Marketing bonanza during Ramadhan: Google

According to Think With Google, Ramadhan is a very special month for marketers in MENA. Consumer spend increases 53% during the month of Ramadhan (May 17 to June 14 2018), especially on regular household items - this rise was recorded in KSA and the UAE among other countries.

Broadcast content on YouTube peaks for the year during Ramadhan, Google said. Marketers also have up to two weeks post-Ramadan to engage with their audiences as people catch up with their favourite shows on their own time.

There are typically shorter working hours and more free time, which is reflected in online spending habits. According to the Think With Google Ramadan 2018 guide:

A month before Ramadhan, cooking videos on YouTube become popular. Watch times peaks at almost 30% higher than average in the first week of Ramadhan, Think with Google said. Searches for recipes are also 50% higher than the annual average, especially at the start of the month.

During Ramadhan, people are more willing to watch videos in longer formats - there is a 60% year-on-year increase. Audiences also spend more time on mobile, and organic viewership of advertising increases.

Source: Think with Google report. Overall engagement with YouTube videos increases during Ramadhan.

The changes in behaviour continue for two weeks post-Ramadhan, so marketers can capitalise on engagement at this time. Searches for air travel and hotels go up 20 to 25% around Eid, too.

YouTube is more popular than TV, AThink with Google said. With TV ads set at a 100 baseline, YouTube ads were scored at 150 by KSA respondents, according to the Ipsos MENA 2017 Ramadan Insights report.

Google also runs the Lantern Award, which celebrates MENAs most engaging and creative Ramadhan and Eid al Fitr YouTube campaigns. Last year’s Lantern Award winner, from VIVA Kuwait, described how frustrated women can get when their Tupperware is forgotten at guests’ homes, in a humorous manner.  

To master content during Ramadhan, Think with Google suggests:

- Use storytelling, and use multiple stories instead of repeating content

- The idea of giving back to society is a favourite for audiences during Ramadhan

- Be authentic, addressing real user needs, passions and relevant real-life issues

- Get reliable consumer insights

- Leverage on the increased interest in travel, beauty and fashion during Eid


Think With Google has also shared Ramadhan advertising figures for 2017 in a blog post.
According to the Google division, 23% of ad spend was dedicated to Ramadhan in MENA, quoting to Ipsos 2017 research. In contrast, Ramadhan viewership on YouTube over the last three years has increased threefold compared to TV, whose viewership remained flat. 

Explore:

Download the Ramadan 2018 guide from Think with Google (PDF)

Entries for the 2018 Lantern Award close 24 June.

View the 2017 Lantern Award winner and finalists (generally in Arabic. Some have English subtitles)

Multiplatform content consumption differs across age groups in Asia

ComScore releases measurement of mobile audiences in Malaysia. The Y axis tracks various consumer segments by age ranges.

ComScore, the cross-platform measurement company, released insights on Malaysia, India and China recently in conjunction with CTR Market Research that underline how Asia consumes desktop and mobile content. According to the companies, over half of Malaysia’s users consume online content on both the desktop and mobile platforms in a month.

Analysis of recent multiplatform and mobile data from its digital audience measurement and media planning solutions for Malaysia shows that the most multiplatform-savvy demographic are people aged 35–44, with nearly three quarters of this segment using a combination of desktop and mobile devices. Key findings include:

- In Malaysia, multiplatform users form the largest segment, with just over half of the total digital population accessing the Internet via both desktop and mobile devices in a month.

- At the same time, just over one in five users no longer rely on desktop, becoming part of a ’mobile only’ audience that appears to be growing globally.

- Users aged 15–24 are most ‘mobile-only’, while the 25–34s are least reliant on desktops. Younger demographics are more likely to be mobile-only when accessing digital content, with around a third of 15–24s and 25–34s abandoning desktops and laptops altogether. The 25–34s age group are the least reliant on desktop, with only 3% using it as their sole platform.

- Almost three quarters of total online minutes in Malaysia are spent on smartphone or tablet devices, with the bulk of this extensive mobile time spent within apps. As expected, younger demographics spend the largest share of their time on mobile.

