Opportunities arife in Malaysia’s mobile advertising trends, says Buzz City

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KUCHING: Digital growth prospects in Malaysia promises to be significantly optimistic as smartphone penetration continues to grow and advertisers adjust budgets to spend more for mobile advertising.

According to BuzzCity founder and chief executive officer Dr KF Lai, businesses will likely maintain a digital presence through apps, mobile sites and traditional web sites.

“Advertisers are also adjusting budgets to spend more online – particularly on mobile,” he told The Borneo Post in an interview recently. “At least 82 per cent of Malaysian surfers watch online videos on their mobiles – we expect advertisers to follow where the eyeballs are and more video ads will be deployed, especially those developed as a web series.”

Lai said in Malaysia, there was a sizeable gap between online media consumption and online ad spending.

“Given this point, our job is to continue to raise awareness and help educate marketers and advertisers about the huge digital opportunity and how they can maximize their budget in this space in a variety of ways.”

The big growth in mobile advertising, he said, was supported by changing trends in online shopping in the country.

“In the second quarter this year, we released the results of a global online shopping survey run in collaboration with the Mobile Marketing Association,” Lai explained.

“Like the rest of the world, consumers in Malaysia are increasingly changing the way they choose their purchases.

About 78 per cent of the Malaysians surveyed said they shopped online, with nearly half using their mobile to purchase goods and services.

“Computers and electronics accounted for 13 per cent, clothing and accessories 13 per cen), and travel 12 per cent are the most popular items among Malaysian online shoppers.

“Given this trend, marketers will have to re-think how they create and measure brand power to stay relevant and attractive across all digital media.”

Nevertheless, each industry was different, Lai said, as was the case of the banking sector which he said affects a large percentage of the population.

“We ran a global mobile banking survey in the first quarter that revealed interesting findings for bankers, and other corporates, trying to make a difference online. “Here in Malaysia, while security fears is decreasing as a barrier (despite fear mongering news of credit card fraud), nearly a third of those surveyed were apathetic about mobile banking – they didn’t see a great need for the service.

“In fact, 36 per cent said that their banks don’t provide mobile banking! Clearly, more consumer education is needed in the banking sector.

“We also noted the rising popularity of ‘mobile based’ banks – where accounts are linked to SIM cards – that have gained widespread adoption and market share in a relatively short time. We hope to see this as part of Bank Negara’s branchless banking initiative.”