Market Research Archives - MARKETECH APAC

Singapore – Around 9 in 10 of brand marketers globally or around 90% are planning a brand campaign over the next 12 months, noting that brand-building ensures lasting brand value and long-term growth. This is according to the latest data from CNN International Commercial (CNNIC), along with data and insights consultancy MTM.

The data notes that around 78% of marketers say “improving brand awareness and reputation” is their top marketing goal this year. Moreover, around 65% of brands often rely on an ‘always-on’ advertising to strengthen brand equity and achieve long-term growth.

In terms of what campaigns reign more,purpose-driven and storytelling campaigns take center stage, with 81% of marketers plan to incorporate community building and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) themes into their marketing efforts.

Moreover, the data highlights that news providers are still vital with 91% of marketers agreeing that news providers are essential for brand building, with 83% indicating that advertising during major world events or breaking news doesn’t harm their brand image.

Jo Tenzer, director of audience insight at CNNIC, said, “Marketers often hold one of the most innovative and challenging roles in business today and this study navigates some of the complexities of the industry. The findings from this study reveal that brand-building is recognized as an essential long-term goal for companies worldwide, with leaders increasingly aware of the need to embrace continuous, purpose-driven storytelling that genuinely engages consumers. It’s also clear that international news providers continue to play a crucial role in building trust and credibility for brands in today’s information-saturated landscape.”

At the heart of entrepreneurial success lies a keen, observant eye and an unwavering passion for bridging gaps in the market. For one visionary entrepreneur, his journey began with a profound realisation born from contrasting market trends across diverse regions.

For MARKETECH APAC’s latest Milestone Series, we spoke with Rajiv Lamba, CEO and founder of SurveySensum and global managing director of NeuroSensum, to talk about one of his greatest milestones — creating an innovative AI-powered solutions platform to uncover deep consumer insights and democratise market research.

In this piece, Lamba shares the inspiration behind the inception of SurveySensum and his journey in understanding consumer behaviour through technology and data-driven insights.

A vision realised through data

Lamba’s journey began when he started observing contrasting market trends across different regions. Early in his career, he had some profound realisations, having noticed a stark difference in how consumers in the West versus those in Southeast Asia approached sharing feedback and preferences with brands.

“In Southeast Asian cultures, consumers would rarely provide direct, critical feedback in quantitative surveys, often claiming they liked a product or advertisement even if they didn’t,” Lamba explained.

The observations Lamba made sparked his passion for bringing neuroscience principles into the market research realm through NeuroSensum, a neuroscience and AI-technology-based market research company. By leveraging tools like electroencephalography (EEG), facial coding, and eye-tracking, Lamba and his team could finally unveil the unspoken truths lingering in the subconscious minds of consumers. For him, it was an exhilarating experience to be able to unlock profound insights for their clients.

However, as he delved deeper into the market research landscape, another glaring issue became apparent to him. Lamba identified that there is still a lack of fast, affordable, and accessible solutions for enterprises of all sizes. A staggering number of businesses couldn’t regularly leverage research consultancies due to the exorbitant costs and lengthy timelines involved.

Recognising the need for affordable and accessible market research solutions, Lamba founded SurveySensum under the Neurosensum umbrella. SurveySensum is an AI-powered customer experience platform that could democratise real-time customer feedback, making it a reality for mid-sized and large enterprises alike.

“I envisioned a future where companies could rapidly build and share omnichannel surveys, gaining invaluable consumer insights at a fraction of research agencies’ cost, and enterprises could do more consumer research and make data-backed decisions,” Lamba shared.

Building the vision, one piece of data at a time

While the idea of launching SurveySensum holds a lot of promise for the industry, pioneering a disruptive technology is never without its challenges. Sceptics doubted the shift from traditional methods to a DIY customer feedback SaaS (software-as-a-service) solution.

However, no amount of doubt made Lamba let go of his vision, a strong belief that would soon pay him off tremendously. SurveySensum has grown into a platform that now serves over 170 large and mid-sized enterprises globally, spanning sectors as diverse as FMCG, telecommunications, banking, insurance, e-commerce, healthcare, retail, and automotive.

What started as a vision has finally materialised into a platform that has helped clients save a remarkable 70–80% on their market research spending and up to 90% in overall time invested.

