APAC

THE STATE OF MOBILE

ADVERTISING - Q2, 2015

Insights presented by Opera Mediaworks in partnership with the Mobile Marketing Association

In the past decade, Asia4 has stood out as a world leader in mobile innovation, leading the global adoption of
many mobile devices and services. Its dive into mobile advertising is no exception.
While much of the growth and adoption of mobile advertising has been fueled by the strength of the mobile
ad market in Japan, Korea and China, we have seen signicant growth in the four countries of India, Indonesia,
the Philippines and Vietnam. We have grouped these countries into a sub-region called The Power 4, or P4.

Population 20141

Internet adoption2

Share of Asia internet users2

% of internet users
mobile capable3

Vietnam

2.29%

43.90%

2.92%

57.56%

43.38%

Philippines

2.53%

41.10%

3.15%

58.42%

38.27%

Indonesia

6.38%

28.10%

5.07%

93.16%

72.53%

India

31.99%

19.70%

17.30%

77.48%

43.90%

OMW share of mobile users

1. http://www.worldbank.org, 2014
2. http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm
3. Based on eMarketer estimates of smartphone users by country (2014), added to users of Opera Mini / Internet World stats estimate of internet users
4. As dened by the United Nations, with the exception of Western Asia which we refer to as the Middle East. Refer to page 11 for a full list.

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Part 1: Mobile-device use and market share

The P4 countries represent 43% of the population of Asia, yet they account for less than 30% of regional
internet users. However, over 76% of these users access the internet using a mobile device. This group is led
by Indonesia, where we estimate a remarkable 93%1 of internet users can access the web via a mobile device.
Despite the slower adoption of the mobile web (compared to Japan and Korea), the use of smartphones
has seen impressive growth in the last two years. As shown in the chart, smartphone ownership has
increased by over 545% since the beginning of 2013.

Smartphone adoption within Operas audience reach in the P4

70%
60%

Smartphones

50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2013

8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6

2014

2015

Asia has consistently been one of the top markets, both in terms of unique users accessing the Opera
Mediaworks platform for advertising and for the number of impressions served to those users. Operas
reach within this market is approximately 400 million unique users each month, across both apps and
mobile web.

1. Based on eMarketer estimates of smartphone users by country (2014), added to users of Opera Mini / Internet World stats estimate of internet users

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Indonesia, the Philippines lead in page views, Vietnam in data use

Compared to global averages, as seen in our Q2 State of Mobile Advertising report, use of mobile
websites and apps tends to be lower in the P4. However, this sub-region is on par with the rest of Asia, and
both the Philippines and Indonesia exceed the global average for page views consumed per user. Vietnam
trails the average volume of page views by a signicant margin, but it has a sizable lead in data consumption,
with each user in Vietnam using 85 MB per month very close to the global average of 90 MB/month.
Asia P4 audience use of mobile devices
100

700

90
80

500

70
60

400

50

300

40

200

30
20

100

Megabytes per user

Page views per user

600

PV/User

10

MB

India

Indonesia

Philippines

Vietnam

Asia

Global

Other devices still prevail in Asia and P4 sub-region

The Asia region and the P4 have a much higher percentage of other devices (i.e., those with operating
systems other than iOS or Android) than our global user base.
These devices tend to monetize at lower rates than Android or iOS, and they also tend to drive fewer
impressions per user. However, in Asia and more specically, in our P4 region these devices do drive
a signicant number of impressions.
Additionally, while the Asia region has easily maintained pace with the rest of the world in the adoption
of Android devices, adoption of iOS has been much slower, leaving a large, untapped smartphone market
opportunity.
Unique users by OS platform
100%
90%

% unique users

80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%

Other

20%

iOS

10%

Android

0%
Vietnam

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Philippines

Indonesia

India

Global

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Android is market leader for impressions

Looking at the market share of each operating system (as measured by impressions served), it is clear that
Android is dominating the market, driving the lions share of impressions globally, regionally (Asia) and also
within the P4.
Impressions by OS platform
Other

iOS

P4
Android

Global
Asia
0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

The no. 1 obstacle to revenue growth

70%

80%

Impressions and revenue by region

30%

Due largely to the continuing presence (and large market

share) of Other devices, which monetize at lower rates,
the Asia region and the P4 both fall below the global
averages for monetization potential, or the ratio of money
earned to impressions served.

20%

10%

The P4 ratio of percentage of revenue to percentage of

impressions is 0.47:1, just under that of APAC (.49:1).
0%
Revenue
P4

Demand for mobile video in the P4

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Asia

Use of mobile video advertising

1.2:1

1.07:1
Ratio of video impression % to the
percentage of all impressions

Globally, we have witnessed increased

demand for and rapid adoption of mobile
video-ad units. Within the P4 region, the
Philippines has the highest ratio of video-ad
impressions compared to the volume of all
impressions served in its market, and it also
exceeded the expected global standard
(ratio of 1:1). Both India and Vietnam
exceeded the average across all of Asia
(0.41:1).

