In this weekly segment, ExchangeWire sums up the key industry updates on ad tech from around the region – and in this week's edition: comScore unveils ad metrics in APAC; Maxus launches social media monitoring centers in Asia; Amobee hires new ANZ head; and AdRoll eyes ANZ growth with transparency, cross-device.

comScore unveils advertising metrics in 13 APAC markets

The market researcher has released its Trust Profiles in 44 new markets, expanding the availability of its advertising metrics index beyond the US market where it was first launched in January.

According to comScore, the Trust Profiles feature advertising metrics such as audience and category ranking data, as well as viewability and non-human traffic ratings. These are built based on comScore's MMX (Media Matrix) and validated Campaign Essentials (vCE), which are used by advertisers and publishers for traditional ad buys.

Trust Profiles with MMX metrics are available in 44 markets, which include 13 Asia-Pacific markets, such as Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Japan, and Malaysia. Trust Profiles that further comprise vCE metrics are also available in Australia.

The metrics are part of the company's Industry Trust initiative. "Media sellers around the globe now have the ability to showcase the true quality of their advertising inventory available for sale in programmatic environments, through the use of trusted, independent metrics," comScore said in a statement.

CEO Serge Matta added: "The growth of programmatic around the world no longer needs to be accompanied by a concern about the quality of inventory that's being bought and sold."

The Trust Profiles also will be available in select DSPs operating in key global markets later this year, comScore said, adding that its integration partners currently include DataXu, MediaMath, The Trade Desk, and Rubicon Project.

Chris Victory, vice president of global business development at MediaMath, said in the statement: "As programmatic marketing continues its explosive growth and gains adoption by both advertisers and publishers, the importance of having third-party systems that are able to verify the quality of an ad impression cannot be understated."

Maxus launches social media monitoring centers in Asia

WPP's subsidiaries Maxus Global and Vocanic have partnered to operate marketing command centers across the region, helping the agency's clients monitor news and consumer sentiments posted on social media.

The Maxus Mesh centers track these platforms in real time and can provide data insights to assess brand health and support marketers in crisis communications.

Maxus Asia-Pacific CEO, Ajit Varghese, said: "Since the beginning, marketing has always started with understanding people. As practitioners in marketing, there's no better source for understanding people than social.

"Maxus Mesh is an initiative that underlines our belief in making social central to our business as we lean into this changing environment. [It's] based upon the core philosophy that technology, underpinned by people and driven by process, can drive exponential business growth for our clients. This will not only help Maxus represent the consumer voice to marketers better, but also develop communication plans with richer insights, meaningful content and lead it into more conversations and conversions," Varghese said.

Maxus and Vocanic will operate the command centres for their clients, tapping Vocanic's VSocial social dialogue engine. Mesh centers have been set up in Maxus' offices in India, Australia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.

Separately, Maxus announced it had appointed Sandeep Pandey as its head of marketing effectiveness for the region. Based in Delhi, the new executive will support the agency's efforts in building its data analytics practice.

Pandey joined the company from Mindshare, where he was principal partner for business planning.

Amobee hires new ANZ head

The mobile ad tech company has appointed Liam Walsh as its managing director of Australia and New Zealand.

Supported by 16-years of experience in digital marketing, Walsh is tasked to further develop Amobee's existing campaigns and client relationships, which include Optus, and partnerships in both countries. He also is responsible for managing new business opportunities, the Singtel-subsidiary said.

The new managing director's employment history includes roles as ANZ vice president for Kenshoo, managing director of Microsoft Advertising, general manager of sales and commercial at Fairfax Digital, and agency director at Facebook Australia.

Walsh's appointment follows another new hire in March, when Ian Laurie joined Amobee as its ANZ head of social.

Ben Sharp, AdRoll

AdRoll eyes ANZ growth with transparency, cross-device

The retargeting platform provider says it is growing its business in Australia and New Zealand since opening its office there last year.

In an interview with ExchangeWire Japan, AdRoll's Asia-Pacific director Ben Sharp said it had more than doubled its client base and quadrupled revenues. At launch in March 2014, it had some 400 local customers, he said, adding that its local office currently has 30 employees.

"Australia is strategically an important market for us and has highly sophisticated clients at the forefront of digital marketing. It makes sense for us to build a business to support this market," Sharp said.

Citing stats from IAB, he noted that Australia's digital advertising marketing was worth A$4.6bn and clocked 16% year-on-year growth last year.

He added that AdRoll had more than 850 local advertisers across various market segments including agency, enterprise, and SMBs, and its client base spanned several verticals such as travel, ecommerce, and automotive.

Sharp said the company differentiated itself from competitors by offering transparency and clarity in its reporting, and giving advertisers control over where their ad would be viewed and how much they wanted to spend on their audience.

AdRoll also touts an inventory-agnostic environment, operating all sources, and runs across multiple devices including web, mobile, and social platforms. Its customers also had the option to run campaigns themselves or outsource this to AdRoll.

"Australia and New Zealand have presented great opportunities for us, and we will continue to invest and grow in this market," Sharp said.