- On the other hand, users aged 45 years and above spend almost one third of their time on desktops and laptops, the highest proportion among all age groups.

ComScore tracks India travel consumers. The X axis tracks various consumer segments by age ranges.

When it comes to travel, mobile plays an increasingly important role in how digital content is being consumed. In July 2017, 68% of travel category visitors in India accessed content via mobile devices only, and almost two thirds of total digital time in the category is spent on smartphones or tablets, said comScore. Using insights from comScore MMX Multi-Platform and Mobile Metrix, the company shared that:

- India’s travel category is dominated by mobile audiences, with 68% of travel users choosing to access content only through their smartphone or tablet devices in a month. With only 22% of users accessing travel content exclusively through desktop computers in a month, the importance of smaller screens for publishers and advertisers is clear.

- For 10% of users, brands have multiple potential touchpoints, as they access travel content across both desktop and mobile platforms in a month.

- The top travel entities in India include diverse brands, including rail transport, cab booking sites, online travel agents and travel information sites. Across nine of the top 10 travel properties, mobile is the primary platform in terms of unique users. Cab booking and ride-sourcing users are almost exclusively using mobile, accounting for 97% and 98% of traffic for Ola Cabs and Uber respectively. Expedia users buck this trend, choosing to access primarily through desktop.

- The share of total minutes on mobile peak with younger users, and decline with older age groups.
Millennials rely heavily on mobile to consume travel content, with mobile representing over 70% of their time spent online.

ComScore chart showing the percentage of unique visitors in China to online sites by category and platform.

In China, comScore figures show that:

- Mobile apps account for six in 10 digital minutes in China. The majority of mobile app minutes are in the portals, retail and instant messenger categories.

- Just 18% of China users now rely solely on desktop access, driven largely by the 45–54 age bracket. In contrast, 20% of China Internet users access content only via mobile devices in a month.

- Broadly speaking, mobile-only audiences are larger for close-ended or location-sensitive tasks, whereas browsing of sites in the retail and portals categories still have significant desktop and multiplatform audiences. The exception is the banking category, where the proportion of mobile audiences is double that of desktop audiences.

- Mobile-only consumption varies dramatically through age ranges, meaning that advertisers and publishers must think carefully about the platform mix to reach their target customers.

The digital marketing world has been particularly active. This week, artificial intelligence (AI) company Appier announced a new Chief Strategy Officer, as well as plans to expand its operations in Japan to better support existing customers as well as drive demand for Appier's AI solutions in the country. The newly-appointed Chief Strategy Officer, Sean Chu, will also head Appier's operations in Japan.

In April, advertising technology company AdAsia Holdings closed US$12 million in Series A funding from JAFCO Asia, the largest single investment that JAFCO has made in a company in one investment round. At the time, the company said it would use the funds to expand into new markets such as mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines and Malaysia in 2017, as well as grow headcount to 400 by end-2018. Part of the money was also earmarked for a new product development centre in Vietnam.

The Singapore-headquartered company began operations in April 2016, and currently has seven offices in six countries, with Shanghai soon to follow. The company has a global headcount of over 90 staff and more than 300 clients globally.

Interested?

Download the comScore Introducing Expanded Mobile and Multi-Platform Measurement in Malaysia with Mobile Consumer Panel Data presentation

Download the comScore Mobile's Hierarchy of Needs report for insights into key behaviours that have propelled mobile to a primary platform in global markets including China.

Mobile communications drives Indonesia's digital time

ComScore has found that mobile apps dominate Indonesia’s digital time. An analysis of mobile audiences in Indonesia states that:

• Mobile devices account for 91% of all digital minutes in Indonesia.
• Mobile’s dominant share of time is driven primarily by apps, which account for 90% of all mobile minutes, and 82% of digital minutes as a whole.
• The 35+ age group is the most reliant on desktop, with 12% using it as their only device, and 20% in combination with mobile platforms.
• Two-thirds of users aged 35+ use only smartphone and tablets to access digital content.

Source: comScore. Mobile devices account for 91% of all digital minutes in Indonesia.

