Category Archives: Research

News, Research

Transparency and Ad Quality: Brand Safety Matters to Consumers

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Following a spate of misplaced ad scandals and fake news controversies, brand safety is commonly acknowledged as one of the most pressing challenges currently facing marketers looking to reach digital audiences.

But the impact on, and reaction of, consumers to issues around brand safety is less well documented.

Brand responsibility

According to latest research from Reuters, Tomorrow’s News 2018, a high proportion of consumers believe brands are responsible for where their ads are running.

62% of consumers believe “brands have full control over where their advertising appears”.

The majority of consumers (77%) also say that advertising next to ‘unsavoury or objectionable’ stories can damage their perception of a brand. Worryingly, 75% have seen brands advertising alongside unsavoury or objectionable stories or videos. And while 81% feel that Facebook and Google should be ‘held accountable’ for the content they carry on their platforms, they are unaware of their role in brand safety. Reuters respondents believe the buck stops with advertisers.

Impartiality, trust & integrity

Ad agencies and tech companies alike, are being forced to pay more attention to good governance, and collaborations with trusted partners to avoid these types of challenges.

With this in mind, the value of impartiality, honesty and integrity also featured strongly in the Reuters analysis. A huge majority of global respondents said they were more likely to turn to professional publishers, such as online news brands, over social media for trusted content, with 86% more likely to turn to online news brands for “trusted content in a trusted environment”.

Consumers underestimated

The uncomfortable truth in our digital age is that it’s not always clear where online ads are running. And yet, consumers – perhaps unsurprisingly – have little idea of the problems of programmatic, vulnerable supply chains or, most importantly, the huge role that Google and Facebook play in the process.

Investment in brand-safe environments and trusted partnerships is supported by numerous studies recently, from Group M to IAS – and they all show the link between brand safety and performance. Now we can add that this is something consumers are also clamouring for.

Reuters Tomorrows News 2018

You can also read and download the full report here.

Research

Latest Digital in 2018 Global Report

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We Are Social have just released their latest Digital in 2018 report. The new 2018 Global Digital suite of reports reveals that there are more than 4 billion people around the world using the internet.

More than 3 billion people around the world use social media each month, with 9 in 10 of those users accessing their chosen platforms via mobile devices.

Programmatic, Research

Digital Transparency: Peeling the Programmatic Onion

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A new survey from the ANA looking at how marketers are conducting their programmatic media buying, revealed that 85% of marketers are currently conducting programmatic initiatives, either in-house or with an agency. However, more than a third of respondents (35%) have reduced the role of their external agencies over the past year as a result of the expansion of their in-house programmatic media buying capabilities. This is a notable increase from a 2016 study that found only 14% of marketers in-housing programmatic.

Other key findings to emerge from the study included:

  • 78% of marketers are “concerned, or very concerned about brand safety and programmatic.”
  • Only 40% of marketers are comfortable with “the level of transparency about their programmatic media investments” with “hidden costs” a particular concern.
  • “Better audience targeting”, “building audience reach”, and “real-time optimization” were the top three cited benefits among marketers that opted to in-house.

It seems overall, transparency in programmatic is on the rise and non-disclosed models are in decline. But what is true transparency in programmatic?

The Programmatic Onion – Layers of Programmatic Transparency

the programmatic onion

Previously in programmatic, all the above layers of cost would be bundled into a CPM, CPA or CPC – for example, an advertiser would book a campaign with an agency or trading desk at $4 CPM with a minimum spend of $50k per month and all of the operating costs are covered.

Now, slowly, the costs are being unbundled from top to bottom of the programmatic supply chain as we peel back the layers of the programmatic onion. During this unbundling process, some of the people, contracts and relationships are shifting from 3rd parties and into advertisers themselves.

Not every marketer needs or wants to peel the onion. Outcomes based marketing is well suited to many, and certainly simplifies a complex ecosystem. But for many marketers, it seems there is an emerging need for transparency at every step of the supply chain, and a perception that this transparency can be better facilitated through direct relationships with publishers and tech.

Peeling the programmatic onion is a crucial exercise in transparency for our industry, an opportunity for agencies, tech vendors and publishers to build trust, and a key part of building spend in digital channels outside the Duopoly.

