In this weekly segment, ExchangeWire sums up key industry updates on ad tech from around the Asia-Pacific region – and in this edition: Almost as many SEA users click mobile ads by mistake as by in interest; China uncertainty pulls down APAC ad spend forecast; Xaxis to offer comScore-The Trade Desk platform in APAC; Singapore agencies unite to provide digital marketing training; and Lowe Profero unveils Southeast Asia analytics unit.

Almost as many SEA users click mobile ads by mistake as in interest

Some 37% of mobile users in Southeast Asia said they had clicked on an ad by mistake over the past month, compared to 40% who did likewise out of interest.

Source: OMG's Epinion

The remaining 23% had not clicked on a single mobile ad in the past month, revealed a study by Omnicom Media Group's research firm Epinion, which polled more than 2,600 smartphone users across five Southeast Asian markets: Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

In Malaysia and Vietnam, more mobile users clicked on an ad unintentionally at 41% and 42%, respectively, than those who did so out of interest, at 33% and 25%, respectively.

The study determined that ads were more likely to be noticed or clicked when there were delivered via e-mail, Facebook newsfeed, and as animated video ads. Also, 67.6% across the five countries preferred to access brand and product information on their mobile phone for ease of sharing.

If ads must be served to their devices — possibly in exchange for free services — 77% would prefer to view ads that were personalised or that they could choose, while 60% would prefer entertaining ads.

Some 66% said they would like or share information related to a sales promotion, while 65% said they did likewise for new products. Another 42% would share a funny ad, while 9% would share a bad ad.

China uncertainty pulls down APAC ad spend forecast

Dentsu Aegis Network's Carat has revised its 2015 ad spend growth forecast for Asia-Pacific downwards from 5.2% to 4.1%, citing economic uncertainty in China as the primary factor.

Carat's ad spend growth forecasts

It also lowered 2016 growth projection from 5.8% to 4.7% for the region, with the China market's forecasts for the year revised from 8.1% to 6.5%. In 2015, China is expected to see its ad spend grow at an adjusted 6%, instead of the previous forecast of 7.9%.

Australia, however, has reasons to cheer with higher growth forecasts of 2.4%, up from the previous 1%, this year and 2.8% in 2016, and  up from the previous forecast of 1.5%.

"Despite a slight decline in growth forecasts due to China's economic downturn, Asia-Pacific remains strong in 2015 with an above global spend rate of +4.1%, driven by high-performing India at 11% and growing Australia at 2.4%," Carat noted.

Xaxis to offer comScore-The Trade Desk platform in APAC

comScore says it has inked a deal to provide Xaxis access to its performance measurement tool, Validated Campaign Essentials (vCE), which has been integrated with The Trade Desk's programmatic buying platform.

This means Xaxis is the first in the Asia-Pacific region to tap the digital campaign performance metrics, allowing marketers to measure key performance indicators such as in-target delivery, reach and frequency, ad viewability, and geographic delivery. It also offers the ability to tag VCE campaigns directly to The Trade Desk's platform, enabling more efficient campaign setup and management, comScore said.

The integrated platform is available to Xaxis customers across 12 Asia-Pacific markets, including Singapore, Australia, China, Indonesia, India, and Thailand.

Xaxis Asia-Pacific CEO Michel de Rijk said: "The comScore-The Trade Desk integration is a big step forward in combining ad delivery and ad effectiveness measurement into a seamless, scalable process."

Joe Nguyen, comScore's Asia-Pacific senior vice president, added that the integrated workflow would deliver the key metrics marketers need to evaluate daily campaign performance and "seamlessly evaluate" the impact of their ad spend in The Trade Desk programmatic environment.

Singapore agencies unite to provide digital marketing training

Happy Marketer and Maxential have launched a new entity to provide digital media training for marketers in Singapore.

Called FutureMarketer, the consultancy will offer "short- and long-term" programmes to guide marketing professionals in a digital age, it said in a statement. The new business will be headed by Taru Jain, who is the founder of Maxential.

Jain noted that few business executives were comfortable executing their company's digital strategies, citing a Forrester study that found only 15% felt confident to do so. "We want to change that," he said. "That's why we have come together to create FutureMarketer."

Co-founder and Partner Rachit Dayal said: "By combining Maxential's experience in coaching leaders on digital transformation with Happy Marketer's expertise in digital training for marketing practitioners, we can now help organisations become more digitally savvy across all levels."

In a Facebook post, the partners added that Happy Marketer would continue to offer digital marketing services alongside the new joint venture. It currently also providers various training courses including Google AdWords certification, analytics, and social media marketing.

Lowe Profero unveils Southeast Asia analytics unit

The digital marketing agency has launched a business arm to provide data analytics services, including data tracking and measurement tools.

Former associate media director at Neo@Ogilvy, Nick Scott, has been appointed to head the new business in Southeast Asia and will report to Asia-Pacific head of communications, Phil Ely. Scott is based in Singapore, where he will alongside the agency's Southeast Asia managing director, Radhe Vaswani.

Ely said: "Southeast Asia is a critical area of focus for our media and analytics business globally, and the appointment of Nick to lead the charge on the ground is a huge step forward for us."

Lowe Profero's range of analytics offerings includes its attribution modelling platform, True Impact, performance dashboard Signal, and social analytics monitoring tools.