• by Felicia Greiff , December 4, 2015

Research from AppNexus found that in the APAC (Asia-Pacific) region, the majority of programmatic adopters use the technology for mobile and video ads.

In a survey of APAC ad professionals commissioned by AppNexus, 90% said they use programmatic for mobile and 79% said they use it for video, compared to 71% and 56% respectively worldwide. Sixty-four percent said targeting was the biggest reason they used programmatic, and only 51% said high viewability was important.

Programmatic is exploding with growth, but not everyone is clear on how it works or what they can expect from it. The study found that 36% of APAC ad professionals said they know very little or nothing about how programmatic works, and a measly 25% said they were totally confident in knowing how effective campaigns perform. 

In a release, Edward Pank, managing director, Warc Asia Pacific, said while it’s encouraging to see APAC programmatic adoption rising, “clearly more needs to be done to help build confidence, know-how and best practice across the industry to help programmatic reach its full potential in the years to come.”

The study, called “Reaching Full Potential,” surveyed 202 advertisers and professionals from media buying agencies, ad agencies, agency networks, publishers and ad tech companies in the APAC region. The study was done in association with Warc, IAB Australia and IAB Singapore, and conducted by Circle Research.

This week, Publishers Daily reported Facebook’s beta launch of Instant Articles with 50 publishers across Asia who can sell ads in their articles or choose to use Facebook’s Audience Network to monetize unsold inventory.

Last month, DataXu announced new offices in Singapore, Sydney and Bangalore in response to growing demand for local support in the region, Real-Time Daily reported.