Indonesia – Three in five consumers in Indonesia are planning to spend more than Rp 3 million+ on Ramadan shopping this year, a research report by InMobi and Glance revealed. 

The survey report showed that Ramadan celebrations are set to reach new heights this year, as 60% of survey respondents said they plan to increase their online shopping budgets, while 41% intend to increase their offline shopping expenditures. 

With digital channels now having a stronger hold on consumers, the report places emphasis on the importance of brands utilising a mobile-first approach pre-Ramadan period. 

In fact, the survey report revealed that a staggering 97% of consumers in the country now rely on their smartphones for research and are swayed by app-driven promotions when making purchasing choices. Additionally, over 73% of consumers depend on their mobile devices for making purchases. 

A major reason that mobile shopping has been on the rise in recent years is because it offers easy payments, app-only special offers, and free shipping. Though shopping in stores allows people to see or try products and avoid buying the wrong item, mobile is still by far the biggest platform for research (97%), followed by physical stores (62%), and just 34% on desktop.

These results underscore the importance of leveraging cutting-edge mobile marketing technologies and focusing on top content categories like news, games, and video for brands to deliver experiences that can establish stronger connections with consumers.

A part of the report highlighted brands that effectively utilised the smart lock screen in the market. An example of this is the campaign for Indofood Freiss, which successfully reached the 102% coupon redemption target by capitalising on awareness generated through the smart lock screen. 

InMobi and Glance’s report also looked through who and what consumers plan to shop for this Ramadan season, revealing that the spirit of giving is alive this year. 

The report showed that while more than half, or 57%, of Indonesians are shopping for themselves, there are also spending priorities given to their family, neighbours, and charity. Furthermore, household staff, business partners, and clients are in line for festive generosity as well.

Items like clothing and accessories (89%), groceries (71%), and gift packs (70%) are expected to be the top purchases, with clothing, health and beauty products, and gadgets most frequently bought on mobile. Meanwhile, Indonesians prefer to shop in physical stores for groceries, gift packs, and vehicles.

There are three types of shoppers in Indonesia that brands should be aware of for this season. The unplanned shoppers (17%) are mainly undecided on products and brands; thus, they are more keen to explore the biggest deals and are more likely to be older consumers, with 61% having budgets under Rp 3 million. 

Meanwhile, the category explorers (68%) are those who have already decided on products but are still actively exploring which brands. These are more likely to be younger consumers, with 59% having budgets over Rp 3 million.

Lastly, there are the brand lovers (15%) who have already decided on brands and are loyal to their favourites. Consumers in this segment are typically older, with 45% having budgets over Rp 5 million. 

Aside from shopping, everyone can also expect the Mudik movement, as the report recorded that 74% of travelling Indonesians plan to take a trip to visit loved ones who live in their hometowns or outside.

A travel wave is expected, as 41% plan to travel in the last week of Ramadan, just days before Idul-Fitri, while a further 20% will travel on the actual holiday. Only 22% of Indonesians are planning to travel ahead of the month of Ramadan or at the start.

Vasuta Agarwal, chief business officer at InMobi Group, stated, “There’s no denying the central role of smartphones in influencing purchasing decisions among consumers in Indonesia. To win in this market, brands must engage with their audience through seamless, single-tap mobile experiences and state-of-the-art technologies that are built to foster meaningful brand-consumer connections.”

She added, “One such technology is the Glance smart lock screen, which empowers consumers to discover premium, personalised content directly on their smartphone lock screen without the need for unlocking, downloading, or searching. With Glance, brands in Indonesia are achieving remarkable success, driving deep and seamless engagement with consumers even before they unlock their phones.”

Singapore – Southeast Asia(SEA) is among the world’s fastest-growing digital regions, with at least 90% of the region’s population being avid smartphone users, according to marketing and monetisation technologies provider InMobi’s latest report on mobile marketing, which further stated that mobile usage in SEA surpasses that of North America and Europe.

Notably, data from InMobi’s report shows that the activities of Southeast Asians as mobile consumers frequently revolve around tuning in to live streams for games and shopping, playing mobile games, using super apps, and utilising lock screen apps.

