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Tag: Advertising

  • Optimizing Potential of Digital Advertising, Indosat Ooredoo Launches iAds Service Based on Augmented Reality

    Optimizing Potential of Digital Advertising, Indosat Ooredoo Launches iAds Service Based on Augmented Reality

    The COVID-19 pandemic, which has been going on for over a year, has increased our reliance on digital in our daily lives. This has an impact on the business sector, where enterprises are “forced” to adapt to focus on digital marketing strategies as consumer behavior shifts to digital and online. Therefore, the strategy of running promotions through digital advertising is becoming attractive to enterprise in order to increase brand and product awareness, targeting the right consumers, and increase sales of product.

    As an experienced trusted digital partner, Indosat Ooredoo Business presents an innovative service “iAds” at the 4th Connex Webinar today to answer the promotional needs of these enterprise. iAds is a digital ad platform that is designed by utilizing Augmented Reality (AR), interactive messaging, and mobile video. iAds offers the excitement of advertising and the convenience of using innovative telecommunication media.

    Chief Business Officer of Indosat Ooredoo, Bayu Hanantasena said, “Indosat Ooredoo Business is committed to support the growth of Indonesia’s business sector by utilizing digital technology. Today we launched iAds to support the promotional needs of enterprise to be more innovative through social media and relevant to the current situation. We hope that through the 3 iAds services that we launched today, it will help enterprise not only survive, but also growing rapidly so that they can compete in both local and global markets, as well as supports Indonesia’s digital economy.”

    Through iAds, promotional activities can be more varied and attractive because Indosat Ooredoo Business offers several choices of digital promotion mediums, namely iAds, iAds Biz, and iAds MGram.

    • iAds

    Augmented Reality (AR) technology.

    • iAds Biz

    A broadcast and interactive SMS service solution that responds more precisely to promotional needs for target customers and is easily controlled through a dashboard by enterprise. Regular SMS, Premium SMS, and Interactive SMS are all promotional options provided by iAds Biz.

    • Ads MGram

    Consumers can engage with interactive promotion and digital transformation solutions through images and videos that can be viewed on a variety of mobile phones, feature phone or smartphone. The other benefit of iAds MGram is that it does not require a specific application and can be accessed without internet connection or data packages. Thus, it unlocks vast reach, customer engagement and business possibilities.

    iAds can target more than hundreds of thousands of large and medium-sized companies in Indonesia to inform their products to millions of mobile users as potential targeted consumers. This service is also in line with Indosat Ooredoo’s vision as the Indonesia’s leading digital telecommunication company that encourages a more rapid and effective growth of the digital economy.

    Indosat Ooredoo Connex: Maximizing the Potential of Digital Advertising and Innovation Augmented Reality

    This time, Indosat Ooredoo Company conducted a Connex Webinar with the theme “Maximizing the Potential of Digital Ads and Innovation in Augmented Reality,” continuing the previous series of Connex (Creating Innovation with Expert)

    In addition to presented Bayu Hanantasena (Chief Business Officer Indosat Ooredoo) and Linggajaya Budiman (SVP-Head of Marketing & Channel Management), this webinar also featured a Digital Marketing Specialist who has successfully elevated brand-it’s to the forefront of every industry field, including Levita Ginting (Chair of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce’s Standing Committee on Franchising, Licensing, & Partnerships), R. Andi Kartiko Utomo (Digital Specialist, former Vice President of QNB Indonesia), and Irawan Soemardjo (Senior Partner of PINC Group).

    The speakers offered insight and addressed the effect of the pandemic on the business sector, shifts in consumer behavior, how Digital Advertising can optimize marketing strategies, the potential for Virtual Reality to improve consumer interaction, and iAds solutions to address consumer needs of promotion for enterprise and marketers during the panel discussion.

    “Hopefully today‘s Connex Webinar can provide a lot of positive information so that we all remain optimistic to survive and grow together in the future even in difficult situations,” Bayu concluded.

