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Tag: APAC

  • Global media economy set to accelerate in 2014: Study

    Global media economy set to accelerate in 2014: Study

    MUMBAI: The year is coming to an end, and it’s time to introspect. Various studies will be done to review how the years went by. Was it good, bad or ugly?

    As far as media owner advertising is concerned, the revenue grew by 3.2 per cent in 2013 to $ 489.6 billion at a global level, even though the economic environment remained weak throughout 2013, according to the study by Magna Global.

    Around the global average growth of +3.3 per cent for advertising revenues in 2013, Latin America once again showed the strongest growth (+9.5 per cent), followed by Eastern Europe (+7.9 per cent) and Asia Pacific (+6.3 per cent). On the other end, developed markets showed little or no growth: North America +1.5 per cent, Western Europe -0.8 per cent.

    “That level of economic activity is not particularly impressive by historical standards but confidence indices keep improving and we believe advertising spending will reflect and amplify that economic trend,” said Magna Global India director intelligence EVP Venkatesh S in the report.

    Asia Pacific advertising revenue grew by an average of +6.3% in 2013 to $148.7bn. Television continues to remain the largest media category in APAC, and will grow by +5.1% in 2013, up from +4.3% in 2012 to reach market share of 42.3% of total spend in the region. However, it will gradually fall below 40 per cent share in the next five years.

    Digital is the fastest growing category and will grow by +22.4% in 2013 to reach $33.6bn, as per the study. Newspaper and magazines continue to lose ground at -1.4% and -3.1% CAGR through 2018, respectively, and together print will only represent 21.8 per cent of total spend in 2013, down from 32.2 per cent of total spend as recently as 2008. As a whole, the APAC region now represents approximately 30 per cent of total global spend.

    Within APAC, China and Japan represent nearly two thirds of the total APAC advertising revenues. However, China is growing quickly and will surpass Japan for the top spot in APAC as soon as 2015. But the development of the markets within APAC varies significantly with some very advanced markets such as Australia and some much underdeveloped markets like India. This disparity can also be seen in the share of digital spend, with India’s digital market share at 7.4 per cent of total spend in 2013 vs. Australia’s at 32.7 per cent of total spend.

     

    Rise of social media

    The biggest game changer, this year, has been the rise of social media and, more specifically mobile social media. In the last 18 months, social media usage has migrated towards portable devices and platforms at a faster rate than most anticipated.

    The impressive success of tablets in the Western world and the rapid penetration of feature phones and smartphones in the developing world have contributed to this rapid shift in consumer usage. At the same time, social media owners (Facebook and Twitter most significantly) have introduced ad formats specifically matched to those portable devices that have met with instant success among marketers without alienating users.

    Globally, the social media advertising grew by 58 per cent this year, to $9.1bn, of which $2.9bn came from mobile social (+ 300 per cent), the forecast company said in the report.

    Looking forward

    The company predicts the economic conditions to improve for good in 2014. It expects the global advertising revenue to grow by +6.5 per cent (previously: +6.1 per cent) to reach $521.6bn, which will be the strongest year-on-year growth since 2010 (+8.4 per cent, following the 2009 recession).

    Said Magna Global’s director of global forecasting EVP Vincent Letang in the report, “The combination of an improved economic environment and stronger-than-usual cyclical drivers is bound to unlock marketing and branding budgets in 2014. This will primarily benefit television and digital media where new formats and opportunities are being explored for activation and branding campaigns”.

  • McAfee says Indian tweens are potentially vulnerable to risky internet behaviour

    McAfee says Indian tweens are potentially vulnerable to risky internet behaviour

    MUMBAI: There is a growing trend of Indian tweens (kids between 8-12 years old) that are rapidly adopting internet through multiple devices and a variety of social networking platforms.

    McAfee unveiled its tweens and technology report 2013 which analyses the online behaviour of India’s next generation of digital natives.

    A few important highlights from the report are: On an average, Indian tweens are using between three and four devices that can be internet enabled, internet access is predominantly PC/laptop based (71 per cent and 76 per cent access the internet via these devices respectively), however 42 per cent access the internet via a mobile device.

