In this weekly segment, ExchangeWire sums up key industry updates on ad tech from around the Asia-Pacific region – and in this edition: Almost a quarter of AU digital ads don't deliver uplift; SEA brands must prepare for Amazon platform; Merkle launches in India via Sokrati; Digital content ratings debut in AU; and SpotX turns on in Japan.

Almost a quarter of AU digital ads don't deliver uplift

Some 22% of digital ads in Australia have failed to drive uplift for key brand metrics, according to Nielsen's Digital Brand Effect study.

However, frequency, or the number of times consumers viewed a campaign, revealed some impact on brand resonance, the report said. Exposure to digital ads five to nine times was determined to be the optimal range to improve overall brand lift, improving the campaign's resonance by an average of 51%.

Nielsen noted that awareness and intent revealed a strong link to frequency, hence, indicating that resonance could be increased with additional exposure. After a peak number, though, resonance would begin to dip, it said.

The report determined that ad resonance targeting brand preference peaked at three exposures; while ad objectives targeting favourability peaked at six.

In addition, a brand's category could influence the impact of ad frequency, Nielsen said, pointing to a link between high exposure to campaigns and resonance amongst consumers of a certain product category. In comparison, ad frequency was not a reliable driving factor to improve the connection between campaigns and consumers in some product categories.

For example, frequency was closely linked to resonance for consumers in fast-moving consumer goods, electronics, and shopping and retail. This was less so for categories such as financial services.

Brands must prepare for Amazon SEA platform

Retail brands will have to step up their marketing efforts to compete for consumer attention on Amazon, following the e-commerce operator's debut in Singapore and foray into Southeast Asia.

Amazon launched its two-hour delivery service, Prime Now, to much fanfare in Singapore last week, offering a range of products to local consumers including groceries, alcohol, electronics, and baby products.

Site lead for the Prime Now facility in Singapore, Ivan Lim, said Amazon used "advanced techniques and algorithms" to fulfil orders as quickly as possible with processes that included batching and machine learning.

Commenting on the launch, iProspect's Asia-Pacific head of strategy, Bowan Spanbroek, said Amazon's Singapore entry should be "a wakeup call" for retail brands and e-commerce operators across Southeast Asia. "In bigger markets, like India, Amazon disrupted what was a Flipkart market almost immediately causing rapid consolidation", he said, noting that Amazon's "aggressive pricing and superior consumer experience" had shifted loyalty away from Snapdeal and Flipkart.

Spanbroek said: "In a connected and mature e-commerce market like Singapore, change will happen at break-neck speed in terms of consumer adoption. If they bring the sophistication of the advertising ecosystem we see in the US, product marketing dollars will quickly follow consumers into this ecosystem.

"Brands must prepare for this new platform, beyond just being listed. You need an end-to-end Amazon strategy, including granular marketplace optimisation tactics. Brands that attempt this without the right approach or partner will face challenges in competing for consumer attention and loyalty."

Merkle launches in India via Sokrati

Dentsu Aegis Network has announced plans to acquire Indian performance marketing and analytics agency, Sokrati, which will be rebranded as 'Merkle'.

The move would mark the launch of the agency group's own data and performance marketing brand in India, as well as Asia-Pacific.

Headquartered in Pune, Sokrati was founded in 2009 and currently employed 120 digital marketing executives. Its product offerings were driven by data analytics and included CRM-based marketing integrated with offline data and hyper-local marketing. It also specialised in e-commerce, offering services that included search and performance, social, retargeting, and video production.

Dentsu Aegis Network Asia-Pacific CEO Nick Waters said: "India is the fastest growing large economy in the world. It is on track for 400 million smartphone users, making it second only to China, and has emerged as a major e-commerce market.

"Sokrati's strength in mobile, e-commerce, data, analytics, and performance media provides an ideal basis from which to launch Merkle in India as we develop the rollout plan for Asia-Pacific", Waters said.

The agency's South Asia chairman and CEO, Ashish Bhasin, said Sokrati's capabilities in CRM (customer relationship management) and data would drive Merkle's debut in India and further bolster the agency group's data practice.

Bhasin said the addition of Sokrati would boost the group's footprint in the country to more than twice the size of its competitors in search and performance.

Digital content ratings debut in AU

Publishers, agencies, and marketers can now access daily digital audience data in Australia, following the launch of Nielsen's Digital Content Ratings (DCR).

The measurement platform offered a daily view of how many people consumed content (text, video, and audio) across all key digital devices and worked alongside Nielsen's monthly digital ratings measurement services.

The analytics firm said DCR integrated its digital device panels and census-based measurement for Australia, where 19 million consumed digital content each day and digital video consumption clocked at more than 25 hours per month amongst adults.

The latest launch was part of IAB Australia and Nielsen's three-part "upgrades" to the country's digital audience measurement system, they said in the joint statement. They previously released mobile and tablet audience data for the local market, as well as Nielsen's monthly digital ratings.

IAB Australia's chairperson, Nicole Sheffield, who also was chief digital officer at News Corp Australia, said: "The daily trading metrics will enable publishers and agencies to pivot and take action during campaigns and respond to daily brief cycles. This brings digital in line with other media reporting daily ratings metrics."

IAB Australia CEO, Vijay Solanki, added: "The Australian digital industry, which now accounts for half of all advertising spend, has always been world-leading in the area of digital measurement. DCR is a game-changer for the industry because it is daily, people-based, and independent. It's good for publishers and gives more precision to advertisers. It also helps create more transparency and more confidence in digital."

SpotX turns on in Japan

The programmatic video platform has entered the Japanese market armed with a new executive team comprising local industry veterans.

Responsible for driving SpotX's publisher ties in the country, the team comprised commercial director, Ken Hara; business development director, Masaru Fuchinoue; and supply development director, Kenichi Kiyono. The three executive also would look to help advertisers tap video inventory across the region, said the ad-tech vendor.

Noting the significance of its Japan entrance, SpotX's CEO and co-founder Mike Shehan said: "While Japan is the third-largest media market in the world, its unique makeup sees an entrenched media sales ecosystem in place. The pressure of digital has set the wheels of innovation in motion, pushing media sales and targeting automation practices into the spotlight.

"Now is the right time to commit resources to Japan, allowing us to select the best sales, support, and development talent across the market as programmatic video starts to take off", Shehan said.