While the top 10 mobile properties all reach more than 13 million visitors in Indonesia, the distribution of minutes is skewed heavily to the top four, which include communication apps (including email and messaging). Facebook leads overall total mobile minutes, thanks largely to its Facebook, WhatsApp Messenger and Instagram apps. In fact, on a per-user basis, messaging and social apps far outpace others within the top 10 (by reach) in terms of average minutes.

Video and photography have benefitted from increasing mobile speeds, larger screens and better cameras on mobile devices, with Instagram and YouTube both driving high numbers of minutes for their users.

The company recently announced the launch of MMX Multi-Platform, along with major upgrades to Mobile Metrix in Indonesia, with the introduction mobile consumer panel data. This Android mobile panel expands comScore’s measurement of mobile audiences in Indonesia to enable more robust reporting of visitation, engagement and demographics.

Interested?

Download the presentation from comScore: Introducing Expanded Mobile and New Multi-Platform Measurement in Indonesia.

posted from Bloggeroid

Criteo breaks down Ramadhan 2016 shopping behaviour in SEA

+Online sales and website traffic start increasing three weeks before Ramadhan in Southeast Asia (SEA)

+E-commerce sales spiked by 110% during the third week of Ramadhan

+Shoppers spend less time browsing and shopping online during sunset

+Mobile continues to be a key driver for discovery and sales with an increase of 126% during Ramadhan

Source: Criteo infographic. Fashion sells best during Ramadhan.

Criteo, the performance marketing technology company, has released seasonal data to help e-commerce businesses better engage consumers during the festive season.

It revealed that online sales and traffic increased in the lead up to and during Ramadhan, but declined during Eid el-Fitr (Hari Raya), the holiday that marks the end of Ramadhan. Based on consumers’ online browsing and buying activity, the three weeks leading up to Ramadhan, and also the third week of Ramadhan represent the biggest opportunity for retailers to engage consumers when they are actively browsing and purchasing items for upcoming celebrations. During this period, there was an average of 67% uplift in online retail sales and 14% uplift in online travel sales.

Criteo’s data also revealed that Ramadhan traditions influence shoppers’ behaviour throughout the day. To engage with shoppers, retailers need to know when they are most active online. During the fasting period between sunrise and sunset, e-commerce transactions were lower at 71%, compared to 76% for the period prior to Ramadhan. However, after breaking fast, there is an increase in e-commerce sales to 29%, from 24% pre-Ramadhan, representing a timely opportunity for retailers to reach out to shoppers.

Understanding how and what shoppers are buying is also crucial. With 37% of onsite retail conversions happening on the mobile app, retailers need to be investing beyond just a mobile-friendly site to an intuitive app. Fashion-related items are the most popular during this period, followed by home and living products and electronics, toys and games.

“Ramadhan is an important festive season in this region. Rapidly rising disposable incomes, a growing appetite for modest fashion, halal products and services mean that retailers need to enlist smart solutions to engage shoppers across all touchpoints and deliver the most impactful content at every point in the customer journey. As shoppers spend time with their friends and families after sundown and on Eid, they are less likely to browse and shop online. Retailers must pick the right time of the week and time of day to increase their digital marketing efforts, so they can achieve an uptick in online transactions,” said Alban Villani, GM, Southeast Asia, Criteo.

Criteo analysed more than 8 million online transactions from 143 retailers based in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Other key findings from the report include:

+Website traffic and e-commerce sales increased from three weeks before Ramadhan and spiked during weeks three and four, with an increase of 110% and 77% respectively.

+During the start of Eid el-Fitr, there was a decline of 44% in online sales and 20% in website traffic. However, in the week post-Eid, online sales rebounded, increasing 35%.

+During weeks three and four of Ramadan, online mass merchants were the biggest growth driver – with an increase of 87% and 52% respectively.

+The cross-device journey was evident – 46% of shoppers were found to be viewing products across multiple devices, with one in four shoppers switching devices at least three times during their purchasing journey.

