such as Facebook, Google, MSN, Yahoo! and Viacom, and assists over 140 top Ad Agencies including OMD, Carat, MediaCom, Group M, Quasar, Razorfish, Mindshare, Maxus, OmniCom and Oglivy, spread across Europe, the Americas and Asia.

IAB Australia Online Advertising Report – Display Making a Massive Comeback

Display advertising is once again a hot commodity in the online advertising world, with the category recording its highest year-on-year growth since 2008. The results, which were announced this week by IAB Australia in its Online Advertising Expenditure Report (OAER) compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), show total online advertising increased 19% year-on-year, with revenues for Q1 ending 31st March 2012 reaching $713m, an increase of $111.9m from Q1 2011.

The report comes as IAB Australia announced that in 2012 it will be releasing online video measurement data, delivering localised global standards, guidelines and best practices, along with new research, cases studies and new advertising formats to accelerate the shift in brand advertising online.

Paul Fisher, CEO of IAB Australia comments: “The continued growth of online advertising reflects the strengthening confidence of marketers and agencies that online is their medium of choice. In this challenging economic environment, they look to online to provide measurability, reach, frequency, brand and direct-response messaging – and they aren’t being disappointed.

“There is no doubt that online advertising in on track to surpass $3bn and take a 20% share of all advertising this calendar year, and it’s quite possible that we’ll reach that milestone this financial year thanks to increased consumer confidence sparked by further interest rate cuts, which we believe will support continued growth in online advertising in key sectors. We’ll be working hard this year, as always, to ensure that advertisers and agencies alike are armed with all the information, insights and tools they need to increase online in their advertising mix.”

All three categories reported strong year-on-year growth, with display advertising recording 18% growth, accounting for 21.6% of total revenue in Q1 2012, while classifieds grew 13% year-on-year to account for 22.9% in Q1 2012 and search and directories grew 21.4% year-on-year to account for 55.5% of the total online advertising expenditure for the three months ended 31st March 2012.

Search and directories continues to dominate the online advertising sector overall, growing its share to $395.7m, with directories growing at a faster rate than search during the period.

Classifieds continue to migrate from other media to reach $165.3m for the quarter, fuelled by strong growth in the real estate, automotive and recruitment sectors.

Display reached 18% year on year growth. Within the category, the FMCG sector posted significant year-on-year growth as brands looked to reach, engage and influence grocery buyers online. Video also reported strong year-on-year growth to reach $11.6m for Q1 2012. CPM based pricing continued as the dominant expenditure type with 74% of advertising expenditure and 26 per cent on a Direct Response basis.

Fisher concludes: “The retail and government sector of online spend continues to flat-line, which is surprising considering both are facing tough marketing and communications conditions. There is a real opportunity for these sectors to invest their advertising budgets online where they will reach, engage and influence their audiences most effectively and we’ll be working hard through this year to help them understand the potential that online offers them.”

VivaKi Appoints Jeffrey Seah SEA Country Chair

The VivaKi Board of Directors announced this week the appointment of Jeffrey Seah to the role of Country Chair for VivaKi Southeast Asia. Currently the CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group in Southeast Asia, Seah will dually report into VivaKi CEO Jack Klues and Laura Desmond, CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group.

Seah, who will retain his CEO role, will work collaboratively with the regional and local leadership of Digitas, Razorfish, Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia to strengthen the service offering and clout of all agencies in the region. Country Chairs support the brand leaders to drive cross-brand growth initiatives for VivaKi in market, as well as deliver against operational and financial goals.

Seah has spent more than a decade at SMG, which has paved the way for Starcom to become an established entity in Southeast Asia. Initially he was responsible for launching the Starcom brand in Asia and setting up its first office in Singapore in 1999. He also helped launch the Starcom IP Digital Marketing Unit across Asia in 2002; at an age when digital was still a pariah in the advertising fraternity. Jeffrey then spent three years with Group M before re-joining Starcom MediaVest Group in 2009 as CEO to helm the operations across the Southeast Asia region.