Commenting on those challenges, Lamba stated, “My team and I persevered, fueled by our profound conviction that AI would inevitably reshape this industry. We doubled down on defining our target personas, educating them on the immense value SurveySensum could unlock, and demonstrating our real-world impact through our work.”

It is interesting to note that while he’s working on SurveySensum, Lamba also serves as the global managing director at NeuroSensum, which means he was juggling both responsibilities across both entities.

He revealed that his primary goals have been to generate consistent cash flow through a blend of internal profitability and external funding, while also exploring new avenues for growth, differentiation, and expansion beyond their current operations in Indonesia, India, Malaysia, and Manila, and their client base spanning over 25 countries worldwide.

“It’s a delicate balancing act, but one that I’ve approached with a steadfast focus on building an exceptional leadership team and empowering them to execute our innovative strategies. It’s a lofty endeavour, but one that has only strengthened my resolve and leadership capabilities over time,” Lamba stated.

Shaping the future of market research

Lamba believes SurveySensum has revolutionised how businesses approach data-driven decision-making.

Whereas such in-depth analysis once took weeks or months of arduous manual coding, SurveySensum has condensed that process to minutes. Companies can finally respond with agility to the rapidly evolving needs and sentiments of their customers, pivoting strategies and staying ahead of the competition like never before.

“Looking back, I’m incredibly proud of how SurveySensum has indelibly transformed the way businesses approach data-driven decision-making. By harnessing the power of AI and machine learning, we’ve made it possible to derive real-time insights from open-ended customer feedback across a multitude of languages, including Asian native languages,” he added.

Lamba also shared that he is incredibly excited about the future that awaits customer feedback platforms like SurveySensum, as the accelerating advancements in AI and machine learning will undoubtedly continue shaping this domain in profound ways.

“At SurveySensum, we’re already at the forefront of these trends with our cutting-edge text analytics capabilities. Our proprietary algorithms are continuously trained and refined across verticals, geographies, and data sets, ensuring our ability to extract accurate, actionable insights from even the most nuanced customer verbatim grows more potent by the day,” he explained.

On the idea of future trends and technology shaping customer feedback platforms, Lamba believes that SurveySensum is positioned well enough to capitalise on these trends. The brand is already working to launch an AI summary and insights on our platform, where a client doesn’t need to analyse the data or information from the surveys, but the platform itself will be able to provide a textual summary and actionable insights. This will again save hours of analysis time and reduce dependency on research agencies and consultants for consumer research needs.

“Moreover, our omnichannel approach has perfectly positioned us to thrive in today’s ecosystem, where consumers are engaging with brands across a myriad of digital and physical touchpoints. Whether it’s email, WhatsApp, SMS, QR codes, chatbots, or social media, SurveySensum empowers companies to connect with their audiences wherever they are,” Lamba added.

Personal and career reflections

Reflecting on SurveySensum’s milestones, including four successful funding rounds and achieving profitability, Lamba takes pride in the journey of disruptive innovation.

“I can’t help but swell with immense pride and gratitude. This journey has been an exhilarating testament to the power of disruptive innovation and the tireless efforts of my passionate and highly talented team,” he shared.

As he reached his fifth year on SurveySensum, he shared that some of his most profound learnings have stemmed from the setbacks and course corrections they’ve had to navigate along the way. The team faced some major mistakes early on, getting too caught up in the competitive landscape and over-engineering their initial product far beyond the basics of a true ‘minimum viable product’ (MVP).

It wasn’t until they took that first iteration to market that Lamba and his team realised it wasn’t aligned with what their clients truly needed. That, for him, was a wake-up call that taught him a lesson he will never forget: the paramount importance of deeply understanding your market from the outset.

“Knowing your target personas inside and out, grasping the nuances of their pain points and the true market size, and talking to them directly are the crucial first steps before investing significant time and resources into product development. Getting a lean MVP into the market rapidly, absorbing feedback, and iterating from that stable base is the smartest path to sustainable growth,” Lamba further explained.

