High-profile executives from a leading global mobile advertising and app monetization company that allows mobile users to select in-app ads in exchange for virtual rewards and premium content, shared their insights at a discussion in Jakarta this week. Charles Rim, managing director of Tapjoy for Asia and Southeast Asia, spoke about how Indonesian companies could gather insights through data analytics to cash in on their apps in a number of different, creative ways.
Mr Rim, speaking at MobileMonday: Apps – Data Driven Monetization, said mobile usage in Indonesia was strong but the in-app purchase (IAP) market lagged behind other countries in the region, including Thailand. He did, however, see increases in mobile users and activity in Indonesia, where much of the mobile content was acquired through ads, which provided room for monetisation opportunities. He said there were two ways of doing this: By selling content or sourcing advertising revenues.
Mr Rim said Indonesian companies needed to understand user behaviours, demographic analysis, device information, app usage and be able to segment them accordingly and send related customized messages. He said only 3.5 percent of users globally were willing to pay for app purchases and it was therefore critical for Indonesian information technology companies, including gaming companies, to understanding this behaviour and attract them back to the app.
He said Indonesian gaming and other app companies were facing a couple of large hurdles, including a lack of credit card penetration in the wider marketplace and that advertisers were slow in shifting from offline to online, and from personal computers (PCs) to mobile, where major changes were really taking place.
Daniel Song, Tapjoy’s strategy and business development manager for Asia and Southeast Asia, then shared insights on best practices to take the data-driven approach further, by understanding how app users could increase the value of the app itself over the course of its lifetime.
The MobileMonday Indonesia event concluded with a presentation from the GSM Association (GSMA), which groups mobile companies that support standardising and promoting the GSM mobile telephone system. A GSMA representative talked about online privacy and security, which were the biggest threats to sustainable digital growth.
Audrey Saerong, a recruitment consultant from Monroe Consulting Group Indonesia’s specialist Technology Division, said the MobileMonday Indonesia event was another reminder for the information technology (IT) sector in Indonesia that it was playing catch up in not only the global marketplace but also within Southeast Asia.
“We [Monroe] have been to a number of recent industry events that highlight the importance of Indonesian companies adapting to meet the needs and user patterns of customers, from a lag in the implementation of E-commerce strategies to monetizing gaming apps,” she said.
Adeline Wu, also from Monroe, said the events were important to recruitment consultants who could stay on top of the latest industry trends so as to be in the best positions to advise information technology or technology companies on candidates that could take their companies forward in a rapidly changing environment, characterised by serious shortages of talent in a number of key areas important to Indonesian businesses.