    Almost half (45 per cent) of the online tweens access internet post 8:00 pm. They are regularly playing games (91 per cent) on tablet or chatting with friends on mobile (63 per cent). Tweens are widely using mobile/smartphones to access internet (68 per cent use mobile to access the internet). Despite the age eligibility for Facebook being 13 years, three in four (70 per cent) tweens admit to currently using Facebook.

    Online tweens are potentially vulnerable to risky behaviour on the internet as 36 per cent of online tweens have chatted to someone online that they didn’t know previously.

    The findings of McAfee’s Tweens & Technology Report 2013 were released at a panel discussion with McAfee consumer marketing director (APAC) Melanie Duca, McAfee India VP of engineering – consumer and mobile Venkat Krishnapur, McAfee Cybermum India Anindita Mishra, Dr. V. Jayanthini, M.D, D.P.M, leading psychiatrist and Meeta Sengupta, a veteran educationist and advisor to schools.  

    Speaking about the relevance of these new-age parenting challenges, McAfee Cybermum India Anindita Mishra said, “There is an increasing influence of the online world on children’s persona that cannot be undermined because of the emotional and developmental impact it has. The role of parents in delivering safe and positive cyber experience to their kids is significant than ever before. Having a genuine and transparent two-way communication with children is absolutely fundamental to establishing a safe and positive cyber experience.”

    “With malware writers mastering their craft, they continue to transfer their skills to new and popular mobile platforms in addition to PCs and laptops. The proliferation of multiple mobile device usage and this staggering increase in new malware will require Indian parents to recalibrate on how to arm their children with best online practices ensuring safe online experiences for them.” said McAfee India VP of engineering – consumer and mobile Venkat Krishnapur.

    McAfee consumer marketing director (APAC) Melanie Duca said, “As a company, McAfee is dedicated to making the internet safe by providing resources to help educate and protect families. Our Cybermum initiative and cyber education program in Indian schools reinforce commitment towards this cause.”

    Across APAC, McAfee has developed a cyber education program, which is delivered to school-aged children by McAfee employee volunteers. The initiative has now been rolled out in India whereby McAfee is reaching out to Indian schools and will scale up the program over the next one year.  

    McAfee’s tweens & technology report 2013 was conducted through a survey administered across Indian online tweens aged 8-12 years old comprising 572 male and 428 female respondents from Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Delhi.

  • Komli Media raises $30 million to strengthen leadership position in Asia Pacific

    Komli Media raises $30 million to strengthen leadership position in Asia Pacific

    NEW DELHI: Komli Media, a digital media technology platform, recently announced that it has raised $30 million from new investor Peepul Capital.  

     

    Existing investors, Norwest Venture Partners, Nexus Venture Partners, Helion Venture Partners and Draper Fisher Jurvetson also participated in the funding. The company has raised funds to further invest in its key technology platforms and to strengthen its presence through integrated go to market solutions across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.

     

    “As digital advertising grows in a fast and fragmented manner, it has become critical for the industry to focus on delivering integrated solutions across social, mobile, display and video,” said Komli Media CEO Prashant Mehta. “We have already seen strong adoption of our integrated solution along with algorithmic trading. With the increased funding, we plan to deepen our focus on innovative technologies, such as real time bidding (RTB), to deliver significantly greater value to our customers.”  

     

    Komli Media has built market-leading technologies such as Remarketing on its proprietary ATOM platform that has scaled across regions by delivering strong ROI metrics in display, social and mobile. The company recently integrated ATOM into Facebook’s RTB (Real-Time-bidding) platform – Facebook Exchange (FBX), making it one of the first adoptees in the region.

     

    “We believe that India and southeast Asia are at an inflection point in embracing digital advertising. Komli is a leading player in these key markets and with its technology platform, wide product suite and exceptional leadership team, the company should consolidate its current position even further,” said Peepul Capital investment director Venkat Shankar.

     

    “Komli’s success story is demonstrated by a CAGR of 200 per cent achieved over the past three years driven by innovative platforms coupled with aggressive organic and inorganic investments.  With this round of funding, we expect to further capitalise on the massive market opportunity and also accelerate our growth,” said Komli Media CFO Rakesh Malani.