Jack Klues, VivaKi CEO, comments: “Jeffrey has a formidable track record of delivering growth and new thinking in this important region. With agencies and experts throughout Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines, we have a powerful opportunity to have a stronger and more unified voice in the marketplace by combining forces, restructuring around VivaKi and aligning behind Jeffrey’s leadership.”

Seah adds: “The introduction of the VivaKi structure in SEA will help consolidate scale in the marketplace. It allows both ZenithOptimedia and Starcom MediaVest Group to align our focus and resources to future proof our operations. Today, the search for real-time accountability is a key requirement for success for many businesses, and ZO’s ‘Live ROI’ promise is well-positioned to fulfil that. Similarly, the respect and sensitivity for the human consumer has never been given greater prominence than now, and SMG’s ‘Human Experience’ vision will capture that space in the market.

Together, with VivaKi’s shared domain and functional expertise in digital, branded content, trading, and talent management, we will organize our set-up in SEA to become a future proofed entity.”

Can you give some overview of the launch of AdX in China?

We officially launched our AdX in China on April 10. We’d already been testing the system with several key publishers and buyers for some time; we see the shift in programmatic buying happening at an increasing speed across the APAC region and China is growing at even faster pace and a key part of our strategy. We already have a number of large buyers actively buying on AdX in China.

How developed is the RTB market in China? Are there big volumes being sold via RTB?

In short – yes! As with many other markets, there are large volumes of display inventory in China that are not and have never been effectively monetised: given the multitude of display ad formats and thousands of websites, it often takes thousands of hours for advertisers to plan and manage their display ad campaigns, and many don’t bother. On the other side of the equation, some publishers are left with up to 80% of their ad space unsold. It’s like airlines flying with their planes mostly empty.

Everyone in the space is looking to ensure that they enable as much inventory as possible in a RTB format. We are seeing continual growth in this area every month.

Can you give some overview on AdX penetration in other markets – particularly Japan and India?

Japan is the powerhouse of RTB in APAC at this stage. More than any other market the agencies, DSP’s, trading desks and of course advertisers have taken to buying programatically more than any other market.
India is still early days but in the last six months we have started to see a shift in the way exchanges and DSP’s have been utilised in India.

Importantly in markets across China, Japan and India we are seeing strong local DSP’s and retargeting companies emerge which is helping drive the exchange based market.

What about DSP use in the region? Are the region’s agencies/ advertisers/ trading desks now putting spend through buying platforms?

The traditional trading desk (from the international holding companies) are only just looking to establish themselves in Asia. Most of them are in hiring and training mode as we speak. In Japan and Australia we are starting to see increasing activity through DSP’s

We do see some DSP’s in use across markets/regions (Brandscreen, MediaMath and Invite) and we certainly see some very strong local players in Japan (MicroAd) and China (IpinYou)

What are you seeing in China? Are there a lot of domestic DSPs buying from AdX. Are the Chinese building their own bidders to access dynamic inventory in the market?

Yes – There are a great number of domestic DSP’s in China. Some are certainly more developed than others. Many have designed their own proprietary bidders, which are often based on open source. There are also many claiming to be a DSP or have access to RTB inventory who clearly do not! I would advise that you do your due diligence in China when looking at DSP’s and ensure they can in fact buy on a RTB basis and look to see what exchanges they are linked to.

APAC is made of a number of individual markets with different currencies, languages and regulatory issues? Does this continue to be a barrier to growth? Is AdX making it easier to buy across the market?

This is one area that often gets overlooked or actually is not realised by many in other markets. When it comes to designing, engineering and rolling out a solution that can work across countries, APAC can be a challenging region. Whether it is technology issues such as building in double-byte, forex issues, government regulation or language, companies need to realise this and build it into their product offerings if they want to be successful in the region.

AdX has inventory in all of the major markets in APAC – including China, Japan, Australia/NZ, as well as India, HK, Taiwan and South East Asia. All of this can be accessed either locally or centrally.

Having people on the ground in local markets is ideal as it allows for all of the things we mentioned above to be effective. As well it helps with ad creation/approval, cultural nuances in buying decisions and understanding local issues.

