‘Fast-track Asia’ Main Driver of Global Ad Spend; Blismedia Working to Add “3rd Dimension” to Location Data

In this weekly segment, ExchangeWire sums up key industry updates on ad tech from around the Asia-Pacific region – and in this edition: 'Fast-track Asia' main driver of global ad spend; Blismedia working to add 'third dimension' to location data; BrightRoll Marketplace rolls into Hong Kong data centre; and King Content opens Hong Kong office.

'Fast-track Asia' main driver of global ad spend

Global ad spend is projected to grow 4.2% to hit US$531bn in 2015, climbing by another 5% in 2016, when growth will be driven by the 2016 Summer Olympics and US presidential elections.

The fastest growth in ad expenditure will come from the 'Fast-track Asia' region, according to ZenithOptimedia's latest Advertising Expenditure Forecasts, which includes China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

These economies are expected to see rapid growth as stakeholders increasingly adopt the industry's best business practices and technology; and tap a growing pool of funds from investors.

ZenithOptimedia said: "This region is the main engine of global ad spend growth, and we forecast it to expand by 9.1% per year between 2014 and 2017. The star performers are India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam; each of which we forecast to grow at double-digit rates over this period."

Worldwide, ad spend will growth by 4.3% in 2017, predicts the marketing agency.

It further noted that the internet was fast becoming the dominant ad delivery medium, and tipped to overtake TV by the end of this decade. The online platform was already the leading ad medium in seven markets last year, including Australia and the UK, and would dominate another five by 2017, including China, Germany, and New Zealand.

Across these 12 markets, the internet medium would account for 28% of overall ad spend worldwide in 2017, ZenithOptimedia revealed. TV, however, would remain the leading medium ahead of the internet, although the gap between both media would narrow to four percentage points in 2017, from 11 this year.

In addition, mobile ads would be the main growth driver for the internet, accounting for 70% of ad spend growth worldwide between 2014 and 2017. It also would generate 12.9% of global ad spend in 2017, compared to 5.1% last year.

ZenithOptimedia Worldwide CEO Steve King said: "The internet is quickly establishing itself as the dominant advertising medium; and on current trends, it will overtake television by the end of the decade.

"However, this refers only to traditional television viewed on TV sets. The amount of time viewers spend watching online video on their laptops, tablets, and smartphones is increasing rapidly, and advertisers are shifting their budgets online to follow them," King noted. He added that the growing adoption of web-connected devices and new ad technology would offer opportunities for advertisers to better communicate with consumers.

Blismedia working to add third dimension to location data

The ad tech and data company is looking to stack up on 'height' or altitude in its location tracking capabilities, touting the additional parameter to provide more context and accuracy into audience behaviour.

Blismedia CEO Greg Isbister said: "Location isn't simply about where you are at any given time. It's also about the context of what you have done or are doing right now, and how you are interacting with your environment. We all think and see in three dimensions, so why not measure location in 3D too? That's the simple idea behind what we are developing."

The technology, however, is currently still in the research and development stage, though Isbister believes it can be commercialised quickly.

When ready for commercial applications, Blismedia said it would provide an SDK (software development kit) to help app developers and publishers extract and analyse data from barometric sensors, which are usually embedded in new smartphones, via mobile apps downloaded on the device. Similar sensors also are used in devices such as smart watches and other wearables.

Altitude data could pave the way to target consumers in creative ways, specifically in high-rise and highly dense cities.

"This could be hugely relevant for companies who are looking to understand the movement of consumers in high-density cities like Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo, London, or New York, where someone is likely to live, work, and shop in buildings that are many stories high, and where location based on two dimensions isn't accurate enough," Isbister explained.

"With mobiles, tablets, and now wearable devices, the currency of context is growing exponentially. This means gathering and analysing more kinds of data as we become more connected to the environments we move in," he said. "This creates more ways for advertisers to understand the context of device movement and behaviour and cutting edge companies will find smart ways of using this insight."

App publishers and developers also can generate additional revenue by allowing Blismedia to monetise the location data generated via its SDK.

BrightRoll Marketplace rolls into Hong Kong

The programmatic video ad tech provider has inked a deal with datacenter operator, Equinix, to roll out its platform in Hong Kong.

A division of Yahoo, which acquired the company last year, BrightRoll said this would enable advertisers in Asia-Pacific to access the BrightRoll Marketplace via their DSPs and bid on inventory from publishers in this region, including Yahoo.

Hosting its platform in Equinix's Hong Kong data centre would reduce network latency, providing quicker response time in bidding. Publishers that connect to the new data centre would also be able to tap new demand sources and reduce waste, BrightRoll said. It added that ad viewing latency would be reduced by 50 percent, providing a better user experience for consumers in the Asia-Pacific region. Its platform handles more than 100 billion inventory requests per month globally.

The ad tech vendor said running its platform in the Hong Kong data centre would provide a robust infrastructure to support growing demand for programmatic video ads in the region.

Equinix's Hong Kong managing director Alex Tam said: "In a city where the internet penetration rate reaches over 73 percent, we've seen a growing number of content and digital advertising companies deploying in Equinix's Hong Kong data centres in a bid to accelerate data exchange and achieve high performance."

King Content opens Hong Kong office

The content marketing agency has opened its second Asian office in the territory, which will support its clients' Chinese content requirements and service the local clientele.

The Hong Kong office is its sixth global outfit, joining others in London and New York, and will report to the company's Asia head office in Singapore.

King Content's Asia commercial director Peter Bakker said: "Since launching our Asian operations we have been servicing a multitude of Hong Kong and northern Asian clients. With demand forecast to grow drastically over the next few months, a local presence has become a crucial requirement for us."

The regional offices also will support its global clientele, which include McDonald's and LinkedIn, Bakker said.

King Content CEO Craig Hodges added that these MNCs were starting to tap the Chinese market, making it necessary to establish presence in Hong Kong.