     

    Avendus Capital was the leading financial advisor to Komli Media on this transaction.

  • Yahoo APAC teams with Wharton Future of Advertising Program

    Yahoo APAC teams with Wharton Future of Advertising Program

    NEW DELHI: Yahoo Asia Pacific is collaborating with the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Future of Advertising Program (WFoA) to jointly develop an industry framework for native advertising, a rapidly emerging form of digital advertising. The framework will act as a guideline for maximising the effectiveness of native advertising.

    Online advertising is evolving with less obtrusive formats such as native ads, which have high engagement rates because they blend advertising seamlessly with the digital content environment. The collaboration between Yahoo and Wharton will include selective crowd-sourcing of ideas and innovations for native advertising, both online and through roundtable discussions with practitioners, thought leaders and social scientists globally. Wharton and Yahoo kick started the process by hosting an invitation-only roundtable recently in Singapore and discussed the future trends and likely direction of native advertising. Yahoo will also tap into the WFoA Global Advisory Board comprising more than 80 thought leaders from the world’s most innovative advertising agencies, technology companies and research institutes.

    “We‘re proud to be leading the discussion on the future of native advertising amongst advertisers, publishers and agencies to develop an industry framework around this emerging trend. Working together with Wharton, we will create a reference point on how native advertising is defined and measured in the marketplace,” said Yahoo India-SE Asia and head of advertising solutions Asia Pacific MD Yvonne Chang.

    Commenting on the partnership, Jerry Wind, Professor of Marketing at Wharton and Academic director of the Wharton Future of Advertising Program, said, “We are excited to work on such a groundbreaking venture with Yahoo.” He added, “At Wharton we have a deep and committed interest in the future of digital advertising and how it will evolve over the years to come. Our collaboration with the Yahoo team will strengthen the output of a native advertising framework by matching professional experience with our academic rigor.”

    According to industry reports, native advertising is the fastest growing segment of online advertising. eMarketer estimates that native ad spending in 2012 reached $1.63 billion and will increase to $2.85 billion by 2014.

  • VivaKi scales audience on demand in APAC through regional activation center

    VivaKi scales audience on demand in APAC through regional activation center

    MUMBAI: VivaKi continues the global expansion of audience on demand (AOD) and announced the launch of a regional activation center for Asia Pacific, based in Singapore. Following substantial growth of AOD and increasing global demand, the center will launch and aggressively scale Publicis Groupe’s addressable media practice throughout Asia Pacific. Grace Liau has been appointed to lead the operations as regional GM.

    AOD is Publicis Groupe’s multi-channel digital addressable media buying practice that enables global and local advertisers to reach the right audiences, at the right time, at scale, across all digital touchpoints in real-time. Combining the talent of some of the industry’s leading addressability experts along with industry-leading technology and data partnerships, AOD delivers data-driven display, video, social and mobile advertising buys for Publicis Groupe agencies including Starcom MediaVest Group, ZenithOptimedia, Razorfish and DigitasLBi.

    As one of the first entrants in the real time bidding marketplace, AOD is recognised as the most trusted solution in the industry. Globally, AOD has served more than 280 billion impressions across more than 110,000 campaigns for 2,283 advertisers in 23 countries.

    VivaKi country chair in southeast Asia Jeffrey Seah said: “Audience On Demand (AOD) is VivaKi‘s proprietary trading desk technology. It represents the epitome of laser-targeting consumers – a real-time matching of advertising inventory to consumer profiles. Just like programmatic trading in the financial stockbroking houses, AOD will bring an industrial-level of efficiency over “retail” media buying and will provide our agencies with the competitive advantage needed in our technology-infused industry.”

    The aim of the regional Activation Center is to proficiently scale the Groupe’s digital addressable media practice across Asia Pacific, whilst maintaining global consistency and the high standards AOD is synonymous with. Following highly successful beta testing of AOD across Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia this news also formally launches AOD in South East Asia.

