Programmatic mobile buying rises sharply in SEA, for good reasons: TubeMogul CEO

The company is set to release its latest statistics for the region, including some eye-popping numbers. Mobile inventory available through TubeMogul's network across Southeast Asia grew 720 per cent quarter-over-quarter, while individual countries racked up growth rates that look like typos: 5,820 per cent in the Philippines, 2,950 per cent in Indonesia, 2,800 per cent in Malaysia and 1,600 per cent in Thailand. (See additional details in the table below.)

Granted, these meteoric percentage gains come from a small initial base. But Wilson argued they still signify a real change.

"In many other parts of the world, programmatic buying of mobile video is nascent," Wilson told Campaign Asia-Pacific in an exclusive interview. "Southeast Asia is one of the few markets where brands are closer to actual [media] consumption trends."

Wilson argued that programmatic tools are particularly suited to helping brands and agencies crack new and unfamiliar markets. "Now they can log in from anywhere and put a plan together in minutes that used to require a lot of local knowledge," he said. Looked at another way, the advantages of programmatic buying are magnified in complex markets, he said. Having "boots on the ground", or intimate knowledge of each market, isn't necessary when software can help a brand gain scale and fine-tune its approach through optimisation.

Programmatic buying also levels the playing field for smaller agencies, added Phu Truong, TubeMogul's Southeast Asia MD. "A lot of smaller agencies in the past did not have the resources to have a media department," he said. "What we've seen is some of them are able now to compete with large, GroupM agencies. They have the ability to buy media in the exact same way at the exact same scale as GroupM. They don't have to build a team in every single market anymore. They can have a team of five people and one login."

Wilson, like other executives in the programmatic space, asserted that it's past time for brands and agencies to put aside preconceptions about the technology.

"Many people's perception of programmatic is that it's technology that allows you to buy remnant inventory cheaper," he said. "But increasingly, brands are using it to automate and streamline their entire buy."

In addition to scale and efficiency, programmatic video buying offers increasing knowledge of whether consumers are actually viewing an ad, and the industry is investing heavily in making de-duplicated cross-screen buying a reality, he said.

Campaign Asia-Pacific has two upcoming events on programmatic buying that may interest you:

• Marketing Innovation Summit: The programmatic way
• Free webcast: Reach your true audience - Data and programmatic strategies

In addition, you might be interested in this white paper provided by TubeMogul and SpotXchange:

• Transparency in Online Video Advertising