Impressions

1.0:1
0.8:1

0.69:1

0.68:1
0.6:1

0.47:1

0.41:1

0.4:1
0.2:1
1.0:1
0.0:1
India

Indonesia

Vietnam

Philippines

Asia region

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Part 2: Mobile consumer behavior and trends

Demographics
Vietnam

India

Indonesia

Philippines

Average age: 21 years old

Average age: 22.6 years old

Average age: 24 years old

Average age: 21 years old

50% are 19 years old or younger

50% are 18-23 years old

50% are 22 years old or younger

50% are 25 years old or younger

90% are 27 years old or younger

65.3%

85.9%

34.7%

14.1%

76.4%

23.6%

54.5% 45.5%

1. Source: Based on survey responses from over 260,000 Opera mobile device browser users from P4 countries, and Opera Mediaworks research.

Frequent vs. occasional users

We categorized mobile users into three groups:
1.

High frequency users, who access mobile sites and apps ve or more days each week

2.

Regular users, who access mobile sites three or four days per week

3.

Low volume users, who access mobile sites one or two days in a week

In our ndings, we saw that both Vietnam and Indonesia have a higher percentage of high-frequency users
than the global average, while India and the Philippines contain more low-frequency users. Interestingly,
the regular frequency group for the P4 are all similar in market share and are also quite close to the
global average.
% of total users in one week
60%
50%
40%
High

30%

Low

20%

Regular

10%
0%

Global

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India

Indonesia

Philippines

Vietnam

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Most popular types of mobile content

Considering the volume of active users, there are ve media categories that lead the pack across the
P4 region:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Social Networking
News & Information
Arts & Entertainment
Business & Finance
Technology & Computing

However, as shown in the chart, user interest in these categories varies signicantly within the sub-region
and also when compared to our global data set. For instance, when compared to the global average:
Social Networking is far more popular in the Philippines than other markets, but interest in other categories
wanes, particularly for News.
Indonesians also top the global average for Social Networking use, but far outpace the rest of the world when
it comes to consumption of Business content.
Vietnam shows a strong preference for News.
In India, mobile users are visiting more sites and apps in the Music, Video, Media & Entertainment and the
Technology & Computing categories than the average global user.
Social Networking
40%
20%

% of unique users

0.0%

Technology &
Computing

-20%
-40%

News & Information

-60%
Global

-80%

India
Indonesia
Philippines
Vietnam

Business, Finance
& Investing

Music, Video, Media

& Entertainment

Percentage of total unique users accessing site/app category

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Diversity of mobile consumption

Variance across the population
Index based on dispersion of page views across sites
(based on population variance)

9
Vietnam

8
7
6

India
Global

Indonesia
4
3
Philippines

2
1
0
0

10

12

14

16

Index based on dispersion of users across site categories

(based on population variance)

Do mobile users in these countries spend most of their time and attention on one or two types of mobile
content, or do they have a broad set of interests? We examined the dispersion of users across site and
app categories. The chart above compares the dispersion of each country's users' page views across sites
(vertical axis) with the dispersion of unique users across sites (horizontal axis). The horizontal axis can be
envisioned as how many different sites the average user visits. The vertical axis depicts the extent to
which users disperse their page views across the different sites they visit.
We found that:
Indonesian users have a broad range of interests, with signicantly more users engaging in cross-site/app
activity than our global average (or the Philippines, where cross-site interest is low). As such, cross-site
behavioral advertising has the greatest potential in Indonesia.
Vietnam, while having a low level of cross-site activity, are extremely loyal and, therefore distribute their total
page views across a small group of sites and apps. So, in Vietnam, contextual targeting would be the most
successful approach.
Filipino users focus their interests and their page views on a very small, select group of sites and apps, making
success in advertising dependent on close partnerships with those top publishers.

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page 7

Part 3: Trafc and revenue breakdown

Top media categories, by overall trafc volume
On a global level, Social Networking is the top category in terms of total mobile trafc, as measured by
impressions. This holds true as well in the P4 region, where 26.5% of all impressions are served on Social
Networking sites and apps.
However, when it comes to revenue, there is a big difference. Globally, Social Networking leads in total
revenue generation, but in the P4 region, Business, Finance & Investing sites and apps are the clear winner.
They are responsible for nearly 42% of the revenue paid to publishers across the P4 sub-region.
Shopping
Music, Video, Media & Entertainment
Games
Communication Service
Sports
Business, Finance & Investing
News & Information

Revenue
Impressions

Social Networking
0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Revenue winners: Business & Finance, Communication Services

When we compare the top media categories in the P4 region with the global market, we nd some signicant
differences around share of impressions served and the amount of revenue delivered to publishers.
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
Global impressions

15%

Global revenue
P4 impressions
P4 revenue

10%
5%
0%
Social
News &
Business,
Networking Information Finance &
Investing

Sports Communication Games

Service

Music, Video, Shopping

Media &
Entertainment

As seen in the graph on the previous page:

