Targeting Ads for Relevance and Scale

By Manish Mishra, Chief Revenue Officer

Let's say that you're selling smartphones - or financial services or beer for that matter - in South Africa and you'd like to market your product to your core audience.  

You know that a majority of your consumers are male.  

If your budget is big enough, you might consider advertising on ESPN.

But wait, did you know that even ESPN - whose audience is 85% male - sees mobile as a great way to reach male consumers?

BuzzCity Tours: Jan – Mar 2015

BuzzCity, as always, will be at the forefront at several conferences, workshops, and seminars across the globe, and we hope to meet with you.

Below is the list of events where you can catch us at, along with the BuzzCity personnel that you can schedule a meetup with.

BuzzCity at Clickz Live Jakarta 2015

BuzzCity is proud to be the Gold sponsor at Clickz Live Jakarta 2015, happening on 24-25 March at Grand Hyatt Jakarta.

Our Chief Revenue Officer, Manish Mishra, will be sharing deep insights on the Indonesian consmer in “Mobile Advertising for Maximum Reach to Target Customers”.

Manish has worked closely with Brands and Agencies in scaling their campaigns across South East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. His most recent challenge is to develop best practise strategies for brands across the BuzzCity Ad Network.

He is best positioned to share the latest on consumer attitudes and how Brands can make mobile advertising work for them. 

We look forward to seeing you there.

Online Shopping Routines - South Africa

By Nicholas Hodge, Country Manager, South Africa


Empowered by technology, consumers use every channel available to make purchasing decisions, particularly on mobile. This has led to the rise in online shopping in many markets, including South Africa.

There is clear growth of online shopping in South Africa and the number of online shoppers among our South African audience continues to rise. By Nov 2014, nearly three quarters of South African mobile surfers visit online shopping sites.  In a similar study in earlier in the year (April 2014) we found just as many South Africans shop with their PC’s (26%) as they do with mobiles (26%).

Publisher Update : Audience Profiles

By Evelyn Tay, Director, Publisher Alliance

From November 2014, Publisher accounts are supported with Audience Profiles to help each publisher put across content / services to the right people in the most effective way.

These profiles are derived from continuous sampling of visitors to each Publisher site (or application) and can be found in the Audience Profile selection from the dropdown menu.

Mobile & Travel 2015

By Hisham Isa, Vice President (Marketing)

The number of travellers - both business and pleasure - who are depending on their mobiles to make travel decisions and purchases is rapidly on the rise, according to findings from BuzzCity's latest survey of mobile users from 25 benchmark countries.

Not only are consumers using their phones to purchase tickets and book accommodation, they're also increasingly relying on their mobile devices for information and entertainment while on the road.

Some astute travel industry brands are already capitalising on this shift, thinking beyond their websites and purchase apps to how they can really engage consumers and improve their travel experiences. If you're in the travel industry and not already doing this, take note or risk losing market share in the year ahead.

Best Cities for Free WiFi - Jan 2015

Multi-channel surfing has resulted in higher demand for access among travellers and meeting this demand may yet be business critical for airports, hotels and public transport services.  In our latest report on Lifestyle : Mobile & Travel (pg. 21), free hotel wifi was one of the items 39% of travellers looked for, so the this recent news comes as no surprise. 

The BuzzCity Report Vol 5 Issue 1 - Jan 2015

Over the course of 2014 we delivered 321 billion ads, a growth of 19% from last year. This growth comes as advertiser trust in mobile grew together with our aggressive culling of fraudulent traffic.

The last year saw smartphones become a mainstream mobile surfing tool across our network and e-commerce grew in markets like India, Indonesia and Malaysia. We believe this will only increase as more surfers turn to 4G services in markets across our network.

Just as mobile has transformed online commerce for many, we see similar transformations in the travel industry. This report includes a survey on travel  that shows more than a quarter of mobile users now booking tickets on their mobiles.  

Click to download the report

Quality Affordable Phones

Brands Take To Mobile

The last year also saw smartphones become a mainstream mobile surfing tool across our network. By the end of the first quarter, more than half the users on our network used smartphones. By January 2015, 66% of our audience is surfing with smartphones.

With mobile now the first screen in consumers lives — and a primary channel for brands to connect with consumers - advertisers need to take a consumer centric approach to their marketing programme for 2015.

Learn from a variety of brands who have accomplished their business goals in various through the line campaigns on the BuzzCity Ad Network.

The Crystal Ball 2015

By Lai Kok Fung, BuzzCity CEO

As we turn the page on 2014, it's that time of year again when we pull out the BuzzCity Crystal Ball to take a look at what the new year has in store for mobile users and the mobile industry.

The past twelve months have been a period of steady growth for the mobile industry.  Here are just a few indicators:

• Since the start of the year, The BuzzCity Ad Network has delivered over 320 billion ads, up 19% from 2013.
• The global market for mobile ads is expected to top US$31 billion in 2014.  Digital advertising is on the rise at a time when TV and print ads are stagnant or declining.
• More than 1 billion smartphones will be sold this year and smartphone penetration is as high as 85% in Singapore, where mobile devices are far more popular than PCs.  More than three-quarters of mobile surfers use smartphones in 75 markets.

Based on what we see from BuzzCity's research and our survey of the overall industry, it's easy to be bullish on the year ahead as well, particularly when it comes to mobile video and m-commerce . . . which leads me to our two predictions for 2015:

1.  Mobile 'TV' Ads Go Mainstream

2.  Online Shopping Drives Retail Sales for Vendors Big and Small

Shopping for Essentials Online Becomes Routine

By Hisham Isa, Vice President (Marketing)

A host of new online shopping services - by established and upstart companies alike - are leading consumers to shop more frequently with their phones.

