TV commercials to trigger mobile content in Indonesia

IPG Mediabrands announced the launch of mTraction TV Sync in Indonesia last Friday. The platform tracks track real-time TV commercials and syncs digital advertising to the TV ads to help brands deliver cross-screen communication over a unified platform. The initiative is a collaboration between IPG Mediabrands' mobile marketing and tech agency Ansible Indonesia and Singapore-based mobile intelligence agency Affle. 

Speaking to Campaign Asia-Pacific, Anuj Khanna Sohum, CEO and chairman of Affle, said the triggers that syncronise real-time TV ads with digital campaigns fall into three categories: the brand self, competitive and contextual.

"Brand self are typically commercials of the clients that we are promoting and can appear on ad breaks or in sponsored programmes," said Sohum. Competitive triggers, on the other hand, are stimulated by advertising of competing brands on TV, he explained. Their function is mainly to counter the presence of competitors on TV using non-TV screens.

As for the contextual triggers, Sohum said they are linked content withing the TV programme that are suitable for a brand to build its messaging, especially within sponsored TV programmes. 

mTraction TV Sync currently maps the top 10 channels in Indonesia. "It is not mandatory to buy air-time on TV to use mTraction TVSync, especially for competitive and contextual led campaigns," said Sohum. He revealed that Affle is in advanced discussion with Ansible to prioritise the rollout of the platform in Southeast Asia, with other APAC markets to follow. Ansible was launched in Philippines in March. 

L-R: Anuj Khanna Sohum, CEO and chairman of Affle, and
Pradeep Harikrishnan, technical advisor, IPG Mediabrands Indonesia.

Pradeep Harikrishnan, technical advisor for IPG Mediabrands Indonesia, said the platform "will definitely" push ecommerce by bridging the gap from TV exposure to triggering action for e-commerce campaigns. "Beyond ecommerce campaigns, all brands can benefit from our realistic mass outreach to consumers on their personal screens with mTraction TVSync-enabled exposures," said Harikrishnan.

He added that the advent of services like mTraction TVSync and the growth of programmatic is making the Indonesian market sharper in terms of integrated cross-screen campaigns and audience intelligence based retargeting. "As availability of data increases, audience intelligence based contextual platforms will drive digital innovation in Indonesia," noted Harikrishnan. 

TV remains the dominant medium for reaching consumers in Indonesia. Yet according to We Are Social's Digital in 2017: Southeast Asia Regional Overview report, average daily use of the internet via mobile phone in Indonesia stands at 3 hours and 55 minutes, compared to the average daily TV viewing time of 2 hours, 33 minutes.