APAC Digital Digest is a fortnightly round-up of what has been happening in APAC in under 3 minutes.
Here is what has been happening:
Global Digital Signage Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.3% during the forecast period 2019-2025
According to BlueWeave Consulting, the global digital signage market is projected to grow from the valuation of USD 20.7 billion in the year 2019 to USD 29.5 billion by the end of the year 2025, by growing at a CAGR of 7.3% during the forecast period.
Source: 3W Market News Reports
Google opens Jakarta cloud region amid Indonesia’s booming digital economy
Google Cloud has opened its cloud region in Indonesia, one of the fastest-growing public cloud markets in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. The new region in the capital city, Jakarta, will comprise three cloud zones, offering a slew of Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services, such as Compute Engine, Google Kubernetes Engine and BigQuery, among others.
Source: Computer Weekly
APAC’s ad market set for strong rebound in 2021
Asia Pacific’s ad market is set for a strong recovery in 2021, with growth of 8.1% to reach $175 billion, the latest Magna Advertising Forecast predicts. However, the rebound will come after ad revenue in the region shrinks this year by as much as 8.5% to a total of $163 billion, worse than the global average fall of 7.2% ($42 billion in revenue loss), Magna says.
Source: Warc
Asia Pacific Mobile Operators to Invest $331 Billion on 5G Deployments by 2025
The latest Asia Pacific edition of the GSMA’s Mobile Economy series shows that the region is one of the fastest-growing in the world and home to over half of the total global subscribers. Asia Pacific mobile operators are to invest over $400 billion on their networks between 2020 and 2025, of which $331 billion will be spent on 5G deployments, said the GSMA in a new report.
Source: Albawaba
Facebook Expands Fan Subscriptions to Creators In 7 Regions, Introduces Live Stream Ads and More Video Analytics
Facebook has rolled out a major update for creators that expands its Fan Subscriptions and Stars programs to more people, offers ads on more video formats, and implements a new range of viewership analytics. To be eligible, creators must have at least 10,000 followers or more than 250 return viewers, plus 50,000 post engagements and 180,000 total watch minutes.
Source: TubeFilter
Google extends free product listings to search results
Google is letting brands and retailers show product listings in its search results for free, instead of requiring them to pay for sponsored listings. The free listings on Google search initially will appear in a product information panel that shows pictures of a product, a list of retailers that sell it, the price and shipping information, along with a link to the seller's website. Shopping ads will continue to appear separately at the top of search results.
Source: Retail Dive
Facebook Adds Custom Audience Creation Options Based on Shopping Activity
With Facebook and Instagram Shops on the way, Facebook has added some handy new Custom Audience creation options to align with increasing eCommerce activity. Now there's a new option to create a listing based on 'Shopping.' You can do this through Facebook Ads Manager in your Custom Audience options.
Source: Social Media Today
YouTube Announces A New Ad Format “Direct Response”
YouTube has recently announced a new ad format that will add YouTube’s ads capability more action. The new ad format, called “Direct Response” allows adding browsable product imagery to inspire the next purchase.
Source: Forbes
Facebook is Adding More Colour Customization Options for Groups
Facebook is providing more colour customization options for groups in order to cater to vision-impaired users. The new colour options provide more contrast, making them easier to see for people with varying sight capacity. There’ll be 15 colours to choose from in total, or you’ll be able to let Facebook create a custom colour for your group based on the dominant colour in your cover image.
Source: 333websites
Alibaba Cloud, Fintech Academy, Pfizer accelerate APAC healthcare innovations
Alibaba Cloud, Fintech Academy and Pfizer have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) leading to the formation of a Healthcare Fintech Alliance (HFA) to catalyze transformation across Asia Pacific’s health tech and fintech sectors. The startups selected under this alliance will receive 'infrastructure support and technological expertise from Alibaba Cloud, talent development and venture building support from Fintech Academy and scientific and commercialization knowledge from Pfizer.
Source: BioSpectrum Asia
India Bans Nearly 60 Chinese Apps, Including TikTok and WeChat
India’s government banned nearly 60 Chinese mobile apps on Monday, including TikTok, citing national security concerns, after a deadly clash between their militaries this month raised tensions between the two countries to the highest level in decades. Analysts say up to a third of TikTok’s global users are based in India.
Source: The New York Times
Instagram reels tested in India following TikTok’s ban
In the wake of India’s decision to ban TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps over privacy concerns, Instagram has expanded its TikTok rival, known as Reels, in the region. The test in India also comes only days after Facebook announced its standalone TikTok clone, Lasso, would be shutting down on July 10.
Source: Tech Crunch
Japan's trade white paper calls for closer digital cooperation with ASEAN, less reliance on China
Japan views ASEAN as a potential strategic partner in the crisis-proofing of its economy, whose vulnerabilities such as an over-reliance on Chinese imports and domestic manufacturing were exposed during the Covid-19 pandemic and past natural disasters. To this end, it will connect funds, technology, know-how and business networks with the increasingly digitalised ASEAN, Japan said in its annual economy and trade white paper released on Tuesday (July 7).
Source: Straits Times
Japan takes the first step towards a digital currency with virtual Yen experiment
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) intends to start experimenting with digital versions of the Japanese Yen to test the feasibility of virtual currencies. The bank has no plans -- as of yet -- to issue a digital currency, but says the organization is willing to explore the concept due to the increased use of digital payments, potentially adopted at a higher rate than expected due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and the shift by many vendors to contactless or card-based transactions.
Source: ZD Net
More government data to be hosted in Australia with a new focus on data sovereignty.
The sensitive information of Australians should only be hosted on Australian servers. Government Services Minister, Stuart Robert, will announce the intention for more data sovereignty in a speech to the National Press Club. “We are examining the sovereignty requirements that should apply to certain data sets held by government, in addition to the existing Protected Security Policy Framework," Robert will say, according to an advance copy of his speech.
Source: Information Age