And more than that, consumer shopping routines are changing too, with people going online to shop when they need something, rather than just making regular visits to the store.

Sixty-nine percent of mobile users now shop online - up from 59% a little over a year ago - according to a BuzzCity survey of 4700 consumers from 25 countries across six continents. More than a quarter of these consumers shop online every day.

Travel Advertisers on Mobile

Travel advertisers are already using mobile as a ‘reach’ vehicle, indulging in cross platform advertising and meeting their local marketing needs with mobile to reach out to new customers.

These advertisers range from tourism authorities, airlines to online booking services.

Effective Marketing: The Convergence of Earned, Owned and Paid Media

By Manish Mishra, Vice President (Sales)

Social media and mobile phones have transformed the digital landscape, but while many businesses have been slow to adapt, others have internalised the wrong lessons.

In my last column, I discussed how the concepts of “Above the Line” and “Below the Line” Marketing are no longer relevant in a digital world. It didn't take long for marketers to develop three new categories: Earned, Owned and Paid Media.  Basically,

• Paid Media are ads
• Owned Media consists of content you control, like a website and
• Earned Media happens when consumers talk about you and share your content

These lines are blurred as well, though.

The most effective marketing campaigns include all of these elements, along with clear goals and a comprehensive strategy.

Effective Marketing: The 'Line' Doesn't Exist Anymore

By Manish Mishra, Vice President (Sales)

What many of us learned in business school or in our first sales and marketing jobs is woefully out-of-date. In particular, creating a distinction - in a world of digital advertising - between 'above the line' and 'below the line' marketing no longer makes any sense.

Yet while effective marketers recognise this, many companies have not made the shift and as a result are deploying their resources poorly.

This GAP ad from the UAE links to the Men's Apparel section of the GAP website.
Is this an example of Above The Line, Below The Line or neither?

The BuzzCity Report Vol 4 Issue 4 - Sept 2014

In this report we cover the third quarter of 2014 during which our network delivered 83 billion paid ads. 

Over the course of the year we delivered 244 billion ads, a growth of 24% from last year.

Among the Top Markets in the third quarter are :-

India   20.0 billion
Indonesia   16.9 bil
South Africa   4.9 bil
Nigeria           3.3 bil
Pakistan         2.6 bil
United States  2.4 bil
Malaysia        2.4 bil

Movies: Delay Digital Releases At Your Own Peril

By Hisham Isa, Vice President (Marketing)

It's time for the feature film industry and television producers to adapt to a new era of distribution.

For decades -- since the advent of VCRs and home movie viewing, if not the beginning of television itself - major studios have given cinemas an exclusive window to screen films first before releasing them through other channels.

Today, though, these delays foster piracy.

Whiskey and Phones

By Hisham Isa, Vice President (Marketing)

TV Ad Dollars Are Shifting
to Web Videos 

The companies that provide consumer products and services are always on the look out for creative ways to market their goods.

Television ads used to be at the top of the ladder.

Then, viewers started recording programmes and fast-forwarding through commercials.

Enter product placements - a Coca-Cola cup here, an iMac there.

Now, though, a key group of consumers - youth aged 18 - 35 - are watching less television altogether, be it live or taped and are spending increasingly more time with other media devices - phones, tablets, game consoles and computers.

The changing nature of media consumption has led some brands to adapt again, this time becoming the producers and sponsors of their own content. (You'll want to read on: I'm about to share two great videos!)

BuzzCity Tours : Oct - Dec 2014

Over the coming months our team mates will be at several conferences and workshops and hope to meet with you.

1. Istanbul – Webit Conference : 1st – 2nd Oct. 2014 (Dan) 
2. Johannesburg - Tech4Africa:  8th & 9th Oct. (Nick) 
3. Dubai - Gitex 2014 : 12 - 16th Oct. (Amit)
4. Mexico City – Devhr.mx : 21st – 24th Oct. (Dan & Isabel)  
   
5. London - Ad Tech London :  21st – 22nd Oct.  Come meet with our UK team  at  Stand No. 371  at The National Hall, Olympia.
6. Paris – Games Connection  :  29-31 Oct. (Sabrina)
7. New York- Ad Tech New York  :  5th & 6th November (Dan) 
8. Cape Town - Market Research in the Mobile World:  5th - 6th Nov (Nick)
9. Cape Town - AfricaCOM: 11th-13th Nov (Nick)
10. Pune - NASSCOM Game Developers Conference : 13th -15th Nov (Amit, Anil & Mario)
    
11. London - Apps World London : 12th & 13th Nov.  Our European team will be exhibiting our advertiser and publisher opportunities for applications developers. Please visit us at Stand No. 129 @ ExCel, London. 
12. Miami - M2Games Latam  : 3rd – 4th December (Dan & Isabel)  

TV Goes Online

By Hisham Isa, Vice President (Marketing)

If you're a television network and you notice that an increasing percentage of your core audience is spending less time in front of the TV, what do you do?

For MTV India, the answer was obvious.

Start producing content for mobile and the web.

"As a media channel, we can't ignore platforms where the youth (are)," MTV India's digital head Ekalavya Bhattacharya told MediaNama. "When a guy is glued to Facebook all the time, it doesn't make sense to ask him to switch to TV to just watch a show. It won't work."