AdColony Archives - MARKETECH APAC

Singapore – Tom Simpson, former senior vice president for Asia-Pacific at AdColony, joins Anzu as its strategic advisor with a special focus on the APAC region itself.

He brings in vital experience working with brands and game publishers across Asia-Pacific to connect gaming and marketing opportunities. During his time at AdColony, he led the Asia-Pacific business, culminating in a sale to NASDAQ-giant Digital Turbine. Simpson also serves on the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) board in APAC.

Speaking on his appointment, he said, “I’m thrilled to partner with such a dynamic team and bring my passion for building strategic product and business relationships to help Anzu reach their next level of growth in this important region.”

He added, “Gaming is the fastest growing sector in media and marketing, meaning the play economy is hugely important right now. If work was the modus operandi for the industrial age, then play is how humanity creates value in the 21st century and beyond.”

Meanwhile, Anzu Co-Founder and CEO Itamar Benedy, commented, “We are thrilled to have Tom, who is also a good friend, on board and are excited to learn from his invaluable knowledge and insight into APAC’s gaming and advertising industries. Tom will focus on guiding the development of partnerships to further Anzu’s opportunities with brands and game publishers in this strategically important region, which boasts the largest gaming community in the world.”

Singapore – Global mobile video advertising company AdColony, which is now under Digital Turbine, has launched its new masterclass called the ‘Game Academy’ centered around the message of qualification courses focused on marketing solutions in gaming.

Through ‘Game Academy’, users will be able to access a series of bite-sized videos that are designed to effectively impart knowledge and insights related to gaming and mobile game advertising. The platform is free to use, and videos are accessible anytime on demand.

For the first series of the masterclass, topics include but are not limited to the boom in mobile usage, how gaming has redefined pop culture, and a breakdown of gamer personas. Upon completing each lesson, users will unlock a new badge. After successfully completing all lessons, graduates will receive a certificate which they may display on their LinkedIn profiles and resumes.

According to the company, the purpose of “Game Academy” is to give confidence and knowledge to marketers that play in the gaming and advertising space. They also added that whether they are exploring gaming advertising for the first time, or one needs a refresher before stepping into a critical meeting that discusses gaming advertising, Game Academy is designed to be an effective tool in learning about this new world.

“The launch of Game Academy’s first season marks a culmination of months of hard work by many stakeholders, it has already received some great feedback from our brand and agency partners, and we are now looking forward to welcoming many more students in Asia-Pacific,” the company said in a press statement.

Tom Simpson, senior vice president for APAC at AdColony, said, “Successful marketing has always been based on keeping as closely in step with consumers behaviours, but the explosion of gaming consumption means marketers are now racing to catch up with new habits, audiences, and channels. We are very excited to launch Game Academy to elevate how marketers think about gaming advertising and bring the industry as a whole one big step closer to consumers.”

He added, “Gaming has evolved from being a hobby reserved for a select few demographics, to a mainstream form of entertainment where everybody is a gamer of varying degrees. Gaming technology evolves at the speed of light, and advertisers cannot afford to simply play catch-up. The time is now for marketers to fully grasp every aspect of gaming.”

The first season of Game Academy is now available to marketers from any level and company in Asia-Pacific.

Singapore – AdColony, a gaming and esports mobile advertising company, has recently announced the launch of its newest product, ‘Social Ads’, in its bid to take existing campaigns that run on social media, such as image, carousel and video posts, and seamlessly place them within the mobile gaming environment.

Said product aims to target two objectives: offer a greater reach into Asia-Pacific’s wide and diverse mobile audiences, while minimizing brand safety risks of advertising on user-generated content, which is present within the social media ecosystem.

Part of the reason why said product is launched is due to the fact that it aims to cater advertisers that traditionally engage on social media and at a disadvantage when attempting to reach ‘social media dark audiences’ which are referred to as consumers with a presence on one platform but not on another or not on social media altogether, as well as people with ad blockers making up half of all internet users.

Mitchell Vaz, senior director strategy at AdColony, said, “We’re in an age where advertisers cannot categorise who is a social media user and who isn’t anymore, simply because everyone is a social media user of some sort. Gaming too offers this type of mass reach, ranging from hyper-casual gamers to hard-core esports fans.”

Furthermore in comparison to gaming, social media poses a higher threat to brand safety due to the presence of user-generated content. At the same time, much of users’ data is confined to the individual social media platform. Gaming, however, provides a brand-safe platform for advertisers to reach these consumers. Game environments offer advertisers greater insights into players’ behavioural data and prioritises viewability of the ads.

“As gamers ourselves, we fully understand the gaming experience. AdColony’s latest solution seamlessly integrates social media ads into the gameplay, resulting in an enhanced experience for the player. At the same time, we’re also on the side of advertisers. This has led to the creation of this product that amplifies reach and viewability of the ads, offering advertisers a smarter way to scale their brand campaigns while recording high levels of engagement among audiences who are immersed in the game,” Mitchell added.