Some APAC markets are very insular in terms of how they do business. How crucial is it to be local in market – particularly in China and Japan?

I am not sure insular is the right word. I would say more misunderstood by others. To think all markets should act the same because that is how it is done in the west I think is the height of arrogance.

In order to be successful as a business in China, Japan and Korea you need to have very strong understanding of the environment and the markets they operate in. Having local managers and teams who know the market is crucial for success.

Brandscreen, an APAC-focused DSP, has appointed Ryan Pestano to the newly created role of Vice President of Product.

Based in Singapore, Pestano will report to Brandscreen CEO Julian Tol and have worldwide responsibility for product innovation and delivery.

Pestano was most recently the Director, Platform Services – APAC working on the trading desk solutions with The MIG (WPP) in Singapore. He is a dynamic digital marketing and technology executive with a decade of progressive experience in digital media, including five years at Microsoft Advertising in the US.

Julian Tol, Brandscreen CEO, comments: “Appointing Ryan is a coup for Brandscreen and he will be pivotal to our expansion across Asia. Brandscreen is in a major growth phase with 35 staff and growing almost daily, with new offices opening imminently.”

Founded in Sydney by Tol and Seth Yates in 2006, Brandscreen has pioneered the introduction of DSPs globally, and has already established market leadership in South East Asia, India, Japan, China and Korea. Brandscreen has been selected by the majority of the world’s seven largest media agency holding companies as their platform of choice for the Asia-Pacific region.

VivaKi Nerve Center Launches AOD in Australia

The VivaKi Nerve Center announced this week that its addressable media buying practice, Audience On Demand™ (AOD), has launched a world-first in Australia – the ability to buy a multi-platform, multi-device campaign across mobile, video, display and tablet channels in real time.

AOD is a media buying practice that utilises proprietary technology and data sources to identify precisely defined audiences allowing marketers to connect directly with their target consumers. Launched globally in 2008, it began operation in the Australian marketplace in 2010. Most recently, AOD announced its 100 billionth impression in display, globally. The multi-channel, real-time bidding product is fully optimised and executed within a single platform.

Ros Allison, Nerve Center Australia/New Zealand Director, comments: “This is a game changer for advertisers. The multi-channel addressability means a single conversation with consumers, eliminating digital silos of mobile, display, video, premium inventory and tablet. It means totally fluid campaigns, across devices and channels, optimising in real time, and creating and scaling audiences based on proprietary data and strategies – not to mention improved ROI.”

The platform in Australia will serve as a Beta test and educational experience for the various AOD practices around the world. Among the first advertisers to utilise the offering is leading Australian publishing corporation News Limited. AOD is the only media buying solution actively partnering with Google-owned Invite Media, globally.

Kurt Unkel, Nerve Center President, adds: “The Nerve Center is a collection of world-class talent and expertise around the world. Together, we have the power to influence an industry and the technology it leverages. This amazing first in Australia points to a success that we can hopefully extend to our other Nerve Center operations around the world, ultimately achieving crossplatform buying operations on a global level.”

Mobile Ad Market grows 121% in Vietnam

A network data and media consumption survey in Vietnam, conducted by leading mobile ad network InMobi, has shown that the mobile ad market has grown 121% in Q4 2011 over the same period in 2010. The ad network served over 6 billion ad impressions in Vietnam in Q4 2011 as opposed to 2.75 billion impressions in Q4 2010.

Phalgun Raju, Regional Director and GM InMobi for Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, comments: “Mobile’s role in the consumer purchase cycle continues to grow. Our survey found that three-quarters of mobile web users in Vietnam have been influenced by mobile advertising when making purchases. In addition, we also found that 77 per cent of consumers expect to conduct mobile commerce in the next 12 months – a 36 per cent increase from where we are today. We at InMobi are dedicated to help local and global businesses in Vietnam leverage this media for effective consumer engagement.”

Interestingly, more Vietnamese use feature phones rather than smartphones. The study shows that the market is still largely driven by advanced phone impressions at 5.6 billion, as opposed to smartphone impressions at only 0.4 billion.

