In this weekly segment, ExchangeWire sums up the key industry updates on ad tech from around the region – and in this week's edition: Singapore broadcaster establishes native advertising unit; AOL Platforms turns on in Southeast Asia; UK startup inks mobile video advertising deals in China; Australia's ADMA, Zuni to offer training courses for marketers; New accelerator scheme aims to help Singapore media startups

Singapore broadcaster establishes native advertising unit

MediaCorp has set up a business unit, called Brand Studio, to work with advertisers and create original multimedia advertising content for its customers.

The native advertising unit will help develop campaigns that target audiences across the Singapore broadcaster's digital products as well as media platforms, social media networks, and celebrity influencers.

Led by Phin Wong, who was executive editor of the company's newspaper TODAY, Brand Studio will allow advertisers to "tell more compelling stories…focusing on content that is useful to users", MediaCorp said.

Wong managed the paper's entertainment and lifestyle section and the company's special projects unit. "I have always believed what the audience wants, above all, is good content. Content they want to receive and want to share, whether that content informs, educates, or simply entertains.

"Brand Studio will provide our clients the opportunity to engage and speak directly to their target audience by offering 360 degree content that goes beyond any single media platform," said Wong, who will report to MediaCorp's chief commercial officer Jack Lim.

Lim said the new business unit "dovetailed perfectly" with the company's major reorganisation to transition from traditional media platforms such as TV, radio, and publishing, toward a focus on consumers and their preferences.

The reorganisation earlier this month also resulted in 33 staff being laid off and 12 others who were offered jobs with MediaCorp's outsourcing partners.

AOL Platforms turns on in Southeast Asia

The U.S. web giant has officially launched its AOL Platforms in Singapore and announced a rebranding of its programmatic TV business unit, Adap.TV, to ONE Video. The brand realignment is part of the company's North America launch of ONE by AOL, which is a cross-screen unified programmatic advertising platform.

Alex Khan, who previously headed the Adap.tv business in the region, will now lead AOL Platforms in Southeast Asia as managing director.

"We have already achieved a lot locally, but with the power of AOL's global development team, we will be able to offer an increasingly diverse media offering in an open environment, across all screens, formats, and inventory types," Khan said.

According to AOL, Adap.TV had been operational in Singapore since 2014 and played a significant role in video's transition from manual transactions to programmatic media buying.

It added that AOL Chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong had led the company's investment in video and programmatic technologies over the past five years, which included the acquisition of Adap.TV in September 2013.

UK startup inks mobile video advertising deals in China

LoopMe has signed agreements with three Chinese app developers to distribute its native video ad formats globally, giving it access to seven of the top 10 global app developers including Facebook's LiveRail, Google's AdX, and Outfit7.

The mobile video DSP inked the deals with Cheetah Mobile, Sungy Mobile, and Baidu, which collectively provides access to apps that had clocked more than 10bn downloads worldwide.

LoopMe estimated that the partnerships would push native video advertising to potentially generate more than US$100m in revenue for the company over the next couple of years. The London-based startup serves a client base that includes Adidas, Amazon, Samsung, and Audi.

Citing its campaign data, LoopMe said mobile video ads helped drive conversion rates that were 100% higher than other static formats.

Native ads are specifically designed to fit into an app’s interface, making them less obtrusive to users than ad spaces, and more likely to be noticed. On top of the native proposition, the mobile video ad format is also extremely effective, compelling and engaging enough to drive conversion rates up to 100% higher than other static formats, according to LoopMe campaign data.

Sungy Mobile COO Patrick Zhu said: "Given the size of our global mobile advertising footprint and the potential opportunity for video, working alongside a strong partner like LoopMe will enable us to open up new video advertising revenue streams from brand and performance advertisers."

Australia's ADMA, Zuni to offer training courses for marketers

Digital media consultancy, Zuni, has formed a partnership with the Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA) with the aim to help marketers and advertisers through a series of courses.

Noting that Australian companies today were struggling to align their business goals with their digital, CRM, metrics, and content strategies, the two partners said their Strategic Development Programs were designed to help businesses form a cohesive digital media plan.

The courses would include classroom learning, Q&A, and consulting sessions, and were put together to help marketers develop--within two months--individual strategies in digital, content, and CRM planning, as well as metrics and measurement.

Most organisations had a web and social presence, but these remained fragmented and disparate and lacked cohesiveness.

Zuni's managing director, Mike Zeederberg, said: "Businesses are increasingly frustrated, sensing that digital could work much harder for them. There is little clarity on ROI across digital channels and we see many businesses that have not fully aligned their business objectives to their digital strategy and they're missing out as a result."

ADMA CEO Jodie Sangster further noted that its members often lacked internal expertise to manage their digital strategies. The new partnership's programme aimed to address this.

Zeederberg said: "Through the Digital Strategy Development Program, businesses now have a solution for developing a digital strategy that is cost effective, practical, and completed in two months."

New accelerator scheme aims to help Singapore media startups

SPH Media Fund, Plug and Play, and Infocomm Investments have jointly launched an accelerator programme to provide funds for media and technology startups in Singapore.

Called SPH Plug and Play, the scheme will invest S$30,000 in each startup that is selected and aims to support up to 20 startups in the next year across various media sectors, including advertising, ecommerce, marketplaces, and mobile.

Selected startups will receive training as well as mentorship from domain experts in venture capital and media. The first group for its 10-week programme is targeted to begin in mid-2015.

SPH Media Fun CEO Chua Boon Ping said: "It is part of SPH's long term strategy to invest in innovative digital media companies, in particular, those that could create synergies with SPH's existing businesses."