    “AOD was built to provide clients with quality, service, safety and transparency in the programmatic space. Our commitment is to preserve these benefits even as we pursue an aggressive growth strategy. Establishing an activation center in Singapore, and installing a respected, experienced AOD expert at the helm, allows us to scale AOD in a vital region while ensuring the unique value proposition of the offering. Grace and her team will activate all the attributes of AOD, including the VivaKi Verified standards, which no other programmatic option can offer,” VivaKi CEO Frank Voris expounded.
    Originally from Singapore, Grace has spent the past 20 years living in Boston and transfers into her new role with a formidable track record in the online advertising sector. Grace is a digital marketing pioneer and was part of the original VivaKi team that launched AOD in 2008. Most recently at VivaKi, Grace has lead the Platforms Partnership team and the Ad Operations Center of Excellence (Ad Ops COE), an internal consultancy focused on establishing a community of world-class digital advertising professionals that develop and lead digital ad operations best practices across VivaKi.

    Prior to joining VivaKi, Grace headed up the Media Operations & Technology practice for Digitas where she was responsible for developing bespoke strategies for clients and leading their Advanced Targeting technologies work. Grace will transition into her new role at the beginning of October and will report into Kurt Unkel. Also joining the Activation Center team in Singapore is Stephen Tompkins as AOD Director. Stephen transferred to his new role in August and will be tasked with driving growth of AOD across the APAC network. Stephen joined VivaKi in 2011 as a platform expert and has been an instrumental part of the team. Most recently Stephen has been based in Beijing where he has been responsible for driving adoption of AOD across the region. Kurt Unkel, President, Products & Solutions for VivaKi comments: “Grace and Stephen are industry experts in addressable and programmatic media. Both have global experience, are proven collaborators which have made them instrumental to AOD’s success. They will preserve and enhance the benefits of AOD as we scale the offering and grow markets.” This news follows the recent announcement that VivaKi has launched an Activation Center in Amsterdam to proficiently scale AOD across Europe. A third regional activation center is currently being planned in China.

  • ABAI: KAVGC 2013 Summit concludes in Bangalore

    ABAI: KAVGC 2013 Summit concludes in Bangalore

    BENGALURU: The Karnataka Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (KAVGC) Summit organised by the Association of Bangalore Animation Industry (ABAI), in collaboration with the government of Karnataka concluded on Thursday 29 August 2013, ending two days of power packed sessions by Indian and international experts from the industry and the Karnataka state government.

     

    The first session on day two: the Business session on Technology was moderated by NVIDIA Country Head Vishal Dhupar and had Arul Moorthy, NVIDIA – GPU in the VFX Workflow Senior Applied Engineer Wil Braithwaite; Autodesk-Mental Ray Lead Animation AE in APAC Prem Moraes; HP – Shared Infrastructure, National Business Development Manager for Cloud Solutions R Balasubramanian and Wipro Technologies CTO of Global Media and Communication Business Jayanta Dey as co-panellists.

     

    This was followed by a session on AVGC in a Globally Connected World moderated by The Children’s Media Foundation, UK Director Greg Childs. The session had representatives from different parts of the world speaking about the facilities that their territories had to offer to the Indian AVGC industry. This included Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Senior Trade Commissioners from Canada, France, UK and Quebec (Canada).

     

    The session on Original Content Development moderated by Liquid Comics Founder Suresh Seetharaman had Walt Disney Television International India ex Director Content and Creative Arnab Chaudhuri; Technicolor Animation and Gaming Art Director Manoj Menon and Novo Juris – “How not to lose it” Sharda Balaji as co-panellists.

     

    One of the most interesting sessions was the Show and Tell Session that had the audience’s undivided attention. Arnab Chaudhuri the director of the Indian animated action film ‘Arjun the Warrior Prince’ (AWP) spoke of the making of the film. Chaudhuri revealed the various real life characters on which every character in his film was based, details about the sets, as well as shared some of the raw footage and sketches that resulted in the final product. One of the best animated products out from India, AWP was produced by UTV motion pictures and Walt Disney Pictures, with Chaudhuri as Director Content and Creative at Walt Disney Television International India.