In the case of live streaming, live streaming games has been in a constant rise in SEA, with an annual growth rate of 10.23%, indicating a potential market volume of $830 million by 2028. On the other hand, live commerce is also making waves, with 50% of SEA consumers tuning in to livestream shopping sales at least once a week. In the Philippines, it was also observed that 60% of consumers have been shopping from live streams as early as 2021.

For mobile gaming, the report predicted that 246.9 million Southeast Asians will be gaming by 2027, with a market penetration rate of 34.7% across various types of games. This interest in gaming is further amplified with the inclusion of esports as an official sport for the Asian games.

Additionally, super apps are also continuing to grow as a key trend in the region. The sheer amount of services provided by these apps have allowed it to become a multi-billion dollar market in SEA, indicating a growing appetite in Southeast Asians to access multiple experiences in a single app destination.

Lastly, smartphone lock screen apps such as Glance are now emerging in usage. For instance, in Indonesia, 30 million Glance active users are discovering personalised content, single tap gaming, news, live experiences and more, directly on their lock screen, without the friction of unlock, download, search.

With these key themes in mind, InMobi says that the current state of mobile consumers in SEA allow for many significant opportunities for integration by brands and marketers, especially in the aforementioned trends and apps where most SEA consumers spend most of their time.

Talking about the results, Vasuta Agarwal, chief business officer of InMobi Group, said, “In 2024, mobile transcends its role as a mere brand messaging platform, transforming into a gateway for immersive experiences, personalized interactions and engagement. In this dynamic landscape, key touchpoints like the smartphone lock screen have emerged as pivotal frontiers for marketers.”

“As emphasized in our Mobile Marketing Handbook 2024, success hinges on establishing a presence on these surfaces to build early connections with consumers, delivering immersive experiences and driving engagement innovatively. Utilizing generative AI for customized content, and adeptly navigating privacy regulations are also vital,” she added.

Singapore – This upcoming holiday season, spending amongst Southeast Asian shoppers will be skyrocketing, according to a study conducted by marketing and monetisation technologies provider InMobi, which surveyed 1,000 smartphone users in Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines.

Data from the study suggests that 60% of respondents said that they will be increasing their budgets for online shopping for the season, which also means that 90% will increase or maintain online shopping budgets when compared to 2022.

On the other hand, the majority (73%) of respondents plan to hybrid shop this holiday season, with mobile being the preferred medium at every phase of the shopper’s journey whether they are online or offline.

Shoppers cite app-only discounts and convenience as the top-two reasons they turn to mobile, with 86% of shoppers in Southeast Asia using mobile for exploring; 81% choosing mobile to make the final purchase; and 63% use mobile to search for products.

The study also identifies three buyer personas, the category explorers (58%) who have decided on products to shop but not brands, the bargain hunters (29%) who seek incentives before they make their purchases, and the brand lovers (13%) who know both the products and the brands they want. 

Interestingly, there is a sharp rise in the number of category explorers compared to the previous year, when only four in ten shoppers used to fall in this category. This means more Southeast Asian shoppers are keeping their eyes open than before as they shortlist which products and brands to choose.

Furthermore, other notable insights from the report show that over half of Southeast Asian consumers showed a tendency to shop on their phones after 4pm, and that single-digit and double-digit shopping festivals are record breakers, showing that they continue to be the most anticipated and popular sale events of the year for Southeast Asia’s shoppers.

Lastly, fashion and accessories, gadgets, and personal care products including cosmetics are items that are most likely to be bought online, whilst items such as jewellery, home appliances, gift packs, and holiday-focused groceries, will likely be browsed or purchased offline.

Talking about the results, Rishi Bedi, managing director, Asia Pacific, at InMobi, said, “Traditionally, Southeast Asia is a region where physical stores have played a prominent role. While our study found that stores are still important for shoppers here, it is exciting for us to note that more consumers are planning to use mobile as well during their shopping journey, and in fact, it is playing a dominant role.”

“With the excitement for the end-of-year shopping festivals and an appetite for exploring brands and products being at an all-time high, it is essential for marketers and retailers to be present effectively throughout Southeast Asia’s shopping journey,” he added.

Singapore – Marketing and monetisation technologies provider InMobi, unveiled InMobi Addressability Gradient, a platform designed to support marketers throughout the transition from identity-centric targeting to new solutions that have limited consumer identity signals.