For Lamba, if there’s one piece of advice he could impart to aspiring entrepreneurs, it would be to make understanding your market deeply a priority from day one. Define your target personas with granularity, validate the scale of the opportunity, and start leaning with an MVP before overinvesting prematurely. Then, embrace an evolution mindset—continue evolving that initial solution based on real user inputs and consumption patterns.

“This approach has become the bedrock of my own entrepreneurial philosophy and leadership mindset. While the path has been arduous, it has also been immensely rewarding, constantly propelling me to new heights of personal growth, strategic thinking, and passionate determination,” he said.

Another piece of advice from him is to closely monitor profitability and cash flow from operations and align your management team so that the company is self-reliant and self-sustainable. In spite of having two offerings—neuroscience-based consulting and SurveySensum SAAS solutions—we became profitable in our fourth year, and at the same time, we were able to get business from more than 25 countries across the globe and have a physical presence in four countries.

Lamba’s journey with Neurosensum and SurveySensum exemplifies the impact of innovative thinking and technological integration in market research. As he continues to lead with passion and vision, the future of market research promises to be more insightful and accessible than ever before.

“As I look to the future, I’m filled with excitement for what lies ahead for SurveySensum and the market research industry as a whole. The key is to keep evolving, keep rapidly iterating, keep shattering paradigms, and never lose sight of the deepest needs of your clients and the value they expect you to provide them,” Lamba concluded.

Singapore – Around nine in 10 marketers in Singapore have noted that they foresee social media channels being the preferred retail channel for its local customers this 2024, according to the latest data from HubSpot.

According to the data, nearly all respondents (93%) predicted that local brands will adopt social commerce strategies in response to this shift as opposed to third-party websites (92%), or from the brand’s website (90%).

Moreover,social media marketers in Singapore are selling on several social media platforms, which each register varying levels of effectiveness. Among marketers already engaging in social commerce, more than 7 in 10 (73%) perceive Instagram’s social shopping features to offer the highest Return on Investment (ROI), followed by Facebook (71%) and YouTube (71%).

The data also stated that nearly 9 in 10 (89%) social media marketers in Singapore believe that an active online community is a vital component to the success of their social media strategy.

Respondents also shared that the top benefits of building a social media community include incentivising user-generated content (31%), improving customer experience (26%), attracting more followers or subscribers (22%), in addition to strengthening brand awareness, customer retention, connections among their customers, as well as trust between the brand and customers (19%).

More than half (58%) of respondents said that their organisations were investing in building communities, laying the foundations to capitalise on social commerce growth opportunities. Of this number, nearly three quarters (72%) are planning to increase their investment into building social media communities in 2024. 1 in 3 (36%) social media marketers who have not begun building social media communities planned to do so this year.

Content-wise, social media marketers in Singapore are currently leveraging an average of three content formats, with the most common being short-form videos (44%), live videos or streaming (41%), and user-generated content (31%). Nearly 8 in 10 (77%) respondents believed that short-form video offered the highest ROI of any format. The focus on short-form video is set to continue growing in 2024, with three quarters (75%) of respondents set to increase their investment into the content format from the previous year.

In terms of AI utilisation, Nearly all (91%) social media marketers in Singapore view Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a crucial component of any successful social media strategy. More than half (59%) of respondents are already using generative AI tools to create social media content. Among social media marketers in Singapore using generative AI to create content, nearly two-thirds (61%) say content made with AI performs better. While Singapore’s social media marketers are leveraging AI for various purposes, the top 3 use cases for generative AI tools include repurposing content to meet the needs of different audiences (35%), writing copy for social media content (31%), and getting ideas or inspiration (30%). AI is most often used to create short-form videos (39%), captions (32%), and images (31%).

Kat Warboys, marketing director for Asia-Pacific at HubSpot, said, “85% of Singapore’s population is estimated to be social media users making it home to some of Southeast Asia’s most avid users. They also have a propensity to use these platforms for brand discovery and research, making social media a key retail channel that marketers cannot ignore. B2B brands in particular need to adapt their approach to match the B2C experience that customers today have come to expect. Moving ahead, we are likely to see B2B brands moving away from factually accurate but often over engineered or very generic material in favour of relatable, authentic and engaging content on social media to win audience attention and influence purchasing decisions.”