     

    The summit culminated with a session on Education moderated by Dreamworks Dedicated Unit at Technicolor India Studio Head Adi Shayan. The other panellists were Dr. Ashish Kulkarni (CEO Reliance Animation) in his capacity as Ficci AVGC Forum, Governing Council Member and Ficci-MESC Initiatives for Skill Development; Asian Institute of Gaming and Animation (AIGA) Founder Hanif Mohammed; Native Puppets – Artists Perspective Founder Anand Baid, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, College of Fine Arts Director Dr. R Kulkarni; The Painted Sky Art Based Learning Approaches Executive Coach, Founder and Director Anirban Bhatrtacharya.

  • Vserv.mobi brings social sharing, A/B testing to HTML5 Mobile Ads

    Vserv.mobi brings social sharing, A/B testing to HTML5 Mobile Ads

    MUMBAI: Mobile ad network for app developers, publishers, advertisers and telecom providers Vserv.mobi has announced that it has strengthened its HTML5 rich media solution offering by introducing features of social sharing and A/B testing.

    The company further announced that it will offer free HTML5 creative services to allow marketers to discover the mobile medium. Through this end-to-end rich media offering, which includes ad creative development, distribution, social capabilities, analytics and measurement, the company will enable brands to leverage mobile rich media effectively.

    Vserv.mobi director – global marketing, product Binay Tiwari said, “Our rich media ad platform allows advertisers to create engaging moments that consumers love, and we have now natively built in social sharing options to enable ‘virality‘ of this engagement. The addition of A/B testing functionality makes running parallel campaigns a breeze, thereby allowing advertisers to experiment more and take more informed decisions based on real-time user engagement metrics. Our unique mobile rich media offering, combined with our premium full screen App media will allow advertisers to breathe life into their mobile ad campaigns.”

    IDC recently highlighted key milestones in the rapidly evolving mobile HTML5 space, suggesting that there will be more than 1 billion HTML5 mobile browsers in the market in 2013. HTML5 ads are already providing marketers with highly interactive, impactful and intuitive engagement methods such as touch, click, drag, scratch, 360 degree view functionalities, thus enabling consumers to experience a brand in a much more human and relevant way than ever before.

    Mindshare APAC regional digital leader Sanchit Sanga said, “We continue to see a surge in interest for rich media solutions from brands, and the Vserv.mobi rich media platform has allowed us to create unique and out-of-the-box HTML5 ads and mobile microsites. The additional capabilities of A/B testing and social sharing, will allow us to innovate with even lesser friction, to create brand experiences that mobile consumers absolutely love.”

  • ComScore beefs up senior management team in APAC

    ComScore beefs up senior management team in APAC

    MUMBAI: Kedar Gavane and Samantha Oh have been promoted as Senior Directors in ComScore, the marketing research company, as part of key appointments to strengthen the Asia Pacific team.

    Gavane was earlier designated as director at ComScore while Oh was heading the account management team in Asia.

    Kerry J Brown has joined as VP- Sales for Southeast Asia while Cai Fang has been appointed as VP- Sales for China and Kate Palmer as Account Director for Australia.

    Both Brown and Fand bring more than two decades of digital media experience to their new roles at ComScore.

    Along with these additions, two experienced comScore executives, Victor Cheng and Yosuke Maekawa, have been promoted to head Greater China and Japan respectively. In addition, Harry Guo came on board in 2012 as Director of ComScore Marketing Solutions for China.

    Joe Nguyen, ComScore senior vice president, APAC said, “Asia Pacific is an important, fast-growing region for ComScore and we are very excited to infuse our APAC team with some excellent new talent that will be able to build on our existing momentum. We look forward to continuing to bring our clients high-quality digital products and exceptional client support that deliver value for their businesses.

  • Sweden’s Com Hem to use SeaChange’s software platform for its VoD service

    Sweden’s Com Hem to use SeaChange’s software platform for its VoD service

    MUMBAI: SeaChange International, a global multi-screen video software company, has said that Swedish cable television operator, Com Hem, has selected the SeaChange Adrenalin video platform for its new Tivo service.

    Due for rollout later this year, Com Hem‘s new offering will include broadcast TV channels, VOD (video-on-demand), catch-up TV and start-over for DVB-based (Digital Video Broadcasting) TiVo set-tops, Lan set-tops, smartphones and tablets.