InMobi’s AI-powered platform aims to mark a significant stride forward in addressing the challenges posed by the ever-evolving landscape of digital advertising through its personalisation and other campaign enhancing features.

Delving into said features, the Gradient enables advertisers to navigate the evolving complexities of data privacy, user consent and personalised targeting. Fueled by InMobi’s ID Graph, the Gradient provides advertisers with an adaptable playbook and visual roadmap for addressability, offering a wide spectrum of options that seamlessly align with changing consumer behaviours.

From precise ID-based targeting to privacy-conscious ID-less approaches, the Gradient also empowers advertisers to personalise content while upholding data privacy and user content. Spanning from personalised 1:1 targeting and household amplification to inventive privacy-compliant techniques like cohort audiences, modelled audiences, contextual targeting and bidstream amplification.

Lastly, the Gradient can enhance campaigns by integrating a variety of identifiers like mobile advertising identifiers (MAIDs) and interoperability with people-based identifiers including LiveRamp’s RampID. By leveraging the ID Graph, this bid augmentation strategy ensures precise targeting, boosted further by the ID Graph’s connections between users with shared interests. For ID-less solutions, InMobi leverages SDK and contextual signals to broaden addressability without compromising consumer privacy.

Todd Rose, senior vice president of addressability at InMobi, said, “In the evolving landscape of ad tech, the ability to understand audience signals and use them to enhance media strategies and creative executions has become increasingly refined; by embracing the Gradient, advertisers can continue to deliver relevant, effective, and privacy-conscious advertising experiences to consumers.”

“The Gradient empowers advertisers to optimise their campaigns, achieve unparalleled precision, and unlock the full potential of addressability in the ever-changing world of digital advertising,” he added. 

Singapore – Marketing and monetisation technologies provider InMobi has announced its strategic partnership with climate action programme Ad Net Zero to strengthen its commitment to developing more sustainable advertising practices. 

The partnership comes as InMobi recognises the growing importance of including sustainability in business decisions. 

The tech company’s resolute commitment to sustainability aligns with Ad Net Zero’s mission to revolutionise the advertising landscape through decarbonisation initiatives spanning ad production, distribution, and publication.

By joining forces, InMobi will align its future actions with Ad Net Zero’s five-step plan designed to minimise the carbon footprint of advertising. The organisation’s five-step plan highlights the need to reduce the carbon emissions coming from media and advertising production and operations. 

This partnership also builds on InMobi’s sustainability commitments to the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), Givsly, and AdTechCares. It recognises the significance of demonstrating sustainability efforts to both its existing clients and potential partners. 

Further highlighting their commitment to sustainable ad practices, the company is putting the spotlight on their InMobi Exchange. The platform is powered by Microsoft Azure, which boasts complete carbon neutrality.

The data gleaned from the Microsoft Azure Impact Emissions Dashboard showcases InMobi’s impressive emission reduction metrics, ranking them in the top fifth percentile compared to average server emission factors.

The server usage also demonstrated a remarkable 80–90% higher green efficiency compared to alternative on-premise solutions, even high-efficiency ones. And direct SDK integrations, when paired with machine learning, have driven emission reductions of up to 30%.

Kunal Nagpal, chief business officer at InMobi, said, “InMobi’s partnership with Ad Net Zero symbolises our dedication to ushering in a more sustainable era for the advertising industry.”

“We are proud to stand alongside fellow tech companies and agencies, united in the pursuit of a greener, more responsible future. By fully embracing Ad Net Zero’s comprehensive plan, we are steadfast in our commitment to minimising our environmental impact while advancing the power of advertising,” he continued.

Commenting on the partnership, Rishi Bedi, managing director at InMobi Asia Pacific, also said, “Our partnership with Ad Net Zero strengthens and accelerates InMobi’s commitment to creating a more sustainable advertising ecosystem.”

He added, “By embracing Ad Net Zero’s comprehensive five-step plan, InMobi will be able to further reduce carbon emissions, minimising our environmental impact while advancing the power of advertising across the globe.”

Meanwhile, John Osborn, director at Ad Net Zero U.S., said, “Ad Net Zero is thrilled to work with InMobi as they support more sustainable advertising solutions, contributing to our collective global impact. InMobi’s commitment is another significant step towards an eco-friendly future for the industry.”