She also commented, “Marketers that are constantly challenged by the density of social media content needs can leverage generative AI to alleviate resourcing constraints. Generative AI tools can provide teams with data-driven suggestions for better content ideation, and also help to develop or repurpose content for different audience groups. This approach enables marketers to effectively engage a wide range of customer segments at speed and scale. Automating these time intensive tasks ultimately empowers human teams to dedicate their attention towards augmenting AI-developed content with a level of creative input that is difficult for machines to replicate. Singapore’s continued commitment towards AI in its latest budget will also prove timely, creating a foundation to spur local AI adoption that marketers can also tap on to enhance their competitiveness.”

Singapore – A new report from global payments and financial platform Airwallex has revealed that around 54% of global consumers expect to increase amount of international online shopping, signalling an increase in cross-border shopping. However, the report also notes that consumers also expect more payment flexibility and transparency this year.

According to the report, around 61% of consumers perceive international merchants to be trustworthy, while around 65% expressed confidence in the security of their personal and financial information when buying from international merchants.

When shopping with international merchants, around 77% of survey consumers would likely abandon their cart if their preferred payment method is not available. Additionally, 54% stated that they are unlikely to return to online stores that do not transparently disclose additional fees like currency conversion and international transaction fees.

Moreover, credit cards (39%) were ranked as the most frequently used payment method amongst consumers shopping online from international merchants, followed by global digital wallets (26%). Meanwhile, shipping costs and transparency are ranked as the most important factors when evaluating the shipping policy of an international merchant (41%), while lengthy refund processing times represent the most prominent challenge for consumers (47%).

The report also noted that 59% of consumers will likely make online purchases from international merchants through social media platforms; Consumers in China (86%), Hong Kong (76%) and Singapore (62%) showed the highest appetite for social commerce.

In addition, accessing better deals and offers on social media platforms (49%) was the top global motivation for consumers to buy from international merchants, followed by personal recommendations (42%) and interactive online selling (38%). On average, consumers use Facebook the most (28%) to make online international purchases, followed by TikTok (22%) and Instagram (20%).

Kai Wu, chief revenue officer at Airwallex, said, “E-commerce is more global than ever. Despite ongoing economic uncertainty and slowing global growth, it is clear that consumer spending will continue to grow. With the global cross-border e-commerce market set to reach USD 7.9 trillion by 20301, it is critical for international merchants to solve consumer pain points and deliver the best possible customer experience in order to thrive in this competitive market.”

He added, “As a global platform, we see millions of transactions on a regular basis, and are eager to find more innovative ways to support merchants as they navigate the complexities of cross-border e-commerce.”

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.

Jakarta, Indonesia – The Indonesian video industry is set to reach a value of US$2.5b this year and ballooning up to US$3.7b in 2028, a new report from Media Partners Asia has stated.

According to the report, TV’s share, including net advertising and subscription, dropped to 48% from 56% in 2023, as the shift to online video accelerates, led by UGC and social video as well as including premium video-on-demand (VOD), including freemium and SVOD platforms.

Surya Citra Media (SCMA) and MNC will remain market leaders in terms of monetisation with SCMA a clear beneficiary from the shift to digital terrestrial television (DTT).

Meanwhile, linear-based pay-TV adoption will continue to decline, as pay-TV’s incremental growth remains anchored to bundles of home broadband and payTV offered by players such as Telkom Indonesia and Axiata-owned LinkNet.

In terms of online share of the video industry, the report notes that revenue will grow from 44% in 2023 to 52% by 2028. UGC and social video, driven by YouTube and TikTok, lead monetisation, with UGC expected to grow advertising at 12% over the next 5 years for a 26% share of total video industry revenues by 2028. Meanwhile, SVOD is expected to grow at 11% over the 2023-28 period in order to grow market share in total video from 16% to 19%. Premium AVOD, meanwhile, is forecasted to grow at 16% from a low base with total video industry market share rising from 5% to 7% over the 2023-28 period.

Lastly, the report notes that Indonesian content investment grew 13% in 2022 to US$979m, representing Southeast Asia’s largest video content market. FTA remains the largest video content investment vertical. Meanwhile, online video content (local entertainment and sports) investment is the fastest growing as Netflix, Amazon and SCMA’s Vidio continue to invest through 2023. The report projects video industry content investment to grow 6% to just over US$1b in 2023 with online video rationalizing a notch.

