How to maximise reach in Hong Kong’s fragmented digital market: P&G study

The study tracked and measured the results of a campaign for a P&G beauty brand which was executed on major internet portals in Hong Kong. These websites are represented exclusively by Pixel Media including MSN HK, Windows Live Messenger, Sina, Discuss, Now.com, VDONext, 881903, and on the Adsfactor Network (Women Plus Channel).

The metrics of the digital campaign were then compared with those of television campaigns for the same brand; and outcomes overlaid with global results to determine best practices for Hong Kong.

comScore deployed its vCE methodology to measure digital campaign performance on the same metrics traditionally captured for television, namely reach, frequency and iGRPs.

In addition, comScore, Adsfactor and Pixel Media captured the qualified visible iGRPs—these are the GRPs for ads that have actually been ‘presented to the eye’ (versus those that have never been presented because the user did not scroll down to see them).

Digital is perceived to be an already mature medium in Hong Kong, becsause the population is able to consume digital content in both Chinese and English across a myriad of online platforms, which contributes to fragmentation of web usage.

As a result, the Hong Kong advertising scene has been ruled by a disconnect between business realities of mass media campaigns dominated by cost-efficient television as a reach driver.

The motivation behind the study was to quantify whether digital has reached a point in its development where it can move from strictly engagement-based discussions to the reach-based communication planning.

The four agencies put together five key lessons for Hong Kong advertisers for this purpose.

1. Digital can be an effective reach-builder, if an advertiser diversifies site selection beyond just the top five sites in Hong Kong.
2. Formats matter, as standard display banner, LREC, in-banner and pre-roll video ads perform differently. The one that worked the hardest in conversion-to-click rates was the pre-roll format.
3. In-view advertising placement, defined as an ad impression with at least 50 per cent of the ad’s pixels in the user’s viewpoint for one second or more, need to become the new currency of iGRP measurement.
4. While smartphone usage is very mature in Hong Kong at 220 per cent penetration, the mobile advertising industry is still in its infancy. 
5. Make digital in-flight optimisation part of a standard way to go to market

The opportunity for the Hong Kong industry is to reconcile the current disconnect between how marketers engage with consumers through media and the realities of a digitised consumer.

Joanna von Felkerzam, regional director of research & insights, Asia Pacific, Starcom MediaVest Group, believes the industry will benefit from these learnings as there are no "guides" or "best practices" captured this way before. According to her, though the findings are Hong Kong-based, they can provide a sense of direction for other Asia markets to better gauge how to start
building benchmarks through a more disciplined approach to digital campaign measurement.