Adobe Digital Insights report: Consumers trust brands with data

Adobe released a report on the Indian digital advertising industry in Mumbai on 4 May. Labelled, Adobe Digital Insights (ADI), the report was based on a research which had 1,000 respondents across the country. 

 

The report also captures responses from consumers and marketers in South Korea and Australia. 

 

Mickey Mericle, vice president, marketing and customer insights, Adobe, revealed findings of the report.

 

Indian consumers want personalisation

 

The Indian consumer shows stronger preferences for personalisation than any other country that was surveyed. The consumer also tends to see online ads as more interesting or useful than traditional ads across TV, radio and magazines. 

 

32 per cent of the respondents believed that personalisation and relevance are seen as the way to better ads. 

 

27 per cent believed that online ads could be improved if they spoke more to the respondents values.

 

22 per cent believed that ads should be shown less frequently.

 

17 per cent thought that online ads could improve if they were funnier.

 

The report also revealed that 63 per cent of Indian consumers trust brands they regularly use with their personal data. They are also more likely to be comfortable with use of that data for personalisation.

 

Mobile is the future

 

According to the survey, mobile represents 34 per cent of time spent while watching videos. The number rises to 41 per cent if millennials are only considered. This number is higher in India than Australia (22 per cent) and South Korea (29 per cent). 

 

Consumers are mostly happy with marketers, but want more

 

While revealing the report Mericle reiterated that importance for marketers to personalise ads. According to the survey Indian consumers are happy with marketers, but yet want more out of them. 75 per cent of the respondents wanted to see personalised ads. 66 per cent of the respondents claimed that the online ads they see are relevant to them. 73 per cent of them believed that brands are doing a good job at ensuring they see products/services that are relevant or interesting for them. 

 

Programmatic is the future for marketers

 

Mericle revealed that Indian advertisers are 'particularly keen on programmatic'. 25-38 per cent of advertisers plan to spend more than half their budget programmatically in any given channel. Among the channels, social and display are leading the way.

 

Targetting, mix allocation and transperancy are seen as the top three benefits of programmatic advertising. 

 

Media buying challenges

 

According to the report, which also surveyed marketers, 'India is particularly concerned with media quality and data ownership.' 

 

Among challenges in media buying, 53 per cent of the respondents believed that 'media quality (brand safety, ad fraud, viewability) was the biggest. 49 per cent though that 'accurately measuring return on ad spend' was a challenge. 

 

91 per cent marketers are satisfied with their ability to measure the effectiveness of their advertising across channels. 82 per cent agree that independent, third-party measurement and verification is important. 

 

Mericle surmised, “Personalised experiences are key to winning customer confidence, and brands in India are strongly positioned to ride on this trend by leveraging the digital wave sweeping across the country. The ADI data clearly establishes that India’s vast millennial population is the most positive on the relevance of advertising they see today, and perhaps more appreciative of marketers’ efforts to drive relevance, as they started online in time when efforts were rudimentary and less effective. We see this boosting the confidence of marketers embracing digital strategies to drive businesses goals and deliver enhanced customer experiences.”

 

The report captures responses between 1-17 February from over 3,000 consumers and 300 marketers across India, South Korea and Australia concerning their views on digital advertising.