In this weekly segment, ExchangeWire sums up key industry updates on ad tech from around the Asia-Pacific region – and in this edition: comScore launches mobile audience metrics in Indonesia; Dentsu Aegis buys out India's Fountainhead; Blis eyes China market with new HK office; AdRoll clocks 317% revenue growth in ANZ; Paid search ads climb 13% in APAC; Xaxis welcomes Singapore managing director; and Optimedia Malaysia gets new general manager.

comScore launches mobile audience metrics in Indonesia

The media analytics firm's Mobile Metrix offering is now available in the Indonesia market, providing performance reports of mobile browsers and audience for tagged publishers.

The mobile measurement service enables publishers to "demonstrate the size and value" of their mobile audiences as well as helps media buyers evaluate their advertising options on mobile platforms, comScore said. With the Indonesia launch, it added, Mobile Metrix is now available in 12 Asia-Pacific markets.

The market researcher also announced plans to jointly develop mobile panels with WPP's data investment management business, Kantar, in Indonesia, which it said would help drive mobile and cross-media audience measurement.

Kantar's Asia-Pacific chief client officer, Tim Kelsall, said: "Kantar and comScore recognise the importance of comprehensive mobile measurement as essential to fostering sustainable growth in the mobile advertising and media ecosystem.

"The joint building of mobile panels in Indonesia will enable both comScore and Kantar to bring services to market faster, and is an important step forward for the future development of cross-media audience and campaign measurement," Kelsall said.

comScore's Southeast Asia vice president Kerry J. Brown added that the two initiatives in Indonesia further supported the need for insights that would allow the industry to better react to the fast-changing market space.

Brown said: "Agencies, advertisers, and publishers can leverage comScore Mobile Metrix to better inform media buying and selling strategies. As we look to the future, our work with Kantar to jointly build mobile panels will further advance mobile, multi-platform, and cross-media measurement to benefit the entire industry.

"We are excited to announce these developments and look forward to sharing more updates as these solutions progress."

In a separate announcement, comScore said Huang Xinyu had returned to the company as senior vice president and managing director of its Greater China operations, where he is responsible for boosting the company's presence in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Huang has more than 15 years experience in big data and analytics, having recently served as CTO of Resonate, and was previously vice president of comScore's technology division as well as Asia-Pacific senior vice president.

Dentsu Aegis buys out India's Fountainhead

The agency group has acquired Mumbai-based event and experiential agency, Fountainhead Entertainment, as the former looks to grow its presence in this market space.

Established in 1994, Fountainhead also has offices in Delhi and Bangalore and has more than 205 employees in the country. Describing the acquisition as "one of the largest in India within this sector" (although it provided no financial details regarding the deal), Dentsu Aegis said the Indian agency would continue to be led by co-founder and CEO Brian Tellis. Tellis will report to the group's South Asia chairman and CEO Ashish Bhasin.

It added that it was targeting to integrate its own psLIVE experiential business, comprising 86 employees in India, with Fountainhead in 2016.

Dentsu Aegis Network Asia-Pacific CEO Nick Waters said: "Fountainhead's reputation in the event and activation market, and their extensive experience in both music and sports marketing, complements and strengthens our experiential offering in one of the region's most exciting markets."

Blis eyes China market with new HK office

The location-based data and ad tech firm has begun operating from its new Hong Kong office, as it looks to expand its presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Headed by newly appointed managing director Richard Andrew, the Hong Kong outfit also supports Blis's China operations and will be integral to the company's global expansion plans, said president Harry Dewhirst.

"Establishing operations in Hong Kong, the region's major media and commercial hub, ensures we are well positioned to engage top media agencies to strategise, execute, and provide in-depth consultation for on-ground campaigns," Dewhirst said.

Prior to joining Blis, Andrew was Asia general manager at Amobee, where he was responsible for driving the company's regional expansion strategy. He will now spearhead Blis's business development in Asia-Pacific and evangelise the company's offerings to media agencies in Hong Kong.

AdRoll clocks 317% revenue growth in ANZ

The ad tech firm says its revenue in Australia and New Zealand has climbed 317% year-on-year from July 2014, with its customer base growing 94% over the same period.

Its local headcount grew from nine to 35, supporting a clientele that includes Hello Molly and Pepperstone.

AdRoll's ANZ managing director Ben Sharp said the company launched new features and products over the last year, including AdRoll Prospecting and customer relationship management. Its BidIQ algorithm also was updated, he added.

Paid search ads climb 13% in APAC

Spend on paid search advertising in the third quarter grew 13% year-on-year across the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan.

Smartphone impressions also grew three-fold in the quarter, according to the latest stats from Kenshoo, which analysed data from more than 3,000 advertiser and agency accounts worldwide, including Google and Baidu networks.

Kenshoo's Asia-Pacific and Japan managing director Yukihiko Imamura said: "Our data shows that mobile continues to be the most exciting area of growth, in both social and search advertising. We are seeing large brand advertisers in the Asia-Pacific region and Japan mobbing quickly to allocate more budget to mobile search advertising, and we expect social advertising to boom in 2016."

Globally, mobile was the dominant growth driver for both social and search, accounting for 68% and 50% of spend on the two platforms, respectively. Social ad spend targeting mobile devices climbed 159% year-on-year for the quarter, while search advertising spend increased 66%.

Xaxis welcomes Singapore managing director

The programmatic platform has appointed Regan Baillie as its new Singapore managing director, bringing in the 18-year industry veteran as the lead for its business strategy and operations in the local outfit.

Regan Baillie

She will be responsible for spearheading future digital development in the country as well as for boosting the ad tech firm's presence in the local market.

Before joining Xaxis, Baillie was a business development director for WPP's Media Innovation Group in Europe and also head of marketing and business development for Brunswick Group. She co-founded digital media consultancy Echo Direct in 2001.

Arshan Saha, Southeast Asia vice president for Xaxis, said: "Xaxis Singapore has quickly established itself as the programmatic leader in the market. We are confident that Regan will further extend that lead and drive our internal teams to provide our clients with best-in-class programmatic solutions."

Optimedia Malaysia gets new general manager

Ali Memon has been appointed general manager of VivaKi's Optimedia Malaysia, where he will drive the agency's operations, client relationships, and new business in the country.

Memon had spent the last two years at VivaKi Malaysia running the Samsung business for Starcom, before assuming responsibilities for Optimedia's local operations.

Before joining VivaKi, he had led GroupM Malaysia's GSK business as well as Maxus's Telenor and Nestle businesses.