“In addition, retailers need to embrace omni-channel marketing – as we continue to see the rise of offline-to-online and online-to-offline (O2O) shopping habits. Our data shows that during the period of Ramadhan, shoppers are browsing in stores and purchasing online, and vice-versa. However, whichever way you look, mobile will still be the foundational building block and key driver in O2O retail. Half of the retail transactions in Southeast Asia are already taking place on mobile,” said Villani.

Ramadhan 2017 will begin around May 25, 2017. The date varies in different countries depending on the sighting of the moon.

Interested?

Download the infographic on Ramadhan 2016

Mobile in Indonesia has desktop scale

• Video is leaning towards shorter-form content on desktop, and advertising saturation is increasing.
• Mobile now offers the scale long associated with desktop, along with behavioural nuances unique to smartphone/tablet platforms.

Popular sites on mobile now have similar reach to popular sites on the desktop in Indonesia, says comScore.

Source: comScore. Mobile browsing now rivals desktop browsing.

While smartphones dominate the majority of mobile categories, they are particularly ubiquitous in functional, on-the-move categories such as weather and sports. In contrast, categories such as apparel or kids, which tend to be more relaxed or open-ended in nature, demonstrate a higher-than-average share of tablet views. This has implications for optimisation of both advertising, as well as usability and content for publishers.

Source: comScore. Tablets are preferred for clothes shopping, but smartphones trump tablets in other categories.

Interested?

For more insights download Understanding Indonesia Online Audience (slides)

Akamai's secrets to e-commerce success

Running a successful e-commerce business can be challenging when half of all shoppers expect websites to load in less than two seconds or they won’t return, Akamai warns. The company has created an infographic with two fundamental ways online retailers can boost their e-commerce businesses, by understanding the customer today, and by delivering "faster, smarter and safer". 

E-commerce behaviour is trending towards mobile devices, for example. According to the infographic, mobile and tablet shoppers shop 20% more frequently than desktop shoppers, and spend US$500 more over the same period, pointing to mobile support as increasingly important.

More crucially, there is now a "two-second" rule. Besides abandoning a site if it takes more than two seconds to load, 20% of customers never return to a slow or crashing site, and will complain about it very visibly in social media.  "Compare and optimise response time across websites to cater for different platforms such as Android vs iPhone," Akamai further suggests.

Interested?

Read the WorkSmart Asia blog posts about Akamai's tips on app engagement and MasterCard's research on mobile shopping in Asia Pacific

Three-device users begin to be the norm in Asia Pacific

Source: Appier blog.

Appier, the cross-screen technology provider, has found that users with three devices are setting the trend for multi-device ownership in Asia Pacific.

Nearly 40% of multi-screen users are operating more than three devices, the company said in its Asia Cross-Screen User Behavior Research Report for the first half of 2015, analysing user behaviours across PCs, smartphones, and tablets in ten key Asian markets. Singapore (21.2%), Australia (20.8%) and the Philippines (20.8%) boast the highest percentage of three-device users, while Japan (32.7%) and Taiwan (25.7%) claim the biggest percentage of multi-device users operating more than four devices. 

"We are fully aware that the vast majority of marketers are no longer approaching cross-screen and cross-platform advertising as an option, but rather as a top priority," said Chih-Han Yu, CEO and co-founder of Appier. "Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and data analysis, Appier's cross-screen user behaviour research report fleshes out the multi-screen landscape in Asia while also pointing out where the scale of screens and receptivity come into play."

Key findings include:

Greater complexity in cross-screen user behaviour

Forty-three percent* of multi-screen users in Asia exhibit vastly different behaviours on different devices, up from 38% in the second half of 2014.

Golden Wednesdays

The highest usage across devices and the highest number of reachable unique devices was generally recorded on Wednesdays. In the meantime, Mondays, Tuesdays and Sundays were all good days for advertisers to pique the interest of active users, keeping in mind that males are more active than their female counterparts across devices.

Mid-size devices and Android OS grab the spotlight

In 1H 2015, mid-size smartphones (3.8'' to 4.8") and tablets (9.7") dominated the market in terms of usage. Android was still the winner in mobile operating systems, despite losing some of its share to iOS comparing to 2H 2014.

Different ad formats play different roles on different screen sizes

In most Asian markets, high conversion rates for online ads occurred on devices with high click-through rates (CTRs). User preference for banners and interstitial ads varied depending on the size of the screen and the device used.

