Singapore lags in digital advertising measurement: IAB study

By Digital News Asia July 31, 2015

Measurement on mobile highlighted as biggest gap that needs to be addressed
While agreeing improvement needed, there is lack of urgency within the industry

Singapore lags in digital advertising measurement: IAB study

DIGITAL advertising measurement levels in Singapore are below average, senior marketers told an Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Singapore study.

The State of Digital Measurement in Singapore study found that senior marketers, on average, only rate the level of sophistication of digital measurement in Singapore at four out of 10, with 10 being on par with most advanced markets.

Measurement on mobile was highlighted as the biggest gap that needs to be addressed in the near future, IAB Singapore said in a statement.

The State of Digital Measurement study combined data from 25 in-depth interviews with leaders in the Singapore digital marketing industry with a quantitative online survey of 50 senior marketing professionals from brands, publishers and agencies, the bureau said.

“Digital marketing is still relatively new in this region and with technology evolving as rapidly as it is, we’ve unfortunately fallen a little behind in tracking and measuring our efforts,” said Peter Hubert, Asia Pacific head of insights at LinkedIn Marketing Solutions and co-chair of the IAB Singapore Measurement and Standards Committee.

“In fact, 88% of survey respondents said that the metrics they used were not effective enough in measuring campaign performance against business objectives.

“This needs to change if we are to prove the value of digital in the boardroom – it is the medium of the now and the future, after all,” he added.

The study also shows that there is a lack of understanding and engagement with key digital measurement techniques across the market, with 64% of marketers increasingly looking for help to improve their understanding and use of digital measurement and metrics.

Other key findings

Marketers also highlighted difficulty in capturing data, with 50% of online survey respondents complaining that it is difficult to get accurate results from existing measurement practices due to data being captured in siloes and a lack of integration amongst existing data sources.

They said that they lack certain resources such as Singapore or South-East specific case studies (76% of respondents), benchmarks to provide context and gauge success (64%), and support to gain a better understanding of measurement and metrics (64%) – all of which would help narrow their spending gap in digital.

Interestingly, despite the overall agreement that better technologies and standards are required to help the industry improve their understanding of mobile tracking, measurement and cross-platform attribution, there is a lack of urgency within the industry in seeking a resolution to the problem, IAB Singapore said.

To download a copy of the State of Digital Measurement in Singapore by the IAB, click here.