Tech Talk: ComScore, InMobi, MediaMath, Hootsuite and more

Comscore takes measure of unduplicated audiences in Vietnam

Comscore has launched MMX Multi-Platform in Vietnam to measure unduplicated audiences across desktop computers, smartphones and tablets to account for today’s Total Digital Population.

The new service builds on the company’s audience measurement solutions, including MMX, Mobile Metrix and Video Metrix, to provide holistic measurement of consumers’ media consumption habits across devices.

According to MMX Multi-Platform, the Total Digital Population in Vietnam reached 37.4 million unique visitors/viewers in August 2016 with 33 percent of that population accessing the Internet from both desktop and mobile platforms.

Rohit Dadwal, MD, Asia Pacific, Mobile Marketing Association:

The launch of comScore MMX Multi-Platform in Vietnam is an important development. Not only will the industry gain valuable, trusted and actionable insights, primarily driven by the ever-increasing penetration and usage of mobile as the preferred device in Vietnam, the MMX Multi-Platform offering will help accelerate the growth of digital and especially mobile, which is now a dominant medium for marketing and advertising in Vietnam.

InMobi release new suite of video ad formats

Mobile advertising and discovery platform InMobi has launched an advanced suite of video formats across countries in Asia.

Aimed at helping brands capitalise on the opportunity offered by mobile video advertising, the suite of video ad formats will be available across countries including Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Korea and Japan.

Mobile video advertising is becoming a key component in a marketer's arsenal, with a video component in 1 out of every 3 campaigns in the region. According to InMobi’s network research, mobile video ad consumption is seeing an exponential rise, growing by 380 percent in the first half of 2016 in the APAC region.

The suite of ad formats includes:

• Vertical Videos: Vertical-video, a video format that renders in the portrait mode with 9:16 aspect ratio on mobile phones, presents advertisers an opportunity to reach audiences in an engaging, user-first format. InMobi's creative services team helps advertisers rebuild already existing creatives (landscape videos) to vertical video format while keeping the core message intact.
• Interactive Videos: Short form brand videos with interactive, rich end cards which increase engagement by 2X compared to videos without an end card.
• 360 Degree Videos: These video ads offer an immersive and interactive experience for the user.
• Opt-In Videos: 15-30 second non-skippable video ads that play at natural break points in the app interaction after a user opts in.
• In-Stream Videos: Pre-roll and mid-roll video ads that autoplay seamlessly within video content.

Jayesh Easwaramony, VP & GM, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, InMobi:

Mobile video has suffered from a repurposing problem in Asia, advertisers want to replicate a TV ad or a desktop ad onto mobile. However, that is neither sufficient nor right. By extending our creative capabilities to video and enriching it with a comprehensive suite of advanced ads to capture multiple mobile moments, supported by full viewability verification, InMobi becomes the one-stop solution that brands need to win with video, across all marketing objectives.

Mediamath integrates with Google AdX’s Programmatic Guaranteed

Mediamath has announced the integration of Google DoubleClick Ad Exchange (AdX)’s Programmatic Guaranteed product, laying claim as the first external programmatic technology partner to do so.

The product is touted to bring the power of programmatic to the most premium, sought-after supply inventory, streamlining the workflow for securing and negotiating high-value inventory from more than 500 publishers. Google estimates nearly 60 percent of programmatic spending will be via Programmatic Guaranteed by 2019.

Kevin Fernandes, head of programmatic trading, Havas Australia:

With the programmatic guaranteed solution now being available in MediaMath, it is a true testament of where the whole digital media landscape is heading toward. We can now leverage the high-value reserved, brand-safe and premium publisher inventory that our clients want to be seen on while at the same time move towards improving the overall digital campaign performance centered around data-driven decisioning.

Hootsuite expands social advertising with six new partners

Hootsuite has signed six new partnerships and now claims to offer the largest social advertising ecosystem of any social media management platform.

These partnerships will enable customers to complement their organic social media efforts with optimised social advertising campaigns to drive business results.

Social paid advertising has seen increased investment as brands look to expand customer engagement and ROI beyond organic social posts. According to ​eMarketer​, by 2017, social network ad spending will reach US$35.98 billion, representing 16 percent of all digital ad spending globally.

The partners are:

• AdEspresso, a self-service solution for Facebook and Instagram advertising optimization.
• Kenshoo, an agile marketing software provider.
• Nanigans, provider of advertising automation software for in-house marketing teams.
• Adaptly, a technology and services company that enables advertisers to scale campaigns across Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Pinterest.
• Mediative, one of North America's largest integrated digital marketing & media companies.
• Popimedia, a subsidiary of Publicis, and an adtech company, helps brands optimise spend, save time, and scale media on Facebook.

Matt Switzer, SVP of labs, corporate and business development at Hootsuite:

More than ever, brands are investing in paid social media advertising to complement their overall social initiatives and marketing campaigns. Hootsuite’s partnerships with these market-leading social ads solutions will help give our enterprise customers a cohesive and comprehensive view into their entire social strategy.

IntegraPay launches in-video payment solution in Australia

Payment processor IntegraPay has launched its In-Video Payment Solution (IVPS), hailing its introduction as a game changer for the way marketers use their video assets.

The technology has been released in the United States, and the company claims preliminary results have seen a 27 percent cost decrease during the sales funnel process and a 100 percent increase in the conversion rates for product sales.

The technology allows for customers to make a payment or a donation while watching a marketing video. It is touted to benefit retailers and charities using video marketing assets on their website or on social media platform, Facebook

IntegraPay CEO, Chris Urry:

The customer isn’t diverted to a third-party in order to purchase the item, register their interest, or make a donation. They aren’t funnelled off to a new webpage or taken to a pop-up to complete the transaction. Customers can continue to watch the video while entering their details, allowing for a seamless customer experience. The IVPS screen is embedded within the marketing video. This means when the marketing material is shared or forwarded on to a new person, IVPS is included. If the video goes viral, so will IVPS, raising the stakes for Australian retailers and charities.

MP & Silva re-launches BallBall in Vietnam and Indonesia with Simplestream

MP & Silva has re-launched BallBall, a NewsCorp-owned digital football service in Indonesia and Vietnam that provides football highlight clips from the world’s leading football leagues including the English Premier League, French Ligue 1, German Bundesliga and Italian Serie A TIM. BallBall also provides match day previews and post-game packages.

MP & Silva's production division within the technology services business unit worked with Simplestream for the implementation of the new BallBall video platform, which ingests highlight clips into its media manager in real-time.

Unique cloud encoding immediately generates quality-optimised output for multiple devices and rapid publishing enabling the dynamic syndication of clips to various website and social media partners of BallBall in multiple languages.

Adam Smith, founder & CEO, Simplestream:

BallBall is a perfect example of the strength of our technology partnership with MP & Silva. Using our cloud-based Media Manager software, a powerful content ingest, management and syndication workflow has been delivered to News Corp on time and in budget, enabling these highlights from some of the world’s biggest football leagues to be instantly and securely monetised across multiple web and mobile properties throughout Asia.