2022 has been “all-steam ahead” as Naviga expands its presence in Asia Pacific, from a foundational team based in Australia earlier this year to additional teams now on the ground in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
As we continue to engage with the market in Asia Pacific, it is apparent there are some very common themes regarding business requirements, digital strategy, and outlook in the region.
Keep reading to learn more about these themes and insights associated with each!
Data, data, and more data!
Publishing, media, and enterprises in general understand the value of customer data and insights. As we have spoken with more stakeholders responsible for data management, it has become clear that the tools being used to provide meaningful insights are disparate. As a result, the ability to make informed decisions within an organization is limited, as the data requires either manual aggregation or disparate toolset reports, and analytics require internal work to compile into analysis that senior managers can utilize effectively.
In-house vs outsourced solutions
Many organizations have invested heavily in the design, development and resourcing of in-house toolsets so they have 100% ownership of their intellectual property. Key drivers to this generally have been:
- Lower costs for resourcing to manage & develop in-house built toolsets
- No requirement to rely on the public internet for service uptime and user experience
- Perceived higher cost of 3rd party cloud offerings in the market
- Lack of localized customer service and support available from 3rd party providers
Several media outlets across South-East Asia are, however, now actively looking at outsourcing their content, data, and services requirements as cloud technology, reliability, and SaaS-based commercial models strengthen and become more of an option to organizations in the region, whether they be small or enterprise in employee size.
The determining factors for organizations in this in-house vs outsourced debate should be:
- What is the cost benefit to the business with a transition to the cloud?
- What current resources/labor managing in-house built toolsets could be reassigned to revenue generating activities within the organization?
- Is there a productivity benefit of a move to a cloud-hosted solution for the business users?
- How can a move to a cloud-hosted solution facilitate digital strategies?
The value of a “single-view” of the customer
Many conversations we have had to date with organizations in Asia have been centered around the desire to have a single, end-to-end lifecycle view of the customer. The primary intent here is to gain a better understanding of the audience, therefore driving personalization of content based on user interests, interactions, and their level of engagement.
Public audiences continue to diversify their propensity to use social media, video, digital platforms, and e-commerce as mediums for the consumption of content. The ability for organizations to interact with their “known” user groups within a singular toolset – and also consolidate their understanding of “anonymous” user groups that are yet to be monetized – will be fundamental to the growth strategy for organizations across Asia Pacific.
Utilization of Audience data to drive Advertising revenue
What has been interesting to learn from my perspective in the past 12 months whilst engaging with organizations here in Asia, is the reluctance to monetize the individual consumer. This is particularly prevalent in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. However, it is also common across the region, as the consumption of “freemium” content is expected by public audiences.
In scenarios where this is a concern, we have shifted our conversation with organizations to the development of their ability to gather 1st party data, 3rd party data (website & social media platforms in particular) and in some cases print data, to create reports that provide relevant guidance to an organization’s advertising partners.
Digital advertising and the ability to provide advertisers with specific audience metrics based on their product and go-to-market, facilitates significant opportunities to grow ROI for advertisers whilst also increasing an organization’s ad revenue stream. Simply put, it’s a win-win for all!
Should it be of interest, I have shared a few of our Naviga customer case studies that provide examples of how we address some of the themes outlined above:
The Independent South Africa
How The Independent turned the page on a print-first strategy with Naviga’s Content Engagement Platform
McPherson Media Group
How Naviga helped McPherson Media Group consolidate and optimize IT systems from sales to content creation
Polaris Media & Agderposten
How Polaris Media was able to increase efficiency in the newsroom by automating the print manufacturing workflow
Asia Pacific is a diverse region, however, no more so than in the media, entertainment and publishing industry! As we continue to build relationships across the region, we look forward to offering insights, solutions, and local support to organizations as they continue to grow & diversify their market offering.