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APAC marketers value content marketing ‘above ROI and accountability’

Marketers in the Asia-Pacific region are the only ones in the world to rank content marketing as their number one priority for 2017, a new study has found.

A global report by NewBase (formerly known as Publicitas), revealed that nearly 60 per cent of APAC marketers and agency bosses believed content marketing to be a main priority for the industry, while only half worldwide considered it as a top focus.

Despite a slew of controversies related to brand safety and transparency over recent months, APAC marketing players even said they valued content marketing higher than topical issues such as ROI and accountability – the top priority for marketers in North and South America currently.

Meanwhile, those based in the EMEA region argued that programmatic was the most pressing issues for 2017 – an area that only appeared ninth on APAC’s list of priorities.

The top ten priorities for each market are listed in the table below:

Mobile video and influencer marketing were ranked higher in APAC than in other markets, while viewability and fraudulent traffic, plus ad personalisation, were noted to be less pressing issues.

According to NewBase, APAC’s content marketing surge was in part due to consumers’ increasing adoption of mobile. The report revealed that 81 per cent of regional marketers believed that mobile advertising spend will increase this year, while 63 per cent believe mobile to be a “top technology factor” for the next 12 months.

More than 90 per cent also argued that relevant content would prevent ad blocking among internet users, although the latter issue only appeared in 10th position in the APAC rankings. NewBase noted that the majority of regional marketers surveyed for the report were based in Asia.

NewBase’s regional managing director for South East Asia and India Lee Walsh said: “This year there has been a tangible shift back to premium audiences and transparency. With the increased awareness of black box programmatic practices in the region we are seeing more Asian brands turning to the tangible nature of content marketing to communicate their messages.

“APAC respondents ranked both accountability and ROI as the second most important media talking point (49 per cent) after content marketing, while programmatic sits at just ninth place compared to first in EMEA.

“Budgets are undoubtedly tight for a lot of brands in the region, with marketers under pressure to get results with less resource. The relative unimportance of programmatic is a surprise. It will be interesting to see if this sector can win back brands trust through more transparent offerings this year.”

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