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  • Microsoft reportedly not advertising on Facebook any longer but not for the reason you think

    Microsoft reportedly not advertising on Facebook any longer but not for the reason you think

    Microsoft has paused advertising on Facebook and Instagram, per a new Axios report. The outlet claims that US ad spending was suspended in May and Microsoft is now pulling out of marketing with Facebook on a global level. Axios is quick to note that the firm has not formally joined the #StopHateForProfit movement which is encouraging companies to halt spending on Facebook and Instagram to pressure CEO Mark Zuckerberg into taking a firmer stance to filter hate speech. Rather, Microsoft apparently has a problem with where its ads are displayed.

    According to an internal Yammer post, Microsoft CMO Chris Capossela said: Based on concerns we had back in May we suspended all media spending on Facebook/Instagram in the US and we’ve subsequently suspended all spending on Facebook/Instagram worldwide.

    While it’s hard to specifically point out what content the company found objectionable, the transcript refers to terrorist content, hate speech, and pornography.  Although the motive is somewhat similar to that of bigwigs like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Viber, and Starbucks, Microsoft has reportedly taken a much softer approach and is in talks with Facebook’s leadership to discuss its concerns and lay down the conditions that must be met in order for it to resume advertising.

    As things stand now, Microsoft expects the ad suspension to last through August.

    Facebook is surely feeling the heat. The company recently announced that it will start labeling posts that go against its rules, even if they are considered newsworthy. Previously, it did not touch posts that came from public figures like President Donald Trump.

    Facebook is financially too strong to be impacted by a boycott in the short term as much of its revenue is generated by small and medium-sized businesses, but its reputation can surely take a hit.

    In the long run, the financial situation could get messy too and the company’s shares have started tumbling already.

    Some brands had already stopped advertising on Facebook because of the pandemic and the new campaign will only make the matters worse. That said, some 8 million entities advertise on Facebook, and provided that ad pricing will likely reduce because of the current situation, other firms will likely step in to fill the gap and this will probably offset the financial loss.

    Some are also of the view that reduction in ad expenditure was already on the cards for many companies because of the pandemic and their support for the #StopHateForProfit campaign might very well be a PR stunt.

    Microsoft, on the other hand, supposedly likes to keep things private, something which Facebook will surely appreciate at a time when others are bailing on it publicly.

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  • Apple takes a shot in the dark with its latest iPhone ad

    Apple takes a shot in the dark with its latest iPhone ad

    Apple also developed Deep Fusion which is similar to the Pixel’s HDR+. When a photo is snapped on the iPhone, nine different exposures are created including four short exposures, four standard exposures, and one long exposure. Three standard shots are combined with one long-exposure to create a “synthetic long-exposure” which is then combined with the sharpest of the four short-exposure images.
    Once that occurs, it takes just one second for the neural engine on the A13 Bionic chipset to select the best pixels to use from four different processing steps. The result is a sharper photograph with less-noise. Deep Fusion is used with most telephoto shots and when using the primary wide camera in medium to low light environments. The iPhone 11 series represents Apple’s entry into computational photography which Google had a head start on with the Pixel line.
    Remember when iPhone users were called “wall huggers” by Samsung? A commercial produced for the Galaxy S5 back in 2014 took place at an airport where iPhone users were all sitting on “stained carpeting” charging the battery in their phones. The Galaxy S5 not only had a replaceable battery, but it also featured Ultra Power saving mode that turned off all non-essential features and turned the screen to grayscale. Those days are now long gone, especially with the new batteries that Apple included with the iPhone 11 models. Ironically, based on our tests, the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max provides 56% longer battery life than the Galaxy Note 10+.
    And you might recall that a 2017 ad from Samsung for the Galaxy Note 8  chronicled how a lifelong iPhone user ended up switching to the Galaxy Note 8. It’s the old story: boy meets girl and starts a relationship with her. We assume that they were compatible in most areas although she always had a Samsung phone. In one scene from that ad, both of their phones end up falling off a dock and into the water. Her phone was fine because of the IP68 rating on the Galaxy S7; his iPhone ended up in a bowl of white rice because it didn’t have official water protection back then. But now, Apple has enhanced the water protection on the iPhone 11 models. The iPhone 11 can be submerged to a depth of 2 meters (6.5 feet) for as long as 30 minutes while the “Pro” models can be submerged to a depth of 4 meters (13.12 feet) for as long as 30 minutes. The Galaxy Note 10+ can be submerged to a depth of 5 feet for up to half an hour.
    The 2019 iPhone models are also protected from splashes caused by soda, beer, coffee, tea, and juice. Just rinse it off with tap water and dry. Keep in mind that Apple, like all other phone manufacturers, still will not cover water damage with the iPhone’s warranty. Apple does note that “Liquid damage is not covered under warranty, but you might have rights under consumer law.”
    You’ll probably see the new ad for Night Mode plastered all over your television set this coming week.
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  • Instagram users now allowed to decide who can follow them

