In this weekly segment, ExchangeWire sums up key industry updates on ad tech from around the Asia-Pacific region – and in this edition: APAC to become world's biggest digital ad market; Two AU industry groups merge; Singapore broadcaster inks Outbrain partnership; Brand reputation important among Chinese jobseekers; and Dentsu appoints ANZ data head.

APAC to become world's biggest digital ad market

Asia-Pacific is projected to bypass North America this year to become the world's largest digital advertising market, taking the pole position for the first time.

The region's digital ad spend would climb 18.2% in 2016 to reach USD$59.7bn (£46.08bn), inching past North America's expected 9.6% growth to USD$59.5bn (£45.92bn), according to latest stats from Strategy Analytics.

China would fuel most of Asia-Pacific growth, with digital ad spend in the country increasing 25.1% to USD$22.4bn (£17.29bn), and was the second-largest market behind the US, which was expected to hit USD$55.6bn (£42.91bn). The two global market leaders would account for 44% of overall digital spend in 2016.

Asia-Pacific was home to three of the world's biggest markets, with Japan the fourth-largest and Korea the sixth-largest. By 2021, the region's digital ad spend is projected to be 33% more than North America's.

Strategy Analytics' digital media director, Michael Goodman, said: "Advertising is about eyeballs and the sheer scale of the Chinese market, along with India and Indonesia, is why Asia-Pacific will overtake North America this year, despite underlying economic weakness in some economies. Millions just can't compete with billions."

He further noted that Asia's comparatively low ad spend per capita indicated significant potential for growth, compared to more matured markets in the West. Its sizeable population meant Asia-Pacific's spend per capita clocked at just USD$15 (£11.58), while this figure was USD$165 (£127.35) for North America, and USD$95 (£73.32) in Europe.

Goodman added that with mobile phones providing online access in less developed markets, Asia-Pacific would see its online population expand dramatically which, in turn, would drive ad spend.

Globally, digital ad spend was expected to climb 12.6% this year to USD$176.7bn (£136.38bn) and account for 32% of overall ad spend. Search would contribute 52% of total ad spend, while display ads would account for 36% and classifieds at 11%.

Two AU industry groups merge

The Advertising Institute of Australasia (AIA) has become part of the Australian Marketing Institute (AMI) in a merger described to provide better support for the country's new marketing talent.

Effective immediately, the union was established in recognition of "the changing landscape" of the marketing industry and the AIA board's decision that it was in the organisation's interest to join "a larger, stronger, and more diversified" marketing industry group.

It pointed to the AMI as the most suitable organisation as the latter's objectives and responsibilities were most aligned with AIA, which was established in 1920.

Technology had changed the way that marketers market; which, in turn, changed how marketing departments operated today as well as impacted a marketing professional's education and development requirements. The organisations said in a joint statement that the emergence of digital platforms, content marketing, and social media also changed the way organisations advertise their brand, products, and services in order to attract customers.

These developments led to the realisation that the AIA's objectives would be better served jointly with the AMI, which was set up in 1933.

AMI Chair Andrew Thornton said: "AIA has been an influential champion of the advertising industry in Australia in its over 90 year history, pioneering impactful education, awards, and research initiatives that have helped nurture and develop talent in Australia.

"However, as industry association consolidation becomes inevitable in today's rapidly evolving market, a larger organisation like AMI is well placed to continue to provide the marketing industry support that AIA has delivered over many years."

Singapore broadcaster inks Outbrain partnership

Sigrid Kirk, Outbrain Asia-Pacific VP, Engage

Mediacorp has signed a two-year agreement with Outbrain to roll out the latter's Engage solutions across its media platforms, including online, television, radio, print, and out-of-home.

The deployment would enable the Singapore media company to tap Outbrain's platform to drive audience engagement and growth as well as extract data analytics and tap monetisation opportunities.

The agreement would provide Mediacorp access to Outbrain's Visual Revenue and use real-time data on content performance to improve user engagement.

Sigrid Kirk, Outbrain's Asia-Pacific vice president of Engage, said: "Outbrain had initially started out as a recommendation product, but with a strong commitment towards staying on top of industry needs, and continuous innovation, we have now evolved into a guided personalisation platform that serves multiple publisher stakeholders, affords our partners with the flexibility to embrace digital opportunities, and continues to deliver what audiences crave."

Mediacorp's lead digital partnerships, Low Boon Kiat, said: "We look forward to deeper audience engagement using stronger analytics and real-time content performance enhancement from Visual Revenue."

Brand reputation important among Chinese jobseekers

Some 72% of job candidates in China said a company's brand and reputation was more important today than it was five years ago, according to a survey by ManpowerGroup Solutions.

This figure was above the global average of 56% and the highest among 4,500 respondents across five countries polled in the study, which included Australia, where 48% regarded brand as more important today.

Jobseekers who ranked brand as the top three factors in their career decisions were more likely to be millennials, aged between 25 and 34 years, with 10 to 12 years of work experience, revealed the survey.

In China, nine out of 10 brand-driven job candidates were in this age group, which relied most on social media as their source of information on a company. One-in-five respondents in Australia were brand-driven and primarily millennials.

Sue Howse, ManpowerGroup Solutions' ANZ general manager, said: "Increased transparency and greater access to information is better enabling millennials to gauge an organisation's brand and culture more quickly and more thoroughly than ever before. If organisations aren't proactively engaging with individuals in a positive way via various channels, candidates will make their own assumptions and decisions based on the information they do have."

Pointing to "employer-employee trust" as the most effective way to build brand, Howse added: "The practice of publishing job ads and waiting for individuals to apply is archaic. Employers must tap into current employees – being the most credible and influential sources of information for candidates and potential new hires – to actively tell the brand's story and live its culture both in real life and through social media platforms.

"Those who choose not to utilise these important resources, or fail to recognise their direct impact on company brand, risk being left behind", she cautioned.

Dentsu appoints ANZ data head

Dentsu Aegis Network has unveiled its new chief data officer for Australia and New Zealand, Philip Zohrab, who will be responsible for pushing the agency's global data strategy in the local markets.

In this newly created role, Zohrab would collaborate with all Dentsu agencies to expand the company's existing technology and capabilities as well as establish new initiatives around data.

Dentsu Aegis Network ANZ CEO Simon Ryan said: "Data is the new currency of business and is a key need across all our agencies and the services we offer to clients. Philip comes on board to steer our group locally through the transformation and continuous evolution required to deliver the market-leading proposition on data."

He added that Zohrab had experience in search, performance marketing, operations, and data visualisation.

A New Zealander, the newly appointed data chief was previously regional managing director for iProspect in Singapore.