In this weekly segment, ExchangeWire sum up key industry updates on ad tech from around the Asia-Pacific region – and in this edition: AU agencies want programmatic trust; SEA advertisers concern over lack of programmatic processes; AU sees growing demand for new video formats; Dentsu open VR lab in Shanghai; Tencent clock 47% growth in online ad revenue; Wunderman launch data-activation platform in India; and YouAppi opens up in Indonesia.

AU agencies urge need for programmatic trust

Agencies in Australia believe programmatic needs to build trust; while marketers acknowledge trust will drive consumer willingness to spend.

Some 80% of agencies, compared to 32% of marketers, said programmatic had to build trust, according to a study commissioned by Audited Media Association of Australia (AMAA). Conducted by The Insights Grill, the online survey polled 310 marketers and media agency executives. It revealed that more than half of online media would be purchased programmatically within three years.

Some 75% of respondents said marketers played a key role in driving transparency and accountability, with programmatic and social media singled out as platforms that most needed oversight to build trust.

Performance metrics and cross-media measurement remained top priorities that the industry needed to address, though, ad fraud saw the largest increase in priority, with 44% pointing to this as an industry priority.

Josanne Ryan, CEO, AMAA

About 86% believed trust would drive consumer willingness to spend, the study found, adding that 80% identified transparent and audited channels as key to establishing trust.

Another 72% pointed to the need for industry bodies to push for solutions to address ad fraud; while 89% highlighted the importance of having industry-certified programmatic desks and exchanges to establish governance frameworks.

AMAA CEO, Josanne Ryan, said: "Trust is the invisible thread that influences media-buying decisions. Advertising trading doesn't run solely on analytics and money – it also runs on trust."

SEA advertisers concern over lack of programmatic processes

Some 83% of consumers in Southeast Asia watch online video on a daily basis, and two-thirds of media buyers are following the trend by shifting some of their broadcast TV budgets to online video.

About 48% of advertisers and publishers in the region anticipated video spend to increase by at least 25% this year, revealed AOL's 2017 State of the Video Industry report. This figure was similar with the global average of 46%, but below 63% in the US.

Despite this growing demand, 7% of publishers in Southeast Asia were expecting revenue from programmatic video to fall over the next 12 months, compared to just 1% in the US. AOL's Asia and ANZ managing director, Alex Khan, explained that this could be due to the lack of premium video inventory, in particular, mobile.

"As the region is one of the most obsessive when it comes to watching online video everyday, there is a real opportunity for publishers, if they are able to make further premium video inventory available to advertisers", Khan said. "The demand is there from both consumers and advertisers."

According to the AOL study, 70% of advertisers and publishers believed digital video was the future of advertising; but 63% pointed to barriers that first needed to be addressed, compared to 53% globally.

Some 55% of marketers in Southeast Asia highlighted the lack of existing process and systems in using programmatic technology to build and track campaigns. They also expressed concerns about safety and quality.

Some 60% of media buyers cited the availability of video on social media platforms as a growth driver for digital video ads, while 56% pointed to better quality creatives.

Khan noted that 75% of consumers in this region watched videos on their smartphone each day. This presented latent demand in which advertisers could tap, he said, despite the lessons they would need to pick up in order to optimise their returns and deliver quality customer experience.

The report noted that 66% of consumers would tune out of a video after experiencing two buffering interruptions, while 82% would leave after three such incidents. Another 68% expected pre-roll ads to be shorter than 15 seconds, while 71% said they would like to have some control over which ads to watch.

AU sees growing demand for new video formats

In another AOL study this week, 65% of media agencies in Australia indicate they are already buying, or planning to buy, virtual reality (VR) digital video in the next 12 months.

Another 79% believed new video formats would offer better customer experience, revealed the survey, which polled 100 consumers and 200 media buyers and sellers.

Some 4% of buyers in the country expected to increase their programmatic spend by more than 100%, compared to the global average of 2%. Another 22% of Australian buyers planned to increase their programmatic spend by more than 50%.

Only 1% of local publishers, however, anticipated their programmatic spend to grow by more than 100%, compared to the global average of 5%. Another 22% of Australian publishers planned to increase their spending on the platform by more than 50%, compared to 33% globally.

The AOL study cited the lack of skillsets as a barrier, with 61% pointing to this as an obstacle in selling video inventory programmatically, compared to 30% globally. Another 55% in Australia pointed to brand safety, while 45% highlighted the risk of losing direct relationships with buyers, and 45% cited the lack of existing process and systems.

