Digital is now Mass Media, includes inputs/perspective from - Albet Buddahim, Performics Managing Director - Donald Lim, ABS-CBN Chief Digital Officer - Quad dela Paz, Starcom Digital Head

1. 6 adobo magazine Digital Showcase 2013
Growing in fits and starts, digital
media has for some time now become
mass media in the Philippines, its
scale effectively re-ordering the long-
standing media hierarchy that has
been established by decades of local
consumption patterns.
Even casual observations of local
consumers at work and play are
enough to confirm digital media’s
already impressive reach at this stage
in the growth curve. Beyond this, there
is a wealth of data to corroborate
digital media’s massive scale:
Internet penetration stands at just
over 30% and the internet audience
base is growing at the fastest pace
in Southeast Asia. Though the figure
lags neighboring markets, online
has a nearly 100% reach of affluent
households, which hold 80% of
disposable income in the country.
Mobile penetration has surpassed
100%. There are now more mobile
phones in circulation than the total
population because of ownership
of multiple devices. Mobile phone
ownership extends well into the
E socio-economic segment, say
agencies.
Ownership of internet-enabled
smartphones has shot up 30% in
the last two years to just under 40
million. Numbers such as this help
deliver what TNS dubs the always-
on lifestyle Filipinos hanker for,
while providing the opportunity for
“engagement everywhere, anywhere
and anytime” for marketers, says
Smart Communications digital head
Leah Besa-Jimenez.
Social media is king with the
number of Facebook accounts closing
in on 35 million, a staggering number
even after the company’s recent clean
up and closure of inactive accounts.
Indeed, comScore ranked the
Philippines second only to Brazil in the
world in Facebook penetration. Social
networking accounts for 41.5% of the
Mass
appeal
Digital media’s year
of explosive growth
vicoltoma.wordpress.com

2. adobo magazine Digital Showcase 2013 7
Globe has an internet
offer that is at the level
pesos for three days.
time local users spend online.
Online video use is exploding. In
its 2013 Southeast Asia Digital Future
in Focus Report, comScore found the
market leading Southeast Asia growth
rates with an 18% rise in video viewers
year-on-year.
“Digital is mass media today when
we have Philippine Facebook log-
ins at more than 32 million, which is
higher than any TV program of the
day, and there are billions of Google
searches versus print circulation,”
notes Albet Buddahim, digital director
of performance marketing agency
Performics, a Publicis Groupe brand.
Numbers such as these will help re-
order the media hierarchy in the way
advertisers allocate their spend, say
agencies. With decades of research
data and its beloved place in local
households, television has every
chance of staying at the top of the
media heap, its place assured for now
as consumers move to a multi-screen
environment, making viewing a more
social past-time.
It will be a different story for
newspapers. Media agencies predict
this medium will likely surrender its
second-place spot to digital media
in advertising spend allocations. In
contrast, radio is expected to stage a
rebound of sorts, helped by operators
using social media to grow the
medium’s fan base.
There’s still more upside to digital
extending its mass media standing.
The increasingly mobile culture
will set the next growth stage as
multimedia phones, tablets, handsets
and mobile internet pricing plans
become more affordable and telcos
extend coverage of ultra high-speed
broadband networks that support
video-on-demand and other data
heavy services.
At it is, 12 million local Facebook
users access their accounts through
mobile devices, eventhough mobile
plans are deemed too pricey at
this stage. More than half of local
respondents to TNS’ study said so.
Which explains why as many as 35%
of mobile users connect to the internet
via free Wi-Fi, increasingly a standard
value-added offer of restaurants, malls
and even barbershops.
Affordability though will be key to
driving growth. “There has been a 50-
60% decrease in the cost of devices
over the past 12 months, while features
and capabilities have doubled,” says
Buddahim. Prices for multimedia
phones, offering television and radio
capability, now lead in at 1,000 pesos.
Data plans are also becoming more
affordable. There has been a 30-
50% decline in data connection costs
and telcos have been aggressively
advertising their pre-paid data offers.
“ Globe has an internet offer that
is at the level of call and text – at
10 pesos for three days,” Buddahim
says, noting that 80% of phones sold
in the last 12 months were internet-
enabled, affording greater connectivity
and supporting a variety of online
activities.
Pricing at this level will only make
internet and digital media more
accessible right across the socio-
economic segment – from the affluent
to the less well-off, from the young
to the mature end of the market. As
with most markets, the youth factor
Shaking off
tradition
Legacy players
go digital
Traditional media is getting a
makeover and not a moment too soon.
Consumers are going mobile for their
news and entertainment.
ABS-CBN
Early this year, the broadcast giant
hired a chief digital officer and head of
its Online Media Group to prime it for
the new marketing order. “ABSDCBN
has long embraced the digital realities
of media,” says its digital chief Donald
Lim, pointing to the 2010 launch of
its onDdemand internet TV service
iWantTV, where viewers can watch any
ABSDCBN show, even past episodes,
for free.
“It was very pioneering and
fearless of ABSDCBN to create
something that could potentially hurt
their main line of revenue. The results
are staggering.” In March 2013, it
clocked 36.9m views with 2.7m unique
visitors. Effective Measure ranked it as
the country’s top website.
The broadcaster has also made a
foray into mobile with a pioneering
contentDdriven partnership with Globe
Telecoms, ensuring its presence on
multiple screens.
consumers toggle between multiple
screens at a time. Under the deal, it
will harness Globe’s network to deliver
its content but also offer traditional
telco services – from mobile internet,
voice and text – on mobile devices.
“All platforms of ABSDCBN – from
radio to print – are experimenting
and gaining tremendous headway in
digital with various executions and
use of social media to interact with
their audience. We are now preparing
ABSDCBN for the digital revolution …
to be relevant to the next generation of
Filipinos.”