Vivek Couto, executive director at Media Partners Asia, said, “The advertising economy endured a poor 1H 2023; this will be partially offset by a stronger 2H 2023. TV is in the doldrums with annual ad declines over 2022 and 2023. TV ratings continue their gradual decline as audiences drift online. Free TV remains critical for mass ad campaigns, but growth is capped, held up largely by local consumer brands. Meanwhile, Indonesia remains Southeast Asia’s most intense battleground for streamers.”

He further added, “By consumption and value, it is the largest market in SEA. Improvements in the quality of local content, combined with the proven viability of Korea content and localized tier-1 US content, has helped drive user acquisition and engagement. More rational pricing and packaging is helping to slowly boost per subscriber economics. The challenge remains the growth of free VOD platforms YouTube and TikTok. Both dominate viewership on mobile while YouTube is also increasingly popular on CTV. YouTube also remains the VOD category leader in terms of revenues by some distance though TikTok is growing rapidly while Netflix leads SVOD.”

Singapore – Global advertising expenditure on connected television (CTV) is expected to hit the $26b this year, and yet there are still no clear indications whether the industry will see a ‘hockey stick’ growth. This is according to the latest data from WARC.

CTV ad investment forecasts this year remain minor in the context of a $526.8b global pureplay internet ad market and the $115.2b Meta is expected to earn in ad revenue. Meanwhile, YouTube’s ad revenue in 2023 is still forecast to be 17.4% greater than the entire CTV ecosystem, with that gap narrowing to 13.2% next year.

However, CTV media owners are mostly competing for existing TV budgets rather than winning share of spend from digital channels like social, or accessing new budgets such as retail media (it only took retail media 10 years to grow tenfold, and in the same time the size of the CTV ad market only grew three-fold.

WARC notes that the CTV landscape is highly fragmented across tech vendors and content publishers. This poses issues, not least in the ability of brands to measure incremental reach.

For the company, scale is the first consideration. While linear TV can reach tens of millions with a single creative, CTV’s key selling point – i.e. its ability to help brands to target audiences and avoid wastage – risks contradicting that key attribute of mass scale.

Alex Brownsell, head of content at WARC Media, said, “CTV ad spend is growing, but not as fast as one might expect. Whilst eyeballs are rapidly shifting from broadcast to streaming, this is evolution, not revolution.

He added, “The market is fragmented, and CTV ad investment is mainly being drawn from existing budgets. More work must be done to help CTV to realise its full potential and ensure that media owners are able to attract ad dollars from beyond the current confines of the TV market.”

Jakarta, Indonesia – A new survey from YouGov reveals that telecommunications provider Telkomsel is the most preferred provider in Indonesia, with around 57% of respondents saying the local provider is the most ideal provider in their local area.

According to the data, Telkomsel enjoys the highest regard in Indonesian cities outside Java island (65%) and in Greater Surabaya (63%), where over three in five consumers say its network coverage is the best.

Meanwhile, Indosat Oredoo is the second best-rated telco brand in the country and is the top pick for 15% of all Indonesian consumers. Regionally, Indosat Oredoo enjoys the highest regard in cities in Java outside the Jakarta and Surabaya metropolitan areas, where about one in five consumers (19%) say it offers the best network coverage – but is most poorly regarded in cities outside Java (9%).

XL Axiata comes in third overall – and is the top choice for about a seventh of consumers across regions – but is second most well-regarded in cities outside Java (12%). Meanwhile, 3/Tri (a telco brand under Indosat Oredoo Hutchinson) is fourth best-rated in the country, followed at a distance by Smartfren.

In terms of service perception, Telkomsel by far has the largest proportion of customers who think their current provider provides the best service – at over nine in ten (91%). Next most well-regarded among Telkomsel’s customers is XL Axiata, with 4% saying the telco’s mobile network coverage is the best option where they live.

XL Axiata has the next largest share of customers who think their current provider offers the best coverage in their area, at almost seven in ten (69%). Following closely are Smartfren and Indosat Ooredoo (both 66%), where two-thirds of each telco’s customers think they offer the best mobile network coverage where they live, ahead of 3/Tri where just over three-fifths (62%) of its customers say the same.