Among consumers, 65% preferred to watch content online, or through a connected TV, with 74% watching videos between one and five minutes long, weekly.

In keeping with this trend, 44% of advertisers expected to increase their mobile video spend by more than 25% in the next year, while 46% of publishers anticipated the same spending growth.

AOL's Asia and ANZ managing director, Alex Khan, said: "The proliferation of devices and new ways of consuming content are fundamentally changing audience's expectations of that content. It's now far too easy to flip between platforms, and attention spans are increasingly limited, as we see with the relatively high demand for super-short video experiences.

"Advertisers and media agencies are looking at a wide range of different opportunities to reach out and engage with this more dynamic audience. Programmatic and mobile are major opportunities, as finding audiences through digital media and social media becomes important", Khan said. "But, equally, that drive towards providing quality content will lead publishers and advertisers to look at emerging media. VR, AR, and other experience-based media, are expected to become a booming opportunity over the next year, as the technology starts to mature and audiences continue to look for dynamic, exciting experiences."

Dentsu open VR lab in Shanghai

Dentsu Aegis Network China have opened a lab in Shanghai that will enable their clients to better understand and test out the use of virtual reality (VR) tools to enrich their relationship with consumers.

The V-R Lab comprised three primary areas – the VR Bar, VR Experience Zone, and VR Lab – and featured a range of VR devices, including airVR, which was developed by Dentsu Science Jam, as well as VR goggles BVRAIN, which was built by Isobar China group, to support customised games based on human brain activities.

Dentsu said the lab would offer technology, creativity, content, production, and measurement to "foster more intimate, direct, and personal relationships with consumers". The facility would allow clients to access VR-related knowledge and case studies and exchange ideas on VR applications in marketing.

Dentsu Aegis Network China CEO Motohiro Yamagishi said: "Using VR technology as a launch pad, the lab will expand its research and development to other upcoming technologies for consumer communications and brand marketing."

Tony Chen, the agency's China chief innovation officer of Dentsu, added that immersive VR experience would have "a new impact" on interactions between consumers and brands. "The consumer data analysis enabled by VR can help brands acquire deep insights into their target audience", Chen said.

Tencent clock 47% growth in online ad revenue

The Chinese internet company has reported a 47% year-on-year increase in their online advertising revenue for first-quarter 2017, generating ¥6.88bn (£768.64m).

Media ad revenue, which included news, video, and music properties, climbed 20% to hit ¥2.51bn (£279.98m). The company said growth in this segment was fuelled primarily by higher revenues from their mobile media platforms, Tencent News and Tencent Video.

Social and other advertising revenue, including those from their social properties, appstore, browser, and ad networks, grew 67% to ¥4.38bn (£488.66m), driven largely by Tencent's Weixin properties.

"We upgraded our neighbourhood LBS (location-based services) advertising in Weixin Moments, enabling advertisers to more precisely target customers within their vicinity, which is particularly attractive to advertisers such as wedding suppliers and home decoration vendors", Tencent said.

Tencent CEO & Chairman Ma Huateng said: "Financially, our smartphone games, payment-related services, digital content subscriptions, PC games, and social advertising businesses all contributed to our broad-based revenue growth."

Wunderman launch data-activation platform in India

Wunderman Data Services have introduced their data-activation platform, Zipline, in India via partnerships with WPP sister companies, GroupM and Kantar.

The data analytics firm added that consumer intelligence platform, MobileWalla, and Indian media consumption database, Zapr Media Labs, would be accessible within Zipline's Public Data Marketplace. Through such integration, the platform would provide mobile audience data across demographic, behavioural, and location intelligence categories, they said.

Wunderman's India country manager Baldeep Singh said: "India is a strong market for our near- and long-term growth; and we're particularly excited to be working with MobileWalla and Zapr Media Labs as we enter into the region. These partnerships will play an integral role in making unique audience segments available to marketers throughout their campaigns."

YouAppi open in Indonesia

The mobile marketing platform has opened an office in Jakarta, Indonesia, where they have been working with Indonesian marketers, agencies, and publishers since 2016.

Headed by country manager Anna Mareta, the local outfit would join YouAppi's Southeast Asian network that included Singapore, Vietnam, and Thailand.

Mareta, who also was the company's Southeast Asia country manager, would continue to oversee operations for the region, where YouAppi saw a 700% growth last year.