Singapore – InMobi, a global provider of content monetisation and marketing technologies, has announced the acquisition of Quantcast Choice, a consent management platform (CMP) designed to help publishers seamlessly align with the rapidly changing global privacy regulations.

This strategic acquisition reinforces InMobi’s commitment to bolstering its privacy management platform for mobile app and web publishers, encouraging them to navigate the dynamic and intricate privacy landscape.

In a time where a proven CMP often results in lost opportunities for publishers, Quantcast Choice is said to support more than 500 Google-Certified, 800 IAB-approved vendors, and non-certified vendors specific to publishers’ needs, helping publishers increase monetisation, higher fill rates, and sometimes up to a 35% boost in eCPMs in certain regions.

 As part of the acquisition, InMobi will uphold the platform’s free availability for existing customers and remains committed to extending this promise to both existing and new customers. 

Speaking on the acquisition, Kunal Nagpal, chief business officer at Inmobi Advertising, said, “Quantcast Choice is a gold standard for thousands of Web publishers; we are excited to build and extend its benefits to the 40,000 mobile apps that currently work with InMobi. This acquisition allows us to bring the power of a proven world-class CMP into the in-app ecosystem where the challenges remain enormous and unresolved.”

Meanwhile, Peter Day, chief technology officer at Quantcast, commented, “InMobi understands the needs of publishers and we’re delighted that this market leading CMP will continue to be available as a free solution. We remain committed to our customers and have formed a close partnership with InMobi to ensure a seamless transition.”

Singapore InMobi, a leading provider of content, marketing, and monetization technologies, has announced the appointment of Susannah Llewellyn as its vice president of agency partnerships for Asia Pacific to drive its strategic growth with key media agency partners whilst holding companies in the region.

Llewellyn brings with her an experience working across media, technology and digital space. Before joining InMobi, she worked as business agency director at Google. She has also served as international and regional business director at media agency MEC.

Rishi Bedi, managing director for Asia Pacific at InMobi, said that Llewellyn is appropriate for the role due to her adtech and agency background, which is an advantage to drive their growth in APAC through localised go-to-market strategies across our global platforms.

“My depth of experience across the various facets of the media industry including AdTech, agency, and digital marketing will bring valuable insight to my new role at InMobi,” Llewellyn added.

Last month, InMobi also named Aditya Varadarajan as its regional head of the newly expanded Microsoft business in Southeast Asia.

Singapore – InMobi, a leading provider of content, marketing, and monetization technologies, has appointed Aditya Varadarajan as the regional head for its newly expanded partnership with Microsoft Advertising in Southeast Asia to strengthen the in-market presence and enhance relationships with strategic and enterprise clients. 

Varadarajan’s remit also includes helping brands and agencies maximise impact from the multitude of Microsoft advertising products and solutions.

He will be based in Singapore and expand the regional sales team across the key markets such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. His team will also be responsible for sales, account management, client servicing, and billing in the region.

Varadarajan brings with him an extensive background in handling account management, digital marketing, affiliate marketing, and data analysis. Before joining InMobi, he worked with brands including Google, WalkingTree, and Madhura Agro where he specialised in performance and brand marketing.

Rohit Dosi, vice president and general manager for Microsoft Advertising business at InMobi said that they are delighted to welcome Varadarajan as their regional head in the newly expanded business whilst looking forward to enabling the advertising ecosystem across Southeast Asia, one of the focus markets with growth potential for InMobi and Microsoft Advertising.

In 2022, it can be noted that InMobi and Microsoft have expanded their partnership in Southeast Asia to support enterprise and strategic advertisers in the region.

Singapore – InMobi, global provider of mobile marketing and monetisation technologies, has announced its new industry-first, proprietary programmatic bidder to better drive iOS app performance for growth marketers without relying on user-level identifiers. Complementing InMobi’s traditional demand-side platform (DSP), the pioneering automated bidder is built from the ground up to rely solely on privacy-safe data signals when optimising programmatic media buys, whilst leveraging Apple’s SKAdNetwork (SKAN) attribution framework. 