    Instagram users now allowed to decide who can follow them

    If you think that Facebook-owned apps already get too much of your personal data, you’re not going to be happy when we tell you that starting today, Instagram wants to know your birthday. However, this data is only required when creating a new account. Instagram says that its Terms of Use call for account holders to be at least 13 years of age in most countries. By requesting a new account holder’s birthday, Instagram can make sure that no one underage has an account. Instagram also says that it will “help us keep young people safer and enable more age-appropriate experiences overall.” Of course, birthdays can be faked and this doesn’t prevent an older person from creating an account for someone under 13 years of age.

    If you open a new Instagram account and provide your birthday, other members will not be able to view your date of birth. You will be able to find it when viewing your own personal profile information. If your Facebook account is connected to your Instagram account, the birthday listed on your Facebook profile will be added to your personal profile on Instagram and again, only you will be able to see it. And if for some reason you need to edit your date of birth on Facebook, your birthday on Instagram will also reflect the edit.

    Instagram does state that it plans on using the birthday information in the coming months to provide “more tailored experiences” including recommending to younger members certain privacy controls they should use and teaching them about account controls. “These newest updates are part of our ongoing commitment to ensuring Instagram remains a safe and supportive place, especially for the youngest people in our community,” Instagram said today in a blog post.

    And Instagram is also cracking down by allowing you to decide who can send you a Direct Message. Under Message Controls, you’ll be able to choose from options like Everybody, which will allow you to receive new message requests from everyone except those who you have blocked, and Only People You Follow. With the latter setting selected, you won’t receive new message requests and story replies from people you do not follow. Those you do not follow and haven’t blocked will know that you don’t accept messages from everyone.

    You can also determine who can follow your Instagram account. Select Everyone and your account can be added by any Instagram member except those who you have blocked. Choose Only People You Follow and people you don’t know won’t be able to follow your Instagram account. Those you don’t follow and haven’t blocked will know that you don’t allow everyone to add you to groups if they try to do so.

    If you do not have the Instagram app installed on your mobile device, you can find it in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. The purchase of Instagram by Facebook for $1 billion back in 2012 turned out to be one of the most profitable investments in tech history. As of last year, Bloomberg estimated Instagram’s value as a standalone company north of $100 billion. The app has more than 1 billion active monthly users and is the second most popular social network following Facebook. Instagram originally provided filters for photographs before it borrowed the Stories feature from Snapchat helping it to become the immensely popular online destination that it now is. And with 71% of its users under 35, Instagram is demand by advertisers looking to reach a decidedly younger demographic.

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  • Instagram announces ads will be served to users Explore feed

    Instagram announces ads will be served to users Explore feed

    Instagram has just confirmed it will bring ads to your Explore feed. As one of the go-to features for Instagram users who search for places, shops and connect with people businesses and creators, Explore looks like a great monetization tool.

    According to Instagram, more than 50% accounts on its social network use Explore every month to see photos and videos related to their interests from accounts they aren’t following. Apparently, the company considers brands an important part of the Instagram experience for its users, which is why over the next few months, it will introduce ads in Explore feed.

    Instagram says it will release ads in Explore “slowly and thoughtfully,” so not everyone will see them at the same time. Here is how it works for users: after tapping on a photo or video in Explore, you may see ads as part of your browsing experience just like in the main feed.

