Study finds advertisers in SE Asia adapting to New Data Privacy Laws through alternative ad targeting

80% of business decision-makers note investing in new marketing technologies and accelerating their response to market changes as top marketing priorities.

According to an InMobi study, 38% of brands and 55% of media agencies in Southeast Asia are in the early stage of consumer data privacy management practice maturity, still trying to identify and understand the impact of consumer data privacy developments on their current mobile marketing strategy.

InMobi, a leading provider of content, monetisation, and marketing technologies that help businesses fuel growth, released the findings from a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on “Future of Mobile Advertising in Tackling Data and Identity Deprecation.”

The study explores the impact of data privacy on advertising in Southeast Asia, offering a deep dive into the state of readiness of organisations and their action plans in the wake of consumer data privacy developments.

Users’ ability to block their identifier for advertisers (IDFA) as a key marketing challenge

The report on the study also reveals that 81% of respondents (comprising business decision-makers) in Southeast Asia believe that increasing reach and conversion to improve profitability ranks as one of the top high-critical marketing priorities. This further links to privacy-related challenges where 60% of respondents acknowledged users’ ability to block their identifier for advertisers (IDFA) as a key marketing challenge.

While talking about the report, Rishi Bedi, Managing Director for Asia Pacific at InMobi, commented, “The advertising ecosystem in Southeast Asia showcases matured levels of preparedness for data and identity deprecation. Publishers in the region are more advanced in their consumer data privacy practices than brands and media agencies who seem to be struggling to build a culture that values privacy and enforces regulatory compliance. Obtaining executive support for data stewardship and governance program can help businesses overcome this obstacle.”

The study shares additional insights on advertiser concerns regarding new data privacy guidelines, as well as their perceptions on alternative ad targeting options in the future: 

  • 44% of respondents highlight that a top concern on the phasing out of advertising identity is the inability to personalise and accurately target their ads
  • 51% of respondents expressed worry over the effectiveness and frequency of their consumer reach, resulting from having to rely on smaller data pools
  • 80% of respondents have already started testing rules-based targeting that allows businesses to switch app experiences based on “rules” such as user geography, operating system, browsers, device and more
  • 76% of respondents identified contextual targeting as an alternative ad method to serve personalised messages to consumers based on demographics, preferences, and behaviours within the app