Interested?

Download the full report 

*The report is based on data from Appier campaigns ran in the first half of 2015 in ten markets including Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Some 490 billion data points from the Appier database were analysed.

Consumers demand apps with speed, simplicity and security, or they leave

Source: CA Technologies infographic.

Consumers have become more discerning about what they expect from applications, so much so that businesses which fail to deliver a positive application experience risk losing about a third of their customer base. The results of a regional study* commissioned by CA Technologies reveal that mobile and desktop applications have become the new battleground for brand loyalty in Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ).

Software: the New Battleground for Brand Loyalty – surveyed 1,449 consumers and 259 business decision makers across five APJ countries and identified three factors that have the biggest impact on the consumer experience: 

Source: CA Technologies infographic.

Speed – 75% of consumer respondents who had left a brand's application because of poor load times, said a loading time of six or fewer seconds was acceptable – while 39% of them demanded a load time of less than three seconds.

Simplicity – More than 70% of APJ consumers ranked ‘easy-to-use features’ and over 63% ranked applications that ‘perform tasks with little difficulty’ as top drivers of their decision to utilise or purchase an application; and

Security – Over 60% ranked an application’s ability to ‘prevent vulnerabilities such as viruses and denial of service attacks’ and ‘perform more functions safely and securely’ as key features. In addition, of the users who had a fair or poor experience with application security, 17% said that they would leave a brand forever.

Source: CA Technologies infographic.

“Applications are fast becoming the first and primary means for consumers to connect with businesses,” said Kenneth Arredondo, President & GM, Asia Pacific & Japan, CA Technologies. “Companies need to adopt this customer-centric mindset and combine it with the growing amount of ambient data from always-connected devices. Ultimately, they must produce applications that are personalised, secure, responsive and easy to use.”

Source: CA Technologies infographic.

The study also highlighted how applications have become crucial meeting points between consumers and organisations. According to the survey, more than half (52%) of all respondents are using applications to shop, 49% are using applications to bank; and more than 46% of respondents say they use their applications to make online purchases and consume media, like videos and television shows.

“Organisations need to stop seeing applications as being merely an extension of their business, but rather a critical component of their business model,” added Arredondo. “To achieve this, companies need to seriously look at what customers want, which will include listening to their needs and adoption of predictive analytics to gain deeper, actionable insights to drive application development.”

Click here to download the white paper and learn more about the research. View the full infographic here.

*Zogby Analytics conducted the CA Technologies-sponsored study of 1,449 consumers and 259 business decision makers across Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea. 

Ubiquitous Internet has changed everyday behaviour: Euromonitor

Euromonitor International has found that Internet-connected consumers in both developed and emerging markets are expanding their use of technology in everyday life, leading to significant changes in how they interact with the world around them.

Source: Euromonitor website.

In a new survey focused on hyperconnected consumers and their use of technology, including shopping habits and attitudes toward online privacy and security, Consumers in the Digital World: Hyperconnectivity and Technology Trends, 67% of smartphone users rely on their phone for GPS navigation and 33% use the device to book a taxi or car service. However, larger-screen devices such as computers and tablets are still favoured when consumers stream a video or television show.

Constant Internet access also allows the hyperconnected consumer to utilise their phone or mobile device to compare prices, product details, and purchase goods wherever and whenever. Per the latest survey results, 94% of respondents go online to research a potential purchase, regardless of whether they end up buying on a website or in store.

Internet-connected consumers in emerging markets, particularly India and China, are leading the way in online shopping. For example, 87% of Internet-connected consumers in China typically purchase apparel online, as do 73% in India. However, virtual shopping is not the norm in all emerging markets; just 47% in the Middle East buy clothes via the Internet.

“Understanding how the consumer utilises technology in their purchasing decisions is crucial for companies striving to grow their customer base,” says Euromonitor's Senior Survey Analyst, Lisa Holmes. “As consumers continue to become more hyperconnected, the need to market products and make them easily accessible through technology is more important than ever.”

A free extract of the report can be downloaded here.