Mobile, Research

Myanmar Big on Facebook and Mobile Gaming

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Myanmar is a highly mobile market, backed up by the latest research showing 99% of households now own a SIM card. This points to an interesting dynamic where consumers own SIM cards to make calls, but will borrow a common handset from friends or relatives.

MyanmarMobile

Facebook and Gaming are the most popular mobile pastimes in Myanmar, although 95% of consumers still use their mobile phones for phone calls.

mobilephonesmyanmar

Source: Updated Myanmar Research

Research, Social

Indonesia’s Digital and Content Marketing report

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Get Craft recently surveyed 150+ Indonesian marketers asking about their digital & content marketing habits. 55% of marketers still lack clarity about how their digital marketing drives business objectives. Other key findings included:
  • Marketers spend 31.5% of their budget on digital, 76% say this is an increase
  • Average and Median digital marketing budget of IDR 1.9 billion / year and IDR 875 million / year, respectively
  • Digital marketers’ key problems are around budget restraints & skills/resources gaps
  • Customer experience & content marketing are the most exciting growth opportunities
  • Content marketing is generally used for engagement & awareness – but B2B measures primarily lead generation
  • Written articles and videos are the most effective content marketing types
  • B2B brands prefer more to invest in dedicated in-house content team, whilst B2C relies more in agencies

You can download the full report here.

Research

Interaction 2017: Group M Global Digital Forecasts

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Each year GroupM publishes its overview and speculations on the state of digital marketing and its implications for advertisers. This year’s report – Interaction 2017  predicts that in 2017 digital’s share of ad investment in the developing world will at last have caught up with the developed world, to around 33%.

10 countries have already witnessed digital overtake TV, with a further five expected in 2017, two from APAC; France, Germany, Ireland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Interaction 2017

In 2017 it’s challenging to discriminate digital marketing from all marketing. Consumers barely separate their digital and analog lives; little media is published in only analog form and enterprises infuse digital processes into every aspect of their organisations.

However, it’s probably true to say that marketing strategy and marketing services remain more siloed than consumer behaviour, and equally true that marketing and sales organisations remain more separated than they should be given the collapse of the purchase funnel.

Insights, Research

Digital in Asia 2017 Overview

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Digital growth accelerated over the previous 12 months in Asia Pacific, with internet users up 15% to pass the 1.9 billion mark. There are now also 4 billion mobile phone subscriptions across APAC, a penetration rate of 96%.

These findings have exciting implications for businesses, governments, and society, but they are also testament to the speed with which digital (and mobile) connectivity is changing the lives of people in the region.

More than 1.4 billion Asian consumers now use social media on a monthly basis, with 95% of them accessing platforms via mobile devices – the highest ratio in the world.

Digital in 2017: Southeast Asia

Digital in 2017: Eastern Asia

Digital in 2017: Southern Asia

Digital in 2017: Australia, New Zealand & The Pacific

Source: We Are Social

Infographics, Research

Programmatic to hit $12.72bn ad spend in China over 2017

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We see a big year ahead for programmatic in China with projected 36.9% YOY growth. $12.72bn estimated ad spend will account for 57% of total digital advertising market.

China Mobile Ad Revenues and Programmatic Ad Spend 2014-2017 [Infographic]

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Digital Landscapes, Mobile, Research

Myanmar 33 million mobile users, smartphone usage 80%

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The online population of Myanmar is growing at a rapid pace, with Telenor claiming 13.7m subscribers in a recent release. 52% of customers are active data users.

This matches MPT’s 14 million subscribers, and dwarfs Ooredoo’s reported 5 million subscribers.

Myanmar now has at least 33 million active mobile subscriptions in a country with an official population of 53 million. Smartphone usage rate is reported at 80%.

Viber estimates that it has 18 million active users in the country – meaning that almost 1 in 2 of all active cell phones in the country have Viber installed on them.

Myanmar Digital Future – Telenor [Infographic]

hks_telenor_myanmar_infographic_fa_20161219

Digital Landscapes, Research

China’s Digital Advertising Consumer Landscape

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With overall access to the Internet in China increasing, it’s interesting to understand who is going online, and how they are getting there.

Chinese internet users are more likely to be under the age of 30, have a higher education than previous generations and earn an average income.

These netizens are increasingly accessing the Internet though mobile devices. Not only is it more convenient for them, but the majority of Internet users find the experience comparable to or even better than desktop.

China’s Advertising Landscape [Infographic]

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