    For advertisers, it’s quite obvious that this is an opportunity to reach larger audiences in Explore. And they will be able to do that by extending their campaigns with a simple opt-in. So, there you have it, folks, expect to start seeing ads in your Explore feed pretty soon.

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  • APAC mobile advertising market booming

    APAC mobile advertising market booming

    The Asia Pacific region is leading in mobile ad request with a growth of 44%. This is almost twice the average growth of the Americas and EMEA regions, both of which are pegged at 23%.

    This was the conclusion of the Global Trends in Mobile Advertising H2 2018 report by Smaato, which offers programmatic insights designed to help publishers and advertisers with their decision-making on ads.

    Among others, the report investigated in-app growth, advertising spending, mobile video and advertising fraud.

    The mobile ad market is healthy, according to Smaato, with significant growth across all key advertising metrics, including ad request volume and eCPMs. Demand and supply both increased year-over-year, as advertisers direct more money into mobile advertising.

    In the APAC, India stood out from the pack with a 425% growth in mobile ad requests. This was more than twice the growth rate of the fastest growing markets in EMEA and the Americas, which were led by Spain at 152% and the USA at 170% respectively.

    Smaato says India’s meteoric ad request growth is characteristic of an emerging mobile market in which the number of mobile device owners, their time spent on mobile, and overall app downloads all rise quickly.

    When it comes to the top countries for eCPM growth, Singapore (154%), Japan (125%), Australia (111%), Hong Kong (99%) and Indonesia (96%) topped the charts. As comparison, eCPMs increased in the United States by 79% and in Canada by 70%, while Switzerland (92%) and the United Kingdoms (66%) topped the chart in the EMEA.

    “The impressive ad request and eCPM growth in APAC are driven by app developers finding new ways to better monetize their content even as consumers are spending more time on apps. Advertisers from all verticals are realizing that apps are where consumers are — and they are directing more funds into this channel,” Smaato APAC managing director Alex Khan said.

    “With app usage increasing across the region, there will also be more monetization opportunities for mobile publishers.”

    The full report can be downloaded here (free registration).

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  • Toyota fined W817 million for false advertising

    Toyota fined W817 million for false advertising

    Korea’s antitrust watchdog said Tuesday that it has fined Toyota Motor Korea 817 million won ($729,000) for deceptive advertising of its RAV4 sport utility vehicle (SUV). Toyota Motor Korea advertised that its RAV4 obtained a top safety pick in five test categories, including the driver’s side small overlap front and roof strength, from the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in 2015.

    In 2016, the RAV4 earned the Top Safety Pick Plus rating from the independent nonprofit organization that aims to reduce deaths, injuries and property damage from motor vehicle crashes, according to the Fair Trade Commission.

    The commission said that RAV4 models sold in the United States in 2015 and 2016 were equipped with a bracket, or shock absorber, that allowed it to get the top rating.

    The same SUV model sold in Korea during the same period was not equipped with the bracket, but Toyota Motor Korea advertised the RAV4’s earning the Top Safety Pick rating from the IIHS.

    “Toyota Motor Korea concealed and omitted that there was a difference between RAV4 models sold in the United States and Korea,” the commission said.

    It said the advertisement could mislead Korean consumers into believing that RAV4 models sold in Korea had all the safety features covered by the Top Safety Pick rating.

    Toyota Motor Korea said it cannot give an immediate comment on the issue and that it is reviewing the commission’s decision.

    Toyota is the second foreign automaker to be fined this year. BMW Korea was fined 14.5 billion won last week for manipulating documents on emissions.

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  • Online printing startup Gogoprint raises $7.7m to prepare new markets

    Online printing startup Gogoprint raises $7.7m to prepare new markets

    Gogoprint, a startup that’s modernizing the printing industry, has raised US$7.7 million in series A funding to fuel its expansion into new markets like Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea in the next 12 months.

    Gogoprint is an online service for printing things like business cards, flyers, and leaflets. It uses algorithms that take into account parameters such as paper type, quantity, and delivery, and then aggregates those orders into a “print-run” or a batch of prints.