However, despite the prevalence of lower-tech phones in the region, nearly three-quarters of local mobile web users say the mobile device is their preferred method of going online, reporting they feel it gives them more privacy and is easier to use.

Vietnamese use their mobile phones largely for entertainment and social networking. As the study reports, “Mobile web users spend 23 per cent of their time on mobile devices on music or videos, 19 per cent on social media, 16 per cent on gaming, 15 per cent on email, 14 per cent on search for general information (news, sports, finance, etc.), 7 per cent on local search, and 6 per cent on shopping.”

Mobile advertising is already an accepted part of the mobile user experience in the country. According to Raju, mobile advertising impacts consumer behaviour throughout the purchase path: “Thirty-five per cent of the population have been introduced to something new via mobile advertising, 39 per cent have gotten better options, 22 per cent have found something relevant nearby while 14 per cent reconsidered a product based on a mobile ad.”

In terms of devices, Nokia is still the leading phone in the market. It still dominates with a 59.2 per cent market share, while Samsung is a distant second with a 20.5 per cent market share, followed by LG with 5.9 per cent market share. While Apple devices might be hot in other markets in the APAC region, in Vietnam Apple devices are in the sixth place 1.8 per cent market share.

Publicis Groupe Acquires Indigo Consulting, Award-winning Indian Digital Marketing & Technology Agency

Publicis Groupe announced last week its acquisition of Indigo Consulting, an award-winning full-service Indian agency providing website design and development, search engine optimization, usability research and testing, and marketing online, on mobiles and in social media.

Since it was founded in 2000, Indigo Consulting has developed websites, software solutions and digital marketing programs for clients around the world, including Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, HSBC (India, Asia-Pacific and Middle East), Loop Mobile, Tata AIG Insurance and South Australia Tourism.

The agency currently employs a team of 160 at its Mumbai headquarters and Delhi office. Their work has been recognized with Webby awards, W3 awards and Abbys.

Indigo Consulting will operate as a unit within the Leo Burnett Group in India and will retain its name. Its founder, Vikas Tandon, will remain as Managing Director, reporting into Arvind Sharma, Chairman of the Indian Subcontinent for Leo Burnett.

Tom Bernardin, Chairman and CEO of Leo Burnett Worldwide, comments: “From a global point of view, the potential and opportunities that India offers are massive. Over the years we have increased our efforts into this important market. Indigo Consulting, with its strong track record as a full-service interactive and technology agency, is the perfect strategic fit for our aspirations in India and around the world.”

Vikas Tandon, Managing Director of Indigo Consulting, adds: “This alliance means we will bring our world-class digital marketing capabilities to Leo Burnett’s clients, while also benefiting from additional knowledge and insight on brand and creative communication through cross-training and collaboration.”

Currently advertising and marketing online represents less than 3% of overall adspend in India, according to ZenithOptimedia, but the sector is forecasted to boom. ZenithOptimedia estimates that over the next three years, India’s digital adspend will increase by roughly 30% a year, driven by the spread of smartphones and the youth culture of social networks. Publicis Groupe aims to double its size by 2015 in India, which is the world’s 16th largest advertising market.

Jarek Ziebinski, President of Leo Burnett Asia Pacific, sums up: “Our growth strategy for Leo Burnett in India and Asia Pacific is based on two core pillars: digital and shopper-marketing. India is a key market for us, and it’s reporting explosive growth in the digital sector. We want to make sure Leo Burnett has the right infrastructure in place to meet the needs of tomorrow. I also see Indigo Consulting developing beyond India, to become an important player within our network in Asia Pacific and globally.”

Can you give some overview on the new role at News Digital Media – and some background on your experience in the APAC region?

I joined NDM in December 2011 from Google in Singapore where I was head of platforms across the Japan and Asia-Pac region, looking after the display business including DoubleClick suite of products including Ad Exchange, plus Invite Media.

Prior to Google, I was with Akamai Technologies as MD of their Asia-Pac business for seven years, providing platform-led technological solutions to a broad range of blue chip organisations that included working closely with all major Australian publishers.

