Timi Siytangco

Thanks MARKETECH APAC for featuring our newly launched Beyond Borders report! As mobile gaming studios look to scale, targeted diversification is more important than ever. It’s encouraging to see Singapore-based companies increasingly invest marketing dollars in regions like Latin America (LATAM), the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Sub-Saharan Africa, but there’s still a wealth of untapped potential in less saturated markets.   By expanding your focus beyond traditional markets like the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Japan, you can uncover high-value user segments that drive sustained, long-term growth.   At Moloco, we empower marketers with data-driven insights to optimize their spend and discover new opportunities globally. Let’s continue the conversation on how a more diversified approach can unlock growth and scale your efforts.   The full report can be found here: https://bit.ly/416RRjx.    #MobileGaming #GrowthMarketing #MolocoAds   

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Bluesky 爆紅後如何營利？CEO：不排除導入廣告 Exciting times for Bluesky as it continues to grow rapidly with its unique decentralized features! But the big question on everyone’s mind is how they plan to monetize this impressive user base. Recently, CEO Jay Graber shared some insights at a TechCrunch event. While Bluesky currently has no advertising, she mentioned that they might explore advertising options in the future, focusing on user intent rather than simply capitalizing on attention. This approach sets them apart from other social media platforms and prioritizes user experience. Bluesky is also looking into alternative revenue streams such as community subscriptions, algorithm marketplaces, and domain sales. Importantly, they are steering clear of monetizing AI training, unlike some competitors. With a jump from 3 million to 24 million users this year, Bluesky is definitely on the rise! However, it still has a way to go compared to platforms like Threads. It’s clear that while they’re committed to user growth, finding the right revenue model will take time. Curious to know more? Dive into the full details here: [Bluesky's Monetization Approach](https://ift.tt/IleCFPZ)

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I had a conversation with Robert Kawalsky, Head of Product Canva. They are expanding the platform for use by organizations or businesses, not just individuals. Canva is also embedding AI to further refine its features. Are you a Canva user? #canva #AI

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Leaving Singapore insanely bullish on Blockworks. 1) Way more locals listen to our podcasts than I realized 2) Both Permissionless and DAS have great brands here, huge opportunity to bring them to Asia 3) None of the information providers (research, data, etc) are thinking quite like us, think we can be # 1 in this category by end of 2025 4) Other US media lost a lot of trust, more than I realized, by selling to Asia-based exchanges 5) Our house of brands editorial strategy (building unique content and brands for unique communities instead of mass appeal content under one big brand) is paying off… the right people in the right communities consume our pods and newsletters 6) The funnel is working, many cases of “I started listening to your podcasts then attended a conference then became customer of blockworks research” 7) If regulations open up in the US, most Asia protocols, exchanges, apps, etc will want to reach a US audience… we’re well positioned to do that 8) We have an awesome team, spent time with folks on our brand partnerships, research sales, editorial, and research analyst teams... all rockstars Now... time to accelerate.

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The 9th e-Conomy SEA report (brought to you by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company) reveals a shift towards profitability. After years of investing in growth, the region's digital players are seeing profits soar by 2.5x in just two years - hitting a cool $11 billion in 2024! And its Gross Merchandise Value is projected to reach $263 billion, a 15% year on year increase. But that's not all, here are a few things that REALLY got me excited: 🎮 Global Gaming Powerhouse: SEA is churning out hit games, grabbing a serious chunk of the global market. 🤳 Creators Taking Charge: Move over traditional e-commerce, video commerce and live streaming are where it's at! 💡 Startup Nation: SEA's startups are tackling everything from fintech to agritech with innovative solutions. 🤖 AI Revolution: With massive investments in AI and a young, tech-savvy population, the future is looking seriously bright. Read on here for the report’s key takeaways: https://lnkd.in/g22H35if Download the full report here: goo.gle/sea #eConomySEA #ProfitabilityOnTheRise #AdvanceSEAwithAI

