Key digital developments that marketers should consider in 2022

Marketers must be agile and quick to keep up with these changes, taking advantage of technologies to streamline operations and maintain relevance with their audience.

Here are the key digital marketing developments that marketers should consider in 2022.

E-commerce leaps forward with AI

The pandemic has been one of the biggest growth catalysts for omnichannel retail in APAC, with online sales expected to reach US$2.8 trillion by 2025[2]. The continued growth in e-commerce, complemented with AI, has taken the offline retail experience online.

Convenience has become key to purchase decisions - consumers want to reach brands on the channel of their choice, be given multiple payment options, and have access to quick delivery services. As the world returns to normal, online shopping is expected to rise but more importantly, consumers want the ability to choose online or in-person shopping at any time. Continued investment in omnichannel customer engagement - voice search, AR functionality, AI chatbots, and visual search – will be key for businesses.

As brands increase their e-commerce offerings, optimizing digital ad strategies will be crucial. According to the H1 2021 Media Quality Report (MQR) by Integral Ad Science (IAS), APAC markets were among the top brand-safe markets worldwide for desktop display. In Singapore, brand risk across display declined for both desktop and mobile web. This shows that the region is a viable environment for digital advertising if brands and advertisers invest in media quality - ensuring their ads are shown to real people on safe, reputable sites or alongside relevant content for greater brand memorability.

First-party data will continue to reign supreme

While Google’s announcement on the delay in phasing out third-party cookies was greeted with a sigh of relief, the eventual cookie deprecation and the effect of Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) will mean that marketers need to find alternative solutions fast. ‘The State of Programmatic in JAPAC – 2021’ report notes that more than 65% of JAPAC brands are concerned and rightly so since advertisers have long relied on behavioral targeting to personalize campaigns.

First-party data is increasingly being seen as the lifeblood of any brand’s marketing efforts and this will be a key focus for marketers in 2022. Brands must figure out how to prioritize the collection of first-party data. We are already seeing this happen with over 25% of JAPAC marketers turning to SSPs, ad exchanges, and DSPs for assistance, while 32% of publishers are spending more to obtain first-party data to help authenticate their users[3].

Short-form videos will keep rising in popularity

Both globally and regionally, the amount of video content on the internet is exploding given the ease of accessibility. Just about everyone has access to a high-quality camera and the internet to upload videos.

APAC digital video viewers will increase 6.5% this year to 1.93 billion and are set to exceed 2 billion by 2022, a year earlier than previously projected according to the Dentsu report. During the pandemic, we saw the video popularity boom, including short forms videos such as Tik Tok, making the format very popular. I predict this short-form video engagement will keep growing. Not only have short-form videos become an important platform, but it is also equally critical for marketers to incorporate them in their marketing objectives, add in media quality safeguards while being empathetic of mobile viewing behavior - where videos are often viewed in vertical formats and become critical to convey the brand message as early as possible. According to our MQR report, in the first half of 2021, the video viewability levels were up across all environments and nearly all markets worldwide. eMarketer data predicts that by year-end 2025, digital video will reach 82.2% of internet users in Asia-Pacific for a total of 2.20 billion viewers.

Privacy and the new era of digital ads – contextual and cookieless

As the industry prepares for a cookieless future and moves away from defined audience targeting, advertisers have a significant opportunity to be intentional with contextual tools. The Power of Context in APAC report explored how context influences consumers’ perception of ads and brands.

The study uncovered that consumers are extremely receptive to contextually relevant ads. A majority of APAC consumers — 96% in Indonesia, 91% in Singapore, 86% in Australia, and 75% in Japan — prefer digital ads to appear alongside relevant content. Another study, The Context Effect, shows that ad-context increases memorability up to 40%. These findings demonstrate that digital marketers can achieve higher brand memorability and elicit positive emotional responses from consumers by activating contextual strategies.

Advanced data, technology, and measurement will fuel the future of CTV advertising

During the pandemic, Connected TV (CTV) became the go-to video source for millions of homebound viewers. eMarketer estimates that advertisers will invest over US$13.4 billion into CTV this year, growing to surpass US$24.7 billion by 2024. More ads are being watched on this platform with viewers being more engaged and emotionally invested – this is true when watched as a group. According to our Streaming Wars CTV study, which ran late last year, CTV has become mainstream in Indonesia with 7 in 10 consumers having access to it and a whopping 80% of respondents preferring the AVOD model and being willing to see ads in exchange for free streaming video. In Australia, 8 in 10 consumers have access to CTV and almost half of the consumers (47%) prefer to stream video content on CTV compared to mobile, desktop, or tablets. CTV also remained the most viewable format overall, reaching 93.2% in H1 2021 according to our media quality report.

CTV, while still nascent in the region, offers a great advantage for marketers, combining the scale and attention achieved via traditional TV with the precision of digital. Across APAC, CTV viewers are watching for longer periods and choosing longer videos. Viewers are also watching a variety of content – from sports and travel to cooking and more. I expect CTV consumption to grow in 2022. AVOD models have increased

As video consumption increases, underpinned by the rapid growth of CTV the control and scale provided by programmatic will become even more essential. With the programmatic technology evolving, programmatic will not only facilitate investment into quality impressions but also drive value beyond verification with privacy-compliant, contextual avoidance, and targeting combined with enriched channel-level insights.

Laura Quigley is the senior vice president for sales in Asia Pacific at IAS