Following the launch of this product, AdColony is already gearing up to launch a second phase, which brings shopability into these gaming ad units.

California, USA – Global media platform Digital Turbine has announced that it has recently entered a signing of definitive agreement in acquiring mobile game advertising platform AdColony, through its mother company Otello Inc.

The acquisition value was disclosed to a total of US$400M, and will add value to Digital Turbine through AdColony’s brand and user acquisition, as well as its publishing businesses to expand its collective experience, reach and suite of capabilities to benefit mobile advertisers and publishers around the globe.

“We look forward to welcoming the AdColony team to the Digital Turbine family and believe that this strategic transaction accelerates our growth and is a positive for our partners, advertisers, employees and shareholders. AdColony saw the secular tailwinds toward mobile, video and high-speed networks like 5G before most and has been able to capitalize on its vision,” said Bill Stone, CEO of Digital Turbine.

Meanwhile, Jude O’Connor, AdColony’s chief revenue officer commented, “Digital Turbine offers many complementary and additive solutions to AdColony’s performance business, while we bring an industry-leading SDK footprint and a mature and thriving brand and agency team to the partnership. When you combine the reach and capabilities of both companies, you have a powerful platform that will drive growth and outcomes for any buyer that participates in the mobile app economy.”

AdColony has a large presence in the Asia Pacific, also recently partnered with blended in-game advertising platform Anzu.io to expand presence in the region in November last year. AdColony has also recently won an exclusive sponsorship deal with mobile game Mobile Legends.

“We believe that Digital Turbine, with its massive user base, extensive global relationships and distribution, will be uniquely positioned to benefit via the seamless integration of AdColony’s mobile video advertising expertise and global brand advertiser awareness. The combination will yield a highly-differentiated and more vertically-integrated solution for the mobile advertising industry. We look forward to joining Digital Turbine to help navigate this innovation,” said Lars Boilesen, CEO of Otello and AdColony.

Singapore – Mobile ad platform AdColony has announced that it has struck a sponsorship deal with the popular mobile game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang through a partnership with Mana, a Singapore-based gaming and esports brand consultancy firm.

The partnership entails AdColony to offer brands in Southeast Asia a streamlined approach to sponsorship and advertising in esports alongside their investment in gaming. In addition, brands who wish to amplify its presence with mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) esports can turn to AdColony as a one-stop shop, powered by its comprehensive expertise and offering in in-app advertising.

Furthermore, AdColony’s integrated advertising technology platform allows targeting and retargeting of consumers between esports and gaming properties, meaning brands can reach audiences at multiple different points of the marketing funnel, across different ad types and formats, even bringing e-commerce into play.

For Tom Simpson, SVP at AdColony APAC, their recent sponsorship deal will allow them to be “hyper-focused on connecting brands with consumers across gaming and esports”, noting that “this partnership is an important pillar for 2021.”

“Mobile Legends is one of the key games to unlock the esports market in Southeast Asia. This partnership with Moonton enables us to help brands interact more easily with the growing passionate and engaged mobile esports audience alongside their ongoing investments in broader gaming-focused advertising and communications,” Simpson said.

Such sponsorship deals speak to a larger demand brought by the esports industry nowadays. It is estimated that by 2023, it is expected that the number of frequent viewers of esports worldwide will hit almost 300 million, a vast increase from the 173 million in 2018. In addition, a report by consultancy firm McKinsey addresses the monetary growth in the esports industry as it has gone from $950 million in industry revenue in 2019 to an expected $1.1 billion after 2020.

AdColony notes that mobile tech and handset manufacturers, male grooming, soft drinks, and snacks are the most common and active brands in esports at the moment, and price wars have been prevalent in markets such as Vietnam and Indonesia for premium esports rights, as brands are willing to pay a premium to lock out their competitors for extended periods.

“AdColony aims to simplify this process of esports rights and sponsorships price discovery and sponsorship for brands,” Simpson said, noting that many of these esports sponsorship opportunities get locked out due to competition.

Esports tournaments are still in demand, and have migrated online due to the offset of last year’s pandemic. According to Moonton, the game developer behind Mobile Legends, viewership levels in 2020 have set a record level in Indonesia, peaking at over 2.8 million concurrent viewers with over 67 million hours watched in total. The Philippines MPL also reportedly had a peaked viewership of over 757,000 concurrent viewers and over 21 million total hours watched.

“This partnership with Moonton comes hot on the heels of the news that AdColony and Mana, the Singapore-based gaming and esports brand consultancy firm that connects brands with the gaming and esports industries, has teamed up to help brands simplify the way they can get involved in the global gaming and esports ecosystem”, commented Jamie Lewin from Mana.

In November 2020, AdColony also signed an exclusive partnership with global in-game advertising platform, Anzu, to offer Anzu’s market-leading blended in-game advertising solutions across both display and video to brands and agencies in Asia Pacific.