    This enables printers to make the most out of one printing sheet. Because each sheet carries fixed costs, maximizing it helps reduce prices and turnaround time for customers. It also allows printers to take in small orders from budget-conscious firms, instead of only focusing on large volume orders.

    Printers that partner with the company are able to tap new customers, helping offset the cost of any unused capacity.

    Gogoprint is active in four countries: Thailand, where it started, as well as Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. In Indonesia, it faces competition from another online printing startup, Prinzio.

    To date, Gogoprint has experienced a 200 percent year-on-year growth in customer base, attracting more than 45,000 customers with over 250 million products printed. Its clients include Honda, Lazada, Lion Air, Yamaha, Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, and Booking.com.

    Retail News reached out to the company for more financial details, but it declined to disclose figures.

    The series A round was led by its existing backer OPG (Online Printing Group), an investor and partner of Brazil-based Printi.

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  • Telstra wins $12.3m outdoor advertising contract

    Telstra wins $12.3m outdoor advertising contract

    Australian operator Telstra has secured an A$17 million ($12.3 million) contract with fleet operator P2P Transport to provide connectivity for a mobile digital advertising solution.

    Telstra will provide access to its mobile and IoT network and its digital media capabilities to support the project to provide advertising on 900 P2P vehicles as they travel throughout the nation, starting with an initial 300 taxis.

    P2P Transport leases vehicles including taxis and limousines to individual taxi drivers, ride-sharing drivers and limousine operators.

    The advertising solution will allow advertisers to deliver specific messaging for particular times and locations, such as by pushing out messages advertising food options during lunchtime.

    It uses Australian-developed GPS-enabled screens purpose built for the taxi industry, that use integrated power to prevent the need to drain the vehicle’s battery.

    “It’s getting more difficult for organizations to cut through the noise in the market today and P2P Transport’s solution is a fantastic example of forward-thinking that capitalizes on technology to create a smarter, more targeted way of reaching potential customers,” Telstra Enterprise chief customer officer John Ieraci said.

    “We’re really excited to work with P2P Transport to support this next generation mobile advertising solution using our comprehensive IoT offering and business-grade mobile network.”

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  • Blockchain, AI the next big thing for advertisers

    Blockchain, AI the next big thing for advertisers

    The integration of analytical and data-driven technologies with AI and Blockchain can help businesses better understand customers’ behaviors, habits, interests, and needs. Thus, direct advertisements are easy to access consumers at the right time and the right situation, experts say.

    “Blockchain can be a game changer when it comes to marketing. The technology will create transparency, reliability, and positive values,” said blockchain consultant David Lang.

    “While users can better manage their personal information, blockchain can help brands not only reach the right customers more effectively but also more accurately measure the performance of each advertising campaign,” he added.

    At present, certain weaknesses have become apparent in the advertising industry. Studies have shown that fraud in digital advertising costs $1 for every $3 in advertisement expenditure. Online advertisers estimate that total losses from fraudulent activities in the industry will reach $19 billion in 2018.

    Bigbom, an online advertising solution built on the blockchain platform, has clearly identified three major issues that the advertising industry needs to address.

    Second, manual advertisement management takes too much time and is inefficient.First is the building of trust between the advertisers and ad platforms or publishers. It takes a huge amount of time for advertisers to find and establish a partnership with absolute strangers.

    Third, the budget for advertisement campaigns is still poorly allocated.

    Bigbom, a Singapore company has rolled out Bigbom Ads, Bigbom Contract and Bigbom Marketplace as the promising solution to soothe the mentioned sore of this industry. The first one is a tool which helps advertisers optimize their ads in such an efficient and simple manner. Through their innovative algorithm, this is the flagship product in the journey to change the conversation of digital advertising and make the one-click optimization come true. Bigbom Marketplace powered by Bigbom Contract creates a transparent economy for advertising community to join by harnessing the power of blockchain technology.