Before this I worked with a number of technology and consumer brands across Asia-Pac, including chinadotcom in Hong Kong where I built 24/7 Media Asia, the region’s first ad network.

My current role is Chief Operating Officer of News Digital Media, where I look after the day-to-day strategic and operational management of the company.

Throughout my time overseas I always worked closely with the Australian market, and over time it became clear to me that the internet here was developing at a far slower pace than in the Asia-Pac region.

I knew the team at News Limited well, and when the opportunity arose to work with Australia’s leading digital publisher I knew it was the right move, offering me the ability to be at the forefront of market transformation.

As well as the day-to-day management of News Digital Media, my role is to provide executive digital leadership across all our brands. This involves informing and advising on the strategies that will help News Limited remain at the vanguard of digital publishing in Australia.

You’re taking the helm of one of the largest of Australian publishers in a time of huge change in the online ad space. What specific challenges and opportunities do you see for big online pubs like News Digital News Media?

The pace of technological development is certainly unprecedented but there are a few key themes I see informing the market in the immediate future.

Video has the potential to be the big game changer of our time. Short form is progressing at a natural pace, but it’s live streaming that I see as the next big revolution. If you look at the ways sports rights are being handled in the US at the moment, a real niche has been carved out to integrate online with existing cable content rights.

Mobile remains interesting and there is certainly a great deal of opportunity for publishers and advertisers to leverage technology to engage more competitively. As mobile becomes the primary device for accessing the internet the way in which we think about online itself will change, the challenge is to make sure there is balance between current and developing platforms.

Social media will continue to be a base platform for many people’s online lives, and whilst Facebook, Twitter and Google + will retain their dominance, the rise of niche networks is interesting. Pinterest started as a specialist network for women in Mid-West America and has now gone global, I think we will start to see more of these special interest sites come up in the next twelve months.

Gamification is another key area to watch, particularly around education. There are some fascinating developments happening in this space where the idea of educating and developing new ideas in a format that is familiar and intuitive to young people is producing some remarkable results.

Underpinning all of these however is the rise of big data. The ability to target customers in increasingly sophisticated ways based on insights into real time behaviours and preferences will increase yields and performance in ways that will have a direct knock on to all platforms in the near future. In this climate context of delivery will remain important, but increasingly will be only one of many factors leading to improved performance.

Can you give some insight into how the online ad space is evolving throughout the APAC markets?

From my experience territories like Korea, Japan and China have been ahead of the Australian market. This is due to a more sophisticated infrastructure of course, but also the ability and appetite to take risks, innovate and be more creative in response and delivery.

Traditionally in the Australian market, regulatory restraints and the entrenched nature of local media operations, have meant innovation has not been as rapid as it could have been.

This is certainly changing as both local and international players have begun to harness the power of a more sophisticated approach to operating online based more and more on insight and data.

Are we likely to see significant growth and innovation in APAC’s “emerging markets”?

I am confident that the next few years will see a significant rise in the so called ‘emerging economies’ particularly in India and China.

Australians tend to underestimate the wealth of the talent pools in these countries. India especially has a vast pool of globally minded and extremely skilled digital players who will very soon challenge the status quo.

The last few years has seen companies like Alibaba, Huawei and Haier at the front of the first wave of Chinese brands to go truly global. I have no doubt that there are a whole wealth of Asian companies ready to challenge the domination of established Western providers just waiting in the wings.

Are there strategies that regional advertisers and agencies could be executing to maximise the impact of online ad spend – particularly around data?

It’s clear to me that remarketing through insights into behaviour across multiple networks and sites is just one way to apply what we already know about customers into greatly improved brand response rates.

In today’s data rich environment, advertisers have the ability to track and match messages with consumers in many smarter ways than they currently employ.

I can’t stress enough how crucial data is to effective engagement, and whilst the market is certainly moving in the right direction there is still some way to go before advertisers really begin to join the dots in this area.

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MediaMath, a leading DSP, announced last week that it has expanded into Australia via a partnership with Australian technology company, Kinected Corp.