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There are two fundamental constraints to Retail Media Networks (RMNs): Audience Size: RMNs and retargeting are closely related because they both depend on a finite audience—namely, the visitors to a retailer's website. This naturally limits the growth potential for both strategies. Just like retargeting, where effectiveness is capped by the number of users already engaging with a brand, RMNs are constrained by the traffic to the retailer’s ecosystem. If fewer people visit the site, the available audience for RMN ads shrinks, which in turn can reduce revenue, assuming a constant return on ad spend (ROAS). While expanding to offline shoppers or using lookalike audiences can increase reach, performance may not be as strong. Performance (Incrementality): The second key issue is incrementality—or rather, the lack of it. Serving an ad through an RMN doesn’t necessarily result in a new, incremental sale. Many of these ads reach shoppers who likely would have purchased the product anyway. This mirrors the problem with retargeting: when ads primarily reach people who are already inclined to buy, the impact of the ad spend diminishes. Advertisers are becoming more aware that increasing their RMN budget doesn’t always translate into a corresponding rise in sales. In the early days of RMNs, or even before they were called RMNs I had the honor of working with HookLogic, Inc. (Acquired by Criteo in 2016) advertisers were eager to spend more because ROAS was so high. But when budgets weren’t fully spent, the solution became offsite retargeting. Any change from an measurement standpoint on the advertiser side can cause a step up or down in spend. My general go to with any marketing technique is watch the 90s PSA video about cocaine and make sure you aren't in this doom loop. https://lnkd.in/e-mDQiVs #RetailMedia #DigitalAdvertising #MarketingStrategy

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Retail Media Networks (RMNs) are rapidly growing in the Digital Advertising space, but they come with their own unique set of challenges, particularly for Yield Management teams. In my latest video, I dive into the key obstacles RMNs face and break down four actionable strategies to optimize yield and unlock greater potential. If you're navigating the complexities of RMNs, this is a must-watch! https://lnkd.in/gxxCQbGe #DigitalAdvertising #RetailMedia #YieldManagement #AdTech #AdvertisingTrends

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Yesterday I moderated a lively Roundtable in Singapore in conjunction with the Asia-Pacific Association of Communication Directors and Ruder Finn Asia, where we focused specifically on how senior marketers and communicators are gearing up for the AI era, amid widespread caution and concern. Unlike previous discussions I've participated in on this topic, this was a group of executives who are already relatively immersed in the technology. So their insights in terms of experimentation, usage and evaluation were very timely and topical, even if they also raised issues in terms of of public trust, misinformation and ethics. The feature will be out next week. For now, here is the advice each of them offered when it comes to adopting and deploying generative AI across communications and marketing departments: 🧪 "It's important to continue experimenting, but it's also important to maintain that human oversight because I don't think the capabilities of AI are quite there yet" - Ramya Chandrasekaran 🧐 "Stay curious. I think as comms professionals, we need to be on top of what's around us, what we can use to our advantage — drive not be driven" - Pia Tyagi ❤️ "Revisit your values that underpin your organisation and have that be the center of how you pivot on this. Because you might lose people, emotionally. And I think that's a risk" - Lauren Myers-Cavanagh ⚖️ "Be fearless and fearful at the same time. Fearless in terms of experimentation, be open to the potential for transforming the way that we work, live, learn and play. Fearful in being very deliberate in thinking about the dark side and the dangers" - David Ko 🎨 "You can positively use AI to do almost everything (well), but stay creatively flawed to make it even better" - Shruti Gupta 🧰 "Use these tools shamelessly because unless you use them, you'll not know the limits of where their value ends and your value begins. I would also hope for all of us is to bring others along, so that collectively we can benefit" - Sanjay Nair A huge thank you to the participants for a great discussion. Elan Shou Pamela Phua Phoebe SHEN Brian Witte

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We did it! We finally sweeped the Data Viz category at Wan-ifra's Asia Digitial Media Awards with a 🥇 Gold + 🥈 Silver win! So I'm glad my quote made it into the story coz while the awards are the 🍒 cherry on top, it's 🌸 teamwork that makes building these stories 🌟 enjoyable. >> Mrs Pazos, who oversaw the stories said: “We want to build stories that are a memorable experience for our readers, feel handcrafted and that there was passion put into them. “We are always experimenting with new tools and technology, that’s why we love this job.” << This is why we do it! Can't wait for what's next. It's hard to name everyone who supported us and led to this win, but to name a few (past and present team members!): Yi Zhe Ang for the 🥇 Gold win on data temperatures Xaquín González Veira and the Visualization for Transparency Foundation for supporting the 🥈 Silver win for Haze Charlene Chua for project leading the 🥇 Gold for HDB and 🥈 Silver for Haze and Joseph Ricafort, Roman Sverdan, Charles T., Michelle Ong, Amelia Quek, Jacob T., Ryan Tan, Charlotte Tan, Nikita Pereira, Hannah Ong, Ernest Luis, Fa'izah Sani, Teo Tong Kai, Joelyn Tan, Marina Rovira Boix and everyone else (especially our 📹 video and 📸 photodesk colleagues, and our newsmakers 📰 ) without whom none of this would be possible! #digitalmedia #interactives #dataviz #newsdesign

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AI is here to stay, whether we like it or not. And the only way to deal with it is to embrace it, experiment with it, push it to its limits, and harness it to make it your ally!

