MPPM stamps its mark in digital advertising
Platform promotes transparency in online ad trading
PETALING JAYA: Programmatic online advertising has gained further traction since the inception of the Malaysia Premium Publishers Marketplace (MPPM) in November last year. Its testament can be gauged by the views of industry leaders who agree that such a platform promotes transparency in online ad trading and bolster brand safety, among others.
Last week, it received a boost when it signed on leading global advertising group Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) Malaysia as its exclusive pilot partner. The partnership enables advertisers access to a safer and transparent online ad buying ecosystem through DAN’s agencies.
MPPM is a consortium of the country’s leading online publishers formed to create an advertising exchange that enhances brand safety, establish regulations to protect advertisers interest, provide better transparency and improve viewability. The publishers are the Star Media Group, Utusan Melayu group, Media Chinese International Ltd group and The Edge Media group.
Spearheading the landmark partnership is Amplifi Malaysia, the media trading and investment arm of DAN.
Amplifi has started its exclusive pilot work with MPPM and there are plans to go beyond that.
Its managing director Hasnain Babrawala told StarBiz he saw value in MPPM.
“It provides an excellent platform for advertisers to present their brands on the most consumed news portals in Malaysia where real consumer engagement is relatively higher than other cluster buys.
“Also, the underlying technology and guarantee of zero ad fraud, high viewability and impactful Interactive Advertising Bureau approved ad units, will result in better campaign performance and return on investment (ROI) for the advertisers’ investments.”
He added that premium news content is an ever-green genre and its consumption is not slowing down.
“The interest in news reported locally is created by the credibility of the news editorial teams of all the eight publishers who are part of MPPM. Hence, the regular news consumers remain loyal to their social, political and personal inclinations,’’ he said.
On how the agency will benefit from the tie-up with MPPM, Babrawala noted the platform provided agencies a consolidated media and first-party data offering where the rich Malaysian diversity could be mass personalised on its exclusive non-intrusive ad units, with the assurance that their investments were optimised.
DAN has seen encouraging results for its clients in the last few weeks in terms of viewability and time spent on MPPM respective sites since the launch of MPPM, he said.
It was time, he said that agencies and advertisers alike accepted that for a campaign to succeed, brand engagement and recall were equally important as well, and not just to rely on cost per click, cost per thousand, cost per acquisition and so on.
MPPM strives to establish that premium content is an opportunity to attract “real” premium audiences, Babrawala explained.
Chairperson of MPPM, Heather Wee, shared that DAN had been an instrumental partner in supporting MPPM’s development.
“We’re very much aligned in our commitment to bring to market quality online advertising inventory from local premium publisher websites, backed by rich audience data and high-impact online ad solutions.
“MPPM aims to be an initiative that can challenge big players who arguably do not provide a 100% ad fraud-free environment. Furthermore, because of its local appeal it will make it easier for advertisers to make sustained investments,” she added.
To this end, Babrawala said “the test for MPPM will be to deliver continuous performance and not fall bait to the popular and arguably inaccurate belief that low cost per click is the end game. Keeping it simple is the way forward.”
On its plans to build on the exclusive partnership and further tap the potential value of MPPM, he revealed that Amplifi was currently in discussion with MPPM to explore innovative trading and performance solutions.
Last month, MPPM got a shot in the arm when it partnered Innity to offer the country’s first publishers-led one-stop shop for high-impact video advertising online in a bid to spur its online ad trading.
Innity is a renowned player in the local online advertising industry and has a strong foothold in South-East Asia with offices in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia.
Marketing magazine recently highlighted the views of the industry on MPPM. Google Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines and New Emerging Markets managing director Sajith Sivanandan was quoted as saying that he was looking forward to work with MPPM to help Malaysian publishers and advertisers grow and improve the digital ecosystem together.
Omnicom Media Group CEO for Malaysia & Singapore Ranganathan Somanathan said the guiding principles of the platform was brand safety, premium inventory and self-service.
“The one that is a differentiator is the selfserve part as it allows for agility as we optimise campaigns real-time. Layering with data, if this allows for addressable audiences, it will be a compelling solution. With more options for quality sources of audiences from local publishers, the better the ecosystem will be,’’ he said.
Telekom Malaysia vice president of marketing and operations Lai Shu Wei added that it would be interesting to see the efficiencies given the shared data by publishers as well as the effectiveness of the balloon and billboard push formats.
Malaysiakini CEO Premesh Chandran noted that publishers have to be more active in co-operating, setting the ground rules and floor pricing for advertisers and programmatic ads going through Google and Facebook.
“Marketplaces like Innity’s are welcome as well. With budgets moving online, publishers working together can ensure a fair share of revenue, which reflects the costs associated with producing good journalism. A great way to reward fact news is to reduce revenue going to fake news sites. Premium marketplaces are a good way to go,” he added.
AirAsia Bhd head of commercial Spencer Lee was quoted as saying that digital was beyond Google and Facebook. “More adults in Facebook now are driving the young away. In the end, it is what the brand’s KPI is, what the key measurements are about, especially towards cost, ROI and brand safety,” Lee said.
INTI International University & Colleges senior vice-president of marketing Timothy Johnson said as an advertiser, INTI is always seeking platforms that deliver ROI’s that exceed industry benchmarks coupled with an ability to deliver the right message to the right consumer. “I will definitely be exploring this to drive my performance marketing,’’ he added.