Social Networking leads for impressions served in both the global and P4 sub-markets, but it falls well short
of the lead position for revenue generation across the P4 countries.
News & Information, while a solid performer in both markets for impressions, underperforms when it comes
to revenue generation.
In contrast, the Business, Finance & Investing category, as well as the Commmunication Services category,
performs much better in the P4 than globally for both impression volume and revenue generation.
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Monetization tactics and levels vary by category, country

Given the variable levels of interest and degrees of engagement in each media category shown by each of
the countries in the P4, it is not surprising that there are are signicant differences in monetization models.
The chart below shows the top three publisher categories in each country and compares them by percentage
of users engaging with that media category (bubble size), the relative eCPM paid for impressions by
advertisers and the percentage of impressions the site category generates on our platform.
Here we can see:
There is a wide range of eCPM paid to publishers in the region. At the high end of the range is the Games
category, fueled by the Vietnamese market. In fact, Vietnam is the only country in the P4 where Games ranked
in the top three. Globally, the Games category also demands a fairly high premium, but it does not drive nearly
as large of a percentage of our global impression volume, so Vietnam is somewhat unique in this regard.
Having a large number of users does not necessarily drive higher eCPM. Social Networking sites and apps had
the greatest percentage of users in each of the countries that make up the P4. However, only in the case of
the Philippines did this leadership position result in the highest eCPM rate. This was true even as the Social
Networking properties in the Philippines had the lowest percentage of impressions across the entire region.

45%

% of impressions served

40%

Games

Social Networking

35%

25%

Philippines
News & Information

10%
5%

Social Networking

Business, Finance & Investing

Indonesia

Sports

20%
15%

India

Music, Video, Media & Entertainment

30%

Communications
Service

Communication
Service

Music, Video,
Media &
Entertainment

0%

News &
Information

Vietnam

Social Networking

eCPM Index
Bubble size is % of users engaging with site category

Methodology
Information contained in this report is based on aggregated information obtained from the Opera
Mediaworks mobile advertising platform and mobile ad exchange servers. The data presented represents
trafc and monetization metrics and statistics compiled across multiple advertising campaigns delivered
by us to our mobile publisher customers. The data includes ads requested from and delivered by us on
behalf of multiple ad networks as well as directly sold campaigns created by our customers themselves.
Country level details are based on IP addresses of the originating ad requests as forwarded to us by our
mobile publisher/app developer customers. Device details are similarly based on device user agents
provided by these same customers.

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page 9

Campaign Spotlight
The AskMeBazaar mobile engagement campaign is rst in its class. No other brand or
company has ever customized a mobile campaign to this extent, from the rst contact with
the consumer to the targeted delivery of specic creative developed for the user. It
succeeded in disrupting the e-commerce market in India and it also demonstrated the
power of utilizing great technology and consumer insights to redene a sector.

The goal:
AskMe, known primarily as Indias Yellow Pages, wanted to challenge the market in
India by launching AskMeBazaar.com to be the e-commerce site of choice
among all consumers.

The target audience:

Indias 55 million active Opera mobile browser users

The strategy:
Opera Mediaworks, together with AskMeBazaar, studied how to attract the new brands early adopters and the m-commerce
heavy users by leveraging the catalog offering of AskMeBazaar.
Over 12 audience segments (personas) were identied and served only the most relevant ads with customized product
categories by using Surf DNA, our proprietary targeting technology, which attracted the best transacting customers and
increased campaign efciency in a major way.
For example, one of the audience segments, identied as the High Rollers segment, were served specic advertisements for
relevant products such as watches and optical wear, luxury bags & luggage, jewelry, art & decorative items, furnishings,
laptops, tness equipment, etc.
More than 1,500 creatives were delivered each week to the targeted audience segments. Over 200 campaigns ran across the
12+ specic audience segments with matching 34 categories of relevant products found on AskMeBazaar.

The results:
BRAND IMPACT

LEAD GENERATION

12 billion impressions delivered over 6 months

45million visits, driving 80% of total sales on mobile

55 million unique users, 40% audience share

200 sales/day to over 3,800 sales/day

11% engagement

260K+ unique transactions during the campaign

Combining the insights from user behavior, AskMeBazaar was able to

provide the best-performing products (deals), add similar deals, and,
more importantly, remove non-performing products.
Watch a video highlighting the AskMeBazaar campaign:
https://vimeo.com/136583923

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Asia as dened by the UN1

Southern Asia
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Bhutan
India
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Maldives
Nepal
Pakistan
Sri Lanka

South-Eastern Asia
Brunei Darussalam
Cambodia
Indonesia
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Malaysia
Myanmar
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Viet Nam

Not Included
Western Asia
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Cyprus
Georgia
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
State of Palestine
Syrian Arab Republic
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
Yemen

Central Asia
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan

Eastern Asia
China
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
China, Macao Special Administrative Region
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Japan
Mongolia
Republic of Korea

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm

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