Singapore – The latest joint data from measurement and analytics suite Adjust and mobile data analytics provider data.ai revealed that in-app spending amongst Japanese users for this year’s first quarter has ballooned up to $4.65 billion–an increase of 13% compared to the previous quarter. The data also notes that this expending is expected to exceed $17.7 billion in spend this year.

In terms of mobile gaming, Japan is making a slow but steady comeback in 2023 with 12% and 6% increases in installs and sessions, respectively, from Q4 2022 to Q1 2023. In Q1 2023, Japanese mobile gamers increased their spending on gaming apps significantly, with a 13% increase over Q4 2022. Puzzle games are extremely popular in Japan, accounting for 19% of all gaming sessions.

Meanwhile, Japan’s progression toward a cashless society continues with digital payment apps capturing 77% of install share and sessions increasing 7% in Q1 2023 compared to Q4 2022. Meanwhile, crypto apps have exploded in popularity with significant growth in both installs and sessions, with a captive audience leading to a day 1 retention rate of 28% in Q1 2023. Overall fintech app sessions increased by 17% in Q1 2023 compared to Q4 2022.

Lastly, e-commerce apps have showcased remarkable resilience, with deal discovery apps growing 24% YoY in 2022 and another 11% in Q1 2023 compared to Q4 2022. Notably, marketplace apps achieved an impressive day 1 retention rate of 28% in Q1 2023, highlighting their strong appeal and user engagement. Although there was a dip in installs of e-commerce apps in general, sessions increased 5% YoY in 2022.

Toby Torii, territory director for Japan at data.ai, said, “As the industry continues to grow and user behavior shifts, building strong partnerships, leveraging innovative technologies and staying ahead of industry trends are key factors for unlocking tremendous growth opportunities. With the right approach, mobile marketers can take their campaigns to the next level and capitalize on this exciting market’s enormous potential.”

In addition, connected TV (CTV) is already a large part of mobile users’ journey. Currently, 70% of Japanese TV viewers have a CTV device, and CTV and OTT devices are expected to be owned by 30 million Japanese households by the end of 2023. This presents a wealth of opportunities for advertisers to reach new and engaged audiences, and to drive users from CTV apps to mobile devices or back to CTV apps themselves.

Gijsbert Pols, director of connected TV and new channels at Adjust, said, “CTV campaigns are set to become a fixture in app marketers’ user acquisition strategies, and early movers in Japanese CTV advertising stand to benefit greatly. CTV offers better ad quality, a more captivated audience, precise targeting for users interests, measurement and optimization for engagement rates, impressions and click-through rates.”

Singapore – Around 77% of marketers in Asia-Pacific, or 3 out of 5 APAC marketers, have said that they intend to increase or dedicate the same budget to social media amidst economic uncertainty this year. This is according to the latest research from media monitoring and social listening platform Meltwater.

According to the data, around 42% are currently running a social listening programme and an additional 15% plan to do so in 2023. Moreover, around 64% of the respondents have the goal of improving their understanding of audiences and target groups.

In terms of the social media platforms that dominate the APAC social media landscape, Facebook led the list, with 87% of marketers using it. They are followed by Instagram (81%), Linkedin (81%), Youtube (64%), and Twitter (50%). Comparatively, TikTok has yet to be leveraged at the same rate, with only 29% using the platform.

Mimrah Mahmood, senior director and partner at Meltwater Asia-Pacific, explains that the average internet user actively uses about 7.2 social media platforms each month, hence audiences are not always where you expect and marketers should now have stronger social listening tools to find and understand users.

“With a huge amount of consumer data available these days, it is now possible to segment audiences in far more sophisticated ways. Marketers need to go beyond demographics and look at communities. Social media data can reveal how people form ‘digital tribes’ based on their shared attitudes, behaviours, and interests, allowing marketers to make more strategic decisions,” Mahmood said.

In terms of the rise of short-form content in the region, Mahmood said, “Short-form videos such as Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts are effective new formats that marketers should incorporate moving forward. In 2024, we expect to see more social commerce features, including paid ads, and purchase capabilities woven into these formats in response to consumers seeking more seamless shopping experiences.”