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Just off a one and a half hour zoom thingy helping a family plan a trip to Southeast Asia. They started the call with one thing in mind, and finished it with an altogether different concept of what they could do. Think this is what gets lost in a lot of the chit chat around AI trip planning etcetera is in a human to human conversation, the back and forward and chasing up the strands of different ideas that just come up in conversation, in turn striking memories, “oh wait, what about this” etcetera, can lead to whole other ideas that I don’t see the planning tools as coming within a country mile of. There is just something about conversation that **makes it different**. Having a (not wanting to toot my own horn) quite reasonable level of knowledge matters, and it’s also having an awareness of what matters to the clients of course, but also of the vaguer similarities and differences of destinations, their vibes and feels—all this really helps to be able to make better recommendations. Especially this once you’re face to face (via Zoom) with the clients so you can read their body language and how they’re chatting and reacting to what you say, and seeing what they warm to—or don’t. Sure the logistics matter, and yeah the planners will get that one day—though they’ll have to figure out north, south, east and west first—but in the scheme of things, that’s only one part of the whole deal. What I do doesn’t scale—and I’m fine with that—the best first step in any trip will never change...get a map—a paper one.

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Another nail in the coffin for news outlets: Yahoo Singapore is no more. 💀 This shift has impacted 17 staff members as the outlet moves towards syndicated content. It continues to be a tough road ahead for media companies. This is a stark reminder that we need to sharpen our pitches to reporters as newsrooms shrink. It's crucial to demonstrate the immediate relevance and impact of the news we're pitching - why now? https://lnkd.in/drFWMCkb #MediaIndustry #PublicRelations #MediaRelations #Journalism #NewsMedia #StrategicCommunication #MediaTrends #DigitalMedia #PRStrategy #MediaLandscape

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"Which is why I’m not worried at all if some skeptics think Web3 is just a fad. Skeptics have been proven wrong time and again. "Think about how many services weren’t supposed to succeed. "Online shopping? Skeptics said Filipinos love going to the mall too much (which, by the way, is true because mall culture is definitely alive and kicking). They would want to see and feel the items they are going to buy. Nowadays, however, Lazada and Shopee help a lot of Filipinos enjoy retail therapy." Check out the second and last part of my article "Why should you care about Web3" for my The Decentralized Web column: https://lnkd.in/gKi3zDNB #Web3

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Day 14 of #USvGoogle started with Google Finance Director, Jessica Mok. Google tried to minimize the financial importance of its adtech business, showing that it operated at a loss from 2015-2017, to downplay the role of display in generating revenue, and land an out-of-context soundbite about how much they pay publishers. On cross, DOJ highlighted that Google tracks revenue separately for display, video and app inventory, and for direct vs. indirect-sold inventory supporting their market definition argument. DOJ also pointed out that Google decides whether to classify revenue as principal or agent, which informs whether Traffic Acquisition Costs (”TAC”), money paid to publishers, is included in their figures. Obviously, without TAC, booked revenue will appear lower, and margin will appear higher. Google then called Dr. Mark Israel to play some more number games. He is an economics expert, and his analysis is central to Google’s case. While I expected something at least somewhat compelling, instead we got analysis that appears completely detached from reality. Google seems to want to pretend their publisher customers simply do not exist. While DOJ’s case focuses primarily on harm to publishers, there was a 30 minute stretch of time at the beginning of Israel’s testimony where his only mention of anything publisher-adjacent was to explain the origin of the “cellophane fallacy” as the theory that prices for cellophane might go up so much that people resort to wrapping their sandwiches in newspaper. He starts by refuting the DOJ’s definition of 3 distinct markets, proposing instead that adtech is a single two-sided market. He says that DOJ excludes other places advertisers find impressions, other ways “connections” to audiences are made, and the other types of adtech that exist. No mention of publishers. He talks about shifting media consumption trends, highlighting growth of apps and mobile environments, as well as the growth of ad spend on social, and the rise of retail media. Still, no mention of publishers. He talks about how social and retail media companies act as competitive restraints on Google and serve as reasonable substitutes…again, with respect to advertisers. Google even pulls up a deck to make their point that compares Google and Amazon, and explicitly references the fact that Amazon does not offer a publisher ad server, while Google has DFP. Finally he mentions publishers, to say that if ROI for advertisers were to fall, both advertisers and publishers might switch. For example, he says, publishers might move to a different exchange, move more of their content to apps, or adopt a subscription model. Soon after, he explains publishers can move more of their inventory from indirect to direct sales. It’s about “how hard sales people work” to sell direct. A few minutes later, he suggests that if Google’s publisher ad server isn’t good, advertisers might switch to Facebook. I literally wrote “What??” in my notes. (more in comments)