    Com Hem will use the Adrenalin video platform to integrate and manage a wide range of third-party components. These include TiVo‘s client solution and other third-party vendors in the ecosystem. SeaChange will provide its Professional Services to handle integration, customization and deployment.

    Com Hem manager R&D Jens Persson said, “Com Hem aims to offer subscribers the latest services in compelling bundles. With SeaChange‘s technology and services we can do that. The open Adrenalin architecture means we can integrate our existing equipment and systems effortlessly. And because it‘s easy to expand, the back office can grow as quickly as we do”.

    SeaChange SVP & GM Europe Middle East and Africa and APAC Andrei Noppe said, “We are delighted to support Com Hem in its rapid growth. Throughout Europe, customers come to SeaChange for our deep experience and expertise in on-demand service development. Our agreement with Com Hem marks continued expansion of SeaChange‘s strong presence in the Nordic and Baltic region, with customers from Denmark to Estonia.”

    About 40 per cent, or 1.75 million, of Sweden‘s households are connected to Com Hem‘s network. This gives them access to TV channels, HDTV and TV on Demand, as well as broadband and fixed line services. Com Hem is the latest European operator to choose SeaChange‘s next generation Adrenalin as a foundation for its VoD services.

    Adrenalin is based on an open service-oriented architecture which delivers a television experience that scales to serve millions of assets to any video device across multiple network types, either deployed in a network or in a hosted model. SeaChange‘s customers across Europe serve an estimated 36 million subscribers on televisions, PCs, tablets and mobile phones.

  • Komli Media restructures APAC team

    MUMBAI: Digital media technology network Komli Media has restructured its business teams to further accelerate growth and meet customers‘ needs.

    Komli Media India and North America managing director Gulshan Verma has been promoted to the role of Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and will be responsible for all of Komli‘s business P&L. This new CRO Organisation will consist of all the regional and business managing directors across Komli Media worldwide.
    Prior to this, Verma has served Komli Media for over two years as its Vice President and country head for India & North America.

    Komli Media co-founder of and Southeast Asia (SEA) managing director Akshay Garg will take on the new role heading strategy and business operations across Komli globally. Garg was earlier vice president, international, for nearly three years at Komli Media during which he led Komli‘s international growth and strategy across UK, Australia and SEA, successfully leading all our international acquisitions and growing the SEA business to being the largest independent media network in the region.

    Both will report to Komli Media CEO Prashant Mehta.

    The newly created CRO Organisation will focus on addressing the marketer‘s need for integrated media solutions including those leveraging Komli‘s proprietary ATOM real-time bidding and mobile platforms.

    The CRO Organisation will have several new additions. Mathew Ward has been promoted to Komli Media SEA while Pritesh Patel has been made Komli Media India & Middle East managing director. Matt Sutton has been promoted to Komli Engage and Play managing director. He will be responsible for Komli Media‘s Social and video solutions across all markets. Varsha Brajesh has been promoted to data & analytics director. All of them will join Komli Mobile vice president and managing director Amit Bhartiya and Komli Media Australia and New Zealand managing director Andrew Reid in the CRO Organisation.

    Mehta said, “I am delighted to announce the new CRO Organization and strategy and operations function at Komli Media. Consumer behavior is changing across desktop, mobile, social and video in our core markets and therefore the message from our customers is very clear – we need to have an integrated approach that enables our sales teams to cross-sell solutions. Addressing this immediate need, Komli Media created the CRO Organisation, responsible for maximizing revenues and margins across all regions and products. The need for a dedicated strategy, planning and business operations is equally key to Komli‘s ability to scale, improve alignment across units and sharpen focus on key strategic priorities. With the development of the CRO Organization and the Strategy function, we are well-poised to scale our business successfully across APAC.”

    Verma said, “Komli Media has grown by leaps and bounds through a combination of great technology, best publisher partners and a world-class team. I look forward to ensuring that we continue to successfully uphold our commitment towards clients across APAC.” Akshay Garg said, “Since its founding more than six years ago, Komli Media has experienced rapid growth to become the leading independent media network across the APAC region. In my new role, I‘m looking forward to optimizing our strategy, planning and operations functions to scale our business and increase market share across APAC.”