    Those are Bigbom’s trinity force to revolutionize the online advertising industry. Currently, their products have been launched with the very first attributes and received positive feedback from the interested audience. According to their plan, these services will be up and running in the first two quarters of 2019 with more advanced features.

    More information regarding the project is available at bigbom.com as well as their whitepaper.

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  • Catch spends millions on trust play

    Catch spends millions on trust play

    Catch Group’s first foray into the world of TV advertising has cost the e-commerce company millions, as it looks to bolster its brand awareness ahead of the imminent arrival of Amazon.

    It’s first TV campaign, which has been airing for two-weeks, is part of a long-term marketing play to first establish Catch’s new marketplace image in the local market before beginning to communicate price and range later down the line.

    Catch Group’s head of marketing, Ryan Gracie, told that the campaign was initially designed alongside the company’s re-brand to drive awareness and begin building trust – something pureplay retailers have struggled with in recent years.

    “Building a brand online is very hard and you have to really take yourself above the line if you want to be a trusted, credible brand,” Gracie said.

    “We’re a pureplay, we don’t exist physically so it’s important for us to exist on these other channels.”

    Gracie was unable to say what the return looks like so far, but said a decision was taken by management on TV knowing that assessing the benefits wouldn’t be clear cut.

    “The hard costs of the media spend is a major inhibitor, because you can’t explicitly measure the impact of it,” he said.

    “What do you get when you advertise on TV? You get a warm and fuzzy feeling, but you have to trust it’s going to work.”

    The ads themselves depict Australians in various scenarios screaming “catch” – in line with the company’s “screaming good deals” philosophy.

    Catch is investing in marketing on both sides of the market at the moment, having also stepped up its B2B marketing since its brand relaunch to encourage more suppliers to jump on its platform.

    Catch Group co-founder Gabby Leibovich told sister site Internet Retailing in August that more than 200 brands have signed up to the marketplace, with 25,000 new SKUs recently added across several new categories.

    Nati Harpaz, CEO of Catch Group, is the chairman of Octomedia, Inside Retail’s parent company.

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  • REV Asia looking for partners in Indonesia, Philippines to grow overseas businesses

    REV Asia looking for partners in Indonesia, Philippines to grow overseas businesses

    Digital media group REV Asia is on the lookout for local partners for its operations in Indonesia and the Philippines, says managing director Voon Tze Khay.

    The group’s initial plan, which was to grow its market share in social media advertising revenue in those markets, hit a snag one-year into operations, leading it to seek home-grown partners.

    “We thought if we could run Malaysia at such a successful pace over the last three years, why not try it ourselves? However, after 12 months, we realised that the opportunities in these markets are plenty but the right way and more strategic way to do it is through a local partner, either in the form of merger and acquisition (M&A) or joint venture (JV),” Voon told in an interview.

    He said the group faced operational challenges in both markets, in terms of understanding the local business culture, dealing with local advertising agencies and brands as well as challenges in working style and expectations in the delivery of campaigns.

    “Running a business in these two countries is very different to how we run it in Malaysia simply because the understanding of local and business culture is a fairly important tool. We have not seen it grow in the way that we expected,” he added.

    Voon said it has identified certain players that could be potential partners but talks have not begun as it is still mapping out how to grow with a local partner. The group entered both markets in 2015 with their Says.com and 8share.com brands. These markets contribute about 5% to total group revenue and there are no plans to expand its other brands there in the immediate term.

    “In the next 24 months, we are looking at international revenue (contributing about) 5-8% because our focus is going to be Malaysia. We are expecting Malaysia to grow in the double digits year-on-year in both revenue and bottom line.

    “For international markets, there’s still a lot more groundwork to be done for local business understanding and a lot more research to be done from data point of view. That doesn’t mean we are not putting in efforts to grow it. But growth compared with Malaysia will be a lot smaller,” said Voon.

    In 2017, the group aims to grow in terms of audience and revenue in Malaysia, through organic growth and M&As, by shifting its focus to videos and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

    Voon said consumption of videos on mobile has grown tremendously and will continue to grow. It also aims to tap into the 700,000 SMEs in Malaysia by offering them specific packages to promote their services across the group’s platforms.

