Programmatic in-app advertising helps drive brand affinity, customer engagement in APAC - study

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 16 -- PubMatic, a sell-side platform that delivers superior outcomes for digital advertising, has released the findings from a custom commissioned Forrester Consulting study entitled ‘The State Of Programmatic In-App Advertising In APAC’.

The study, which surveyed 472 advertising decision makers in China, Singapore, India, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, uncovers several significant findings.

“The findings from this study are consistent with our perspective that the opportunity for programmatic in-app is enormous for both media buyers and developers,” said Director Publisher Development Southeast Asia, Greater China and Korea, and Mobile App (APAC) at PubMatic, Lashanne Phang.

“Given that the challenges raised by advertisers are focused on data privacy and targeting, app developers should consider working with an SSP with strong targeting capabilities, that also understands regional and global data privacy regulations.”

As advertising budgets in APAC shift towards digital media, mobile in-app has emerged as the preferred digital channel, securing the highest percentage of budget allocation over the next 12 months – 20 per cent vs. 17 per cent for mobile web, 16 per cent for connected TV (CTV) and 15 per cent for desktop.

Within this channel, buyers are increasingly embracing programmatic as a critical part of media plans, according to a statement.

The study finds that 80 per cent of APAC advertisers / media buyers use programmatic in-app advertising in digital media plans frequently or every time. Increasingly, this spend is being used to drive longer-term goals such as brand alignment and customer engagement.

According to the study, APAC advertisers reported their top reasons to invest in programmatic in-app are: to extend reach (74 per cent); better customer engagement (73 per cent); advertising buying efficiency (73 per cent); and, brand alignment (72 per cent).

Despite the benefits of programmatic in-app advertising, some challenges remain for advertisers. In particular, advertisers have concerns around data privacy and targeting: 39 per cent have concerns about data privacy limiting data collection; 37 per cent have concerns about the impact of IDFA changes on optimisation; and, 36 per cent have concerns about effective targeting.

-- BERNAMA