South East Asian digital ad spend is expected to see massive increases throughout 2017. With spending in the region forecast to grow by more than 20% over 2016, the total expenditure will reach 2.07 billion US dollars. According to a report from IAB and eMarketer, Taiwan is due to account for around 40% of all digital ad spend in the region, the most of any country. It was also revealed that in Singapore digital would represent nearly a quarter of all marketing budgets, up from 18% last year, and would be worth 376 million US dollars. The increasing levels of spend on digital is due to increasing demand for content on mobile, video, and through social media. As web penetration rates are “relatively low” in most areas of South East Asia, eMarketer said that this meant a “lower digital share of total media spending” than in more mature markets. However, it also added that developing mobile connectivity presented a “unique opportunity for advertisers to tap into a new market of fast-urbanising, middle-class consumers”.