As part of the move, Kinected has struck a licensing agreement with MediaMath to oversee the management of bids for advertising inventory. The partnership will be managed from their offices in Sydney, Australia by the founders of Kinected, Gary Hardwick, Mick O’Brien and Ross McNab.

Mike Peralta, MediaMath CRO, comments: “We’re delighted to be partnering with Kinected to bring MediaMath’s TerminalOne technology to the Australian market. As the market expands in APAC, we are able to help brands and agencies trade in the new data-driven advertising marketplace, empowering them to deliver results and focus on strategy instead of performance optimization. This is a very exciting time for the sector and we’re excited to be at the forefront of these developments”

Chinese “Twitter” Helps Baillieu Reach Voters

Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu and Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews have embraced the Chinese-language Weibo, a Twitter-like service, in a bid to connect with the Chinese-speaking voters in Victoria, Australia. Mr Baillieu opened a Weibo account last Monday and attracted more than 23,000 followers within the first two days.

His first message, in Chinese, was: ”Dear Weibo users … this is the official Weibo of the Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu. From today on, I will regularly update you on the Coalition’s policy and political stance. Please feel free
to interact and discuss with me. Many thanks.”

Mr Baillieu’s special adviser for the Chinese community, Gladys Liu, told Fairfax: ”The Premier is very serious about engaging with the Chinese community in Victoria. It is the largest non-English speaking community in the state.”

His venture into Chinese-language cyberspace was also spurred on by his opponent in the Parliament, Daniel Andrews, who had opened an account a week before him. Mr Andrews has 362 followers. The messages left on Mr Baillieu’s account are a mixed bag of compliments and complaints.

Weibo is enormously popular in China, with more than 300 million registered users. Weibo’s official partner in Australia estimated there are more than half a million users there.

This could be a big move showing Aussies have recognised the strength and size of Weibo, which could be effectively considered one of the largest publishers in Asia. This use of non-western technologies in Australia’s social space could set Weibo as an upcoming important platform in the region.

Effective Measure Invests in Emerging Asia

Effective Measure, a provider of digital media planning solutions in emerging markets, announced last week its Asia focus with three senior executives, including Founder and Senior Vice President of Market Development, James Robertson, appointed to its new regional head office in Singapore. Joining James in Singapore are South East Asia (SEA) Regional Director, Dinesh Arasaratnam and India Vice President, Abhimanyu Sareen. Together with a team of Asia-based digital specialists, Robertson, Arasaratnam and Sareen will work across Asia to support the developing digital ecosystem.

Richard Webb, Effective Measure Chairman, comments: “Investing in emerging Asia is one of Effective Measure’s top priorities. With a proven, dedicated team now in place in Asia’s media hub, Singapore, we look forward to significantly expanding our investment and presence in this fast-moving region while contributing to digital best practices.”

James Robertson, Effective Measure Founder and Senior Vice President of Market Development, adds: “Our solid footprint and detailed demographic profiles of online audiences across Asia have helped guide our global clients such as Group M, Starcom MediaVest and Omnicom Media Group to make more comprehensive media planning decisions. We are optimistic about the emerging Asian market and are committed to actively help realize its full potential.”

Effective Measure currently showcases Internet activity from over 170 million unique browsers and demographic data from over 400,000 active panelists in South East Asia. In the month ending March 2012, 8.1 billion page views were recorded, with 7.5 percent of this accorded to mobile. The SEA Internet audience is identified as being health-conscious and as risk-taking Early Adopters.

Dinesh Arasaratnam, Effective Measure SEA Regional Director, is bringing his experience to the team: “Education is also critical for market growth and with metrics collected from over 170 million online browsers in SEA, we are in a good position to work with key industry partners and better inform advertisers on the potential of digital. This was a large focus of my previous role as MENA Regional Director and I look forward to using this experience to lead our SEA team into the next exciting phase.”

Newly appointed Effective Measure India Vice President, Abhimanyu Sareen, has a positive outlook on the Asian expansion, “India’s emerging digital industry is an exciting challenge in that it has so much room to grow with the current local population estimated at 1.2 billion. Along with Effective Measure’s South East Asia focus, our upcoming work in India will help develop the region’s digital market into a world-class environment.”