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[Limited subscriptions remaining] Sign up for a CARA membership and redeem a 1-year digital subscription to SPH Media's news publication of your choice to stay informed on the go! Enjoy access to premium content from SPH Media's selected publications, complete with web and app access. Eligible members can choose any ONE of these titles: - The Straits Times - Lianhe Zaobao (which comes bundled with Shin Min Daily News) - Berita Harian - Tamil Murasu An email with instructions on the redemption process will be sent every Friday, to eligible members who have signed up that week. Don’t forget to check your spam/junk folder too! For full details on this promotion, please visit buff.ly/4caeAho. CARA SG is available on the Apple App Store or Google Play store. *Limited to the first 1,000 new CARA members on a first-come, first-served basis. #CARAsg #CARA #CARAislove #DementiaSingapore #DementiaSG #DementiaInclusive #DementiaFriendly #DementiaCare #DementiaCommunity #DementiaFriendlyCommunity #DementiaFriendlySingapore #DementiaSupport #DementiaAwareness #DementiaCare #CommunityCare #DementiaSupport

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Confession time: How many of us have dived headfirst into a project, only to realize later that we're not entirely sure what we're doing? Well, put your hands down, friends, because Eugene Yan has got our backs! His latest article on writing documents is quite interesting. Eugene makes the case for why writing documents is like having a superpower: ✅ It helps you avoid costly mistakes, ✅ Gets everyone on the same page (literally!), and ✅ Scales knowledge like a pro! So, what's the secret sauce? Enter the "Why-What-How" framework: 🔶 Why: Because you don't want to be that person who builds something nobody wants 🔶 What: Define those success metrics, people! 🔶 How: Time to get technical (but not too technical) Read the full article to learn how to wield this superpower: https://lnkd.in/g__BZF-M Trust me, your future self (and your team) will thank you.

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Non-compliant affiliate activity seemed to be back on the agenda at this year’s PI Live with three sessions dedicated to different complexions of unethical activity. I managed to get along to one, hosted by Chikay Lo, who discussed with her panel how ad hijacking through a cohort of non-UK subnetwork affiliates has become worryingly prevalent (and thanks to Andy Cooney for the shoutout). This isn’t the first time I’ve heard concerns about subnetwork activity over the last few months. At The Affiliate & Partner Marketing Association's last Governance meeting, we discussed the appetite for self-regulatory and best practice initiatives. The consensus was they serve a useful purpose and should be something a trade body focuses on. We decided to tackle subnetworks first. I’ve always believed that any mature, professional industry needs to be grown-up enough to admit its shortcomings, and if we feel there is activity in breach of T&Cs we can’t shy away from tackling it. The sooner it’s nipped in the bud, the easier it is to remove. I’m putting together a project group of members who will agree on focus, format and output, so I can’t say at this stage what the initiative will look like but are starting a conversation about best practice and, crucially, who is doing it well. A few years back a really useful, if not widely used guide to subnetworks was released (link in comments). It’s now out of date and we can do something more expansive for release in 2025. We've done it before, it can be done again. To be clear, this is not subnetwork bashing (one subnetwork will hopefully be in the project group), but an exercise in transparency and explaining what ‘good’ looks like. The APMA is not an industry police force and is not here to enforce sanctions, but we can encourage brands to ask the questions they should be asking that lead to confidence (and hopefully higher budgets) for the channel. We want to create a gold standard for any affiliate type whose value or practices are being challenged. Those who are doing it well have nothing to fear, in fact they have everything to gain, as we'll want to showcase them. So, if you have examples (both good and bad) of any recent subnetwork activity, feel free to message me directly. I’m excited to be back in the world of self-regulation which has been neglected but was so impactful over a decade ago… #theapma #affiliatemarketing

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