Singapore – More consumers in the Asia-Pacific are doing their holiday shopping on their mobile devices, a new survey from mobile advertising AdColony shows.

Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand have the highest share of consumers that prefer to make purchases on their smartphones, as the majority of the country respondents clocked 94%, 93% and 91% respectively.

^{AdColony infographic of mobile shopping in the Philippines}

Respondents from Thailand (88%), Malaysia (86%), and the Philippines (84%) stated they prefer to shop in-app rather than use a mobile browser. On average, APAC shoppers showed 73% majority of showing the same consumer behavior.

Purchases related to seeing an advertisement online are also relevant to the majority of APAC consumers, as Indonesia (92%), Malaysia and the Philippines (89%), and Singapore (85%) showed majority of such behavior.

^{AdColony infographic of mobile shopping in Malaysia}

In terms of what matters most for consumers’ shopping experience on mobile devices, an average of 52% said that easy payment process matters, as evident by the majority of respondents from Thailand (60%), Indonesia (59%), the Philippines (55%) and Malaysia (54%).

Japan (50%), Australia (53%) and Indonesia (56%) said that gifting this holiday should be done via shipping the gift directly to the receiver, while Malaysia (58%) and Thailand (52%) said that they will do the exchange gifting after the gift shipment has arrived.

^{AdColony infographic of mobile shopping in Singapore}

Meanwhile, online ordering, accompanied with concurrent home delivery still ranks as the top choice of shopping for today’s APAC consumers, garnering an average of 85% of all the respondents. Also, 55% of the respondents state that better deals are the prime reason why they shop online, evident by consumer behavior from Malaysia (70%), Singapore (62%) and Thailand (56%).

Singapore – A new exclusive partnership has been formed between ad platforms AdColony and Anzu.io, which entails AdColony to offer Anzu.io’s in-blend advertising solutions across both video and display to brands and agencies within the Asia Pacific.

The new partnership now allows seamless advertising to games such as custom-paint Formula One race cars or virtual perimeter of an in-game football studio, where brands can now create deeper levels of engagement with the gaming community.

Screenshot from Samsung in-game advertising campaign inside Axis Football (Credit: Anzu.io)

Alongside the partnership is a suite of industry tools, which includes campaign effectiveness measurement, fraud prevention, and ad verification for the first time to bring to fruition the in-game advertising integration.

According to their press release, more than 1.5 billion consumers in Asia Pacific are gamers, where70 percent play games daily on their mobiles. Furthermore, 40 percent claim to play more games since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Screenshot of an in-game ad from 7-Eleven mobile campaign in Gravity Rider Zero (Credit: Anzu.io)

“We passionately believe that gaming is the new and improved social media for marketers in terms of connecting with consumers at scale. This opportunity has been accelerated in recent months with the pandemic, and 2020 has seen an enormous uplift in the demand for new solutions for brands to reach gaming audiences,” said Tom Simpson, AdColony’s senior vice president for APAC.

He also added, “This partnership allows AdColony’s expertise in APAC markets to combine with Anzu’s global-leading blended in-game ad technology to offer a unique solution for brands to connect with consumers seamlessly in and around their favorite games. We look forward to pioneering new marketing offerings for our clients and delivering great work across APAC.”

Anzu’s CEO and Co-founder Itamar Benedy commented, “APAC is really the epicenter of worldwide gaming, and Anzu is thrilled to bring the combination of our programmatic in-game advertising experience with AdColony’s offerings to the region. This partnership represents a major opportunity for advertisers who are ready and eager to reach these ultra-engaged audiences.”

Singapore – AdColony, the in-app marketplace for brands with a focus on gaming, has named industry veteran Adrian Watkins as its new director for marketing and growth in APAC.

With 20 years of global experience leading growth and marketing for publishers, agencies, and their brands, Watkins was most recently chief strategy officer for media site theAsianparent. He also previously assumed the role of commercial director for world-leading gaming destination IGN Entertainment, where he scaled international revenues through expanding the commercial offerings and teams, as well as eCommerce and content syndication partnerships.

Watkins said that in 2020, gaming has already reached more consumers than any other medium, putting it at the forefront of a brand’s marketing armory for reaching women and men of all socio-demographics.

“Mobile gaming right now feels like when social media exploded to become the new must-have marketing channel 15 years ago. Gaming is now at this same intersection. If a brand is not embracing gaming as a marketing channel, it is missing out [on many] potential customers,” he said.

He added, “Joining AdColony was an easy decision as it is perfectly placed to deliver award-winning custom solutions to brands who now realize they need to play in this space.”

Meanwhile, AdColony SVP for APAC Tom Simpson commented, “Adrian understands the massive opportunity around mobile gaming, and brings a calm, strategic and entrepreneurial approach to AdColony, which will allow us to grow exponentially. 2021 is shaping up to be a standout year!”