Apple’s release of SKAN 4.0 brings more insights into campaign performance, unlocking even more powerful optimisation and measurement capabilities—creating renewed optimism amongst performance marketers for the future of iOS app growth. With more than half of digital dollars now earmarked for mobile—now 68% of all digital spend—InMobi aims to help marketers invest in understanding and maximising SKAN 4.0 with a purpose-built solution to thrive in the privacy-first era.

“SKAN 4.0 is especially relevant for Southeast Asia markets that heavily rely on iOS devices as they offer a privacy-focused solution for mobile app performance advertising on iOS,” said Rishi Bedi, managing director at InMobi

“With iOS devices being increasingly adopted in the region, it is imperative that advertisers are able to utilise solutions to provide accurate reporting while adhering to iOS privacy policies. In Southeast Asia, we have leveraged our early investment in SKAN 4.0 to pioneer privacy-focused innovation that avoids user-level identifiers for effective data collection and to shape the future of mobile app performance advertising,” he added. 

Since the rollout of SKAN 2.0 in 2020, InMobi has been handling audience targeting and campaign optimisation at a large scale, without relying on Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) due to robust testing on Limited Ad Tracking (LAT) users in iOS. With the accelerating cadence of SKAN improvements, advertisers are shifting more budget towards SKAN-compliant campaigns, which now represent nearly 80% of iOS spending on InMobi’s DSP. 

“When Apple first announced ATT and SKAdNetwork, it added complexity for marketers and we saw a clear opportunity to expand our suite of mobile app performance offerings to power media buying and optimization in this new privacy-first world,” commented Navin Madhavan, vice president of revenue and operations for InMobi Demand Platforms.

“Working closely with our most innovative clients, we developed deep expertise on Apple’s privacy-preserving attribution framework across our media buying, product, engineering and data science teams. The result is a proprietary solution that helps leading app growth marketers consistently exceed their KPIs on iOS while adhering to Apple’s strict privacy parameters,” added Madhavan. 

InMobi’s DSP is integrated with leading mobile ad exchanges and its new SKAN specialised bidder supports all currently released versions of Apple’s attribution framework, including the new 4.0 version. SKAN 4.0 has been developed to deliver campaign performance insights more rapidly, frequently, and with higher granularity than previous versions.

Some notable enhancements of SKAN 4.0 include multiple postbacks, which simplifies delivery and new insight into post-install events; hierarchical source ids, which afford more opportunities to uncover learnings that improve optimisation; hierarchical conversions, where performance insights come more rapidly, predictably, and frequently; and also Safari mobile web support, which grants additional privacy-safe channel to reach users on their mobile devices. 

In Mid-2022, InMobi has integrated its ‘Exchange’ SSP into Yahoo’s DSP to enable advertisers direct access to premium in-app supply. 

Singapore – Mobile advertising technology company InMobi unveiled through its Ramadan 2023 at a glance report that consumer sentiment in Indonesia maintains an upward trend as consumers embrace the gradual return to normalcy.

According to the report, 60% of respondents plan to spend at least IDR 3 million for Ramadan, a 4% boost from 2022. Results also showed that one in three app downloads during Ramadan are shopping apps, with downloads peaking two months before the celebration.

Moreover, 98% of respondents choose to explore deals, products, and brands for Ramadan on mobile while 56% prefer mobile as their primary purchasing channel.

The report likewise revealed that 72% of the respondents are category explorers who spend time planning and researching their online purchases, with 31% starting research one month before Ramadan.

“Every year, the festive month of Ramadan triggers a massive wave of spending activity in Indonesia, and we expect a rebound this year after modest celebrations in the last two years. Interestingly, mobile remains dominant as a preferred channel for shopping, entertainment, and even religious activities among consumers despite relaxed restrictions on travel and physical gatherings,” said Rishi Bedi, managing director for Asia-Pacific at InMobi.

He also added that because of the increase in spending activity amongst consumers, brands must continue to maximise their visibility and reachability to target consumer segments on mobile and other digital platforms.

Ramadan 2023 at a glance analyses expectations and habits of Indonesian consumers around the holiday and provides insight to brands seeking to refine their mobile marketing strategies during the nation’s holy month.

Last September, InMobi also released its report on mobile gaming ads amongst advertisers in Southeast Asia, where it was found that 98% of advertisers have increased their mobile gaming spend since the pandemic.