    In 2016, total video revenue contributed 10% while total SME revenue contributed only 2%. This year, it aims to grow contribution from these two products to 25% and 12% respectively.

    In terms of M&A, Voon said, REV Asia is always on the lookout for opportunities within the three main languages in Malaysia.

    “We will continue to seek out M&A opportunities but we will be selective. It has to be a digital media product with a sizeable audience already visiting the site and we will look at how that particular brand fits within the entire REV Asia set-up,” he said.

    Recall that the group acquired two Chinese websites, Viralcham and Rojaklah, in 2015 and last year it acquired three Malay-language websites, namely Siraplimau.com, Myresipi.com and Kongsiresepi.com.

    Meanwhile, REV Asia Bhd (holding company of REV Asia) saw its shareholding in iCar Asia Ltd diluted to 17.28% in September last year and in November shareholders approved the transfer of its shareholding into a special purpose vehicle (SPV).

    “The process is underway, we are waiting for the finalisation of a court order to reduce the share capital and to fully formalise the transfer of the shares of iCar Asia out from REV Asia Bhd into an SPV. We hope to complete the transfer by first quarter this year,” said Voon.

  • Many businesses stop advertising on YouTube

    Many businesses stop advertising on YouTube

    Some major brands in Việt Nam had to stop advertising on the world’s largest online video site, YouTube, when these brands’ advertisements were linked to clips containing poor content.

    According to information from the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information under the Ministry of Information and Communications, the authority received official dispatches from Vietnam Airlines, Mead Johnson Nutrition Việt Nam and Vinamilk explaining an incident in which their brands appeared in clips with pornographic, slanderous or anti-government content on YouTube.

    At the same time, businesses have also confirmed that they stopped advertising on the online video site.

    A Vinamilk’s representative told media that the company signed a co-operation contract with WPP Media Company Limited (Mediacom) to promote the brand to consumers through mass media.

    According to a commitment between the two parties, Mediacom has to conduct communication services in compliance with Vietnamese laws, as well as take responsibility in monitoring and reporting for Vinamilk, if there are problems affecting its images and reputation.

    After receiving the dispatch from the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information regarding the incident, Vinamilk asked Mediacom to coordinate with YouTube to remove advertisements on clips with unwanted content, at the same time, suspending all advertisement plans on YouTube until the media partner and the site send reports to Vinamilk to find solutions for the problem.

    Earlier, the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information sent dispatches to several large enterprises in Việt Nam asking for reports about these brands or their products appearing in clips with improper contents posted on YouTube.

    The authority found 17 clips with advertising inserted into videos on YouTube that had contents violating the country’s law.

    Additionally, the Ministry of Information and Communications has coordinated with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to decide upon a fine for YouTube for not obeying the regulations on advertising for cross-border advertising activities on websites in Việt Nam.

    The ministry also invited YouTube and Google representatives to cooperate in resolving these violations.

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  • InMobi sees gold in Indonesian ad market

    InMobi sees gold in Indonesian ad market

    InMobi, an India-based mobile advertising platform provider, will invest up to US$50 million within the next five years to expand its business in Indonesia.

    InMobi founder and chief executive officer Naveen Tewari said in Jakarta on Monday that the company would focus its investment on developing a mobile video advertisement and customer-relationship management platforms.

    “We are going to expand our business, also use the money for team resources, product customization, and partnerships,” Naveen told a media briefing.  “We are also going to bring our team from India, as well as hire local [human] resources in Indonesia,” he added.

    The mobile advertisement market in Indonesia is quite promising because of the shift in advertisement placement from conventional media such as television to mobile devices and the increasing number of smartphone users, according to InMobi.

    The company’s survey showed that in 2016, video-based advertisement on mobile devices in Indonesia rose by 380 percent.  InMobi is a mobile advertising platform, which was established in Indonesia in 2008, marking its first office outside India.

    “By 2016, our platform has reached 90 percent of smartphone users, or approximately 69 million users in Indonesia. We offer an ads platform that can reach a larger scale than television advertising,” Naveen added.