APAC Digital Digest - 14 August 2020

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:

The importance for Brands to connect with APAC Gamers outside of Games

With gamers continuing to grow in numbers and purchasing power, brands should find effective ways to court them. According to gaming research company Newzoo, in 2019, Asia Pacific comprised 47% of the global revenue for games, driven by gamer population size and a propensity for spending on games, whether they are built for high-end PCs or everyday mobile phones. As gamers continue to grow in numbers and purchasing power, this target audience has key attributes that make it a priority for brands courting them.

Source: Branding Asia

Facebook launches TikTok-like product inside Instagram

Facebook rolled out its own version of social media rival TikTok in the United States and more than 50 other countries on Aug 5, embedding a new short-form video service called Reels as a feature within its popular Instagram app. Reels invites you to create fun videos to share with your friends or anyone on Instagram. You can share reels with your followers in Feed and if you have a public account you can make them available to the wider Instagram community through a new space in Explore.

Source: Channel News Asia

Facebook aims for Zoom by letting users live broadcast large video meetings

Facebook announced a new feature that will allow users to live broadcast video calls with up to 50 participants. The feature allows users to stream video calls made using the company’s Messenger Rooms product, combining it with its Facebook Live livestreaming product. This will make it possible for large audiences to tune in and watch group video calls in real time. This could include events like speaker panels, TV show reunions and networking events.

Source: CNBC

Snapchat releases first-ever diversity report

Snapchat released its first-ever diversity report, showing that the company is still slightly behind its peers in terms of equal representation of people of color and women, especially on its technology teams, but that it's made progress adding more women to its leadership team. The report finds that while gender disparities are stark on certain teams, Snapchat has made some improvements.

Source: Axios

LinkedIn Publishes New Guide on Setting Your Business Up for Recovery Post COVID-19

LinkedIn's latest eBook outlines how companies can set themselves up for recovery, post COVID-19. The guide looks at five key areas including Brand Building, Strategic Planning, Change Management, Media Planning, Message Planning. For each, LinkedIn provides tips on key steps that brands can take, based on past economic downturns, in order to set themselves up for optimal recovery.

Source: Social Media Today

Twitter is Reportedly Testing a New Tool to Help Users View Quote Retweets

Twitter is working on a new feature where the users will be able to view retweets with quotes (formerly known as retweets with comments) on each of their posts. The ‘quote retweets' will now appear as "Quotes" under tweets, with their own counter, similar to how the number of retweets and likes are displayed.

Source: News18

TikTok Launches ‘Gamified Branded Effects’ Interactive Ad Format

TikTok is giving brands another interactive way to connect with their audiences on its platform: Gamified Branded Effects. Interest in gaming on TikTok has risen sharply over that last year, which makes it a great way to interact with users on the platform. To help brands take advantage of this trend, TikTok announced the rollout of its new Gamified Brand Effect format.

Source: Wersm

Facebook offers TikTok creators lucrative deals for Instagram Reels

Facebook confirmed earlier this month it will roll out Instagram Reels to more regions in August. Brazil, France, Germany and India already have the service. It is now offering high-priced contracts to TikTok creators to share their content to Instagram’s Reels. With Instagram Reels, Facebook is adding pressure to TikTok. Its rival app seems more stable for top TikTok influencers amid a potential ban in the US.

Source: Social Barrel

Japan and Malaysia Digital Gift Card (e-Gift Card) Market Intelligence and Future Growth Dynamics

In value terms, the gift card market in Japan and Malaysia has recorded a CAGR of 36.2 % and 34.8% respectively during 2015-2019. The e-gift card industry in both countries will continue to grow over the forecast period and is expected to record a CAGR of 221.1% in Japan and 26.4% in Malaysia during 2020-2024. The socio-economic environment created by COVID-19 outbreak has accelerated growth of this segment.

Source: Business Wire

Australia to make Google and Facebook pay for news content

The Australian government said it plans to give Google and Facebook three months to negotiate with Australian media businesses fair pay for news content. In releasing a draft of a mandatory code of conduct, the government aims to succeed where other countries have failed in making the global digital giants pay for news siphoned from commercial media companies. Google said Australia's draft code was a heavy-handed step that could impede the digital economy.

Source: The Economic Times Tech

Pinterest improves and expands its skin tone search feature

Pinterest is upgrading its skin tone search feature, which uses machine vision to sort pins in the site’s beauty category by skin tone. The feature launched in the US in 2018 and is now available in the UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand as well. It’s a common problem in the search world that certain queries default to show white faces. By giving users the option to refine their searches based on skin tones, Pinterest says it helps users find the content they want to see.

Source: The Verge

TikTok announces first recipients of its $1B Creator Fund

TikTok recently announced its Creator Fund – $200 million in funding for US creators this year, which it says will grow to a total of $1 billion over the next three years in the US – and more than double the amount globally. The objective of the fund is to support creators of all sizes, kinds, and backgrounds, rewarding their dedication to creating content on TikTok.

Source: Wersm

Google expands Ad Manager for programmatic audio placements

Google expanded Google Ad Manager to support dynamic ad insertion for audio channels, along with adding new programmatic monetization and forecasting capabilities. These features let publishers offer audio ad inventory to authorized buyers, including marketers who use Google's Display & Video 360 (DV360) platform to manage digital audio campaigns. The company's Google Ads online advertising platform will offer digital audio ads in the future.

Source: Mobile Marketer