3. 8 adobo magazine Digital Showcase 2013
media shift but a lifestyle and behavior
shift,” Buddahim says, noting that
digital capabilities have rendered the
world flat. Local users have much more
in common with markets a world away
in terms of content they access, their
preferences and behavior.
For marketers, the challenge
arising from the situation is two-fold:
How much should they direct to digital
media versus traditional channels.
More importantly, how should they
structure their business to respond to
the ‘I want it now’ consumer mentality
the internet has ushered in?
“Digital media is still at the ‘slowly
but surely’ stage today,” says Donald
Lim, a founding member of the Internet
& Mobile Marketing Association of the
Philippines and chief digital officer
and head of ABS-CBN Online Media
Group. “While brands are more open
to experimenting, seeing other brands
experiencing some success, they
are still re-allocating budgets with
caution.”
Industry estimates place the
allocation on digital at between 2-3%
of a marketer’s overall budget, while
so-called “advanced” clients are
spending between 5-7%, still tiny given
online’s more than 30% reach. “It will
take some time to shift the paradigm
of senior leaders in the organization.
This seems like circa 2008 and it is,”
adds Lim. “Multinational brands like
is fuelling digital media’s growth
momentum, and the Philippines has
one of the largest youth segments in
Southeast Asia. 28% of local mobile
internet users are below 24 years,
the highest proportion in Southeast
Asia, according to new research by
the Mobile Marketing Association and
global mobile ad network Vserv.mobi.
With digital reach at this level,
agencies are wondering if the time
has come to retire the demographic
segmentation modeling advertisers
have used for the past decades. In
its place would be one based on
psychographics – covering consumers’
desires, interests and motivations –
as marketing communications shifts
from Mad Men-style persuasive
advertising to a nurturing, facilitating
and experiential approach.
“The digital shift is more than just
Coca-Cola, Nestlé and Unilever are
leading the charge and influencing the
industry.”
Organizations such as Nestlé, the
biggest winner at August’s Boomerang
Awards, has in-house ‘digi-champs’
to evangelize digital use among its
brand teams, while Procter & Gamble
is already allocating double-digits of
overall Philippine spend on digital
for Gillette and Olay, its digital brand
champions.
Starcom MediaVest Group’s digital
director Quad De la Paz points to
a number of initiatives clients have
adopted as proof that they are
taking digital seriously: They have
begun hiring a digital person for
their team, they have initiated talks
with media partners and agencies
and implemented projects shortly
after and they have poured “serious
investment” – of about 1 million pesos
for a month – on digital campaigns.
“Digital investments continue to grow
in double-digits,” says De la Paz.
Lim is hopeful digital spending
will rise to 5-10% of overall budgets
by 2015 as brands reap attractive
investment returns from the medium.
As they make the shift to digital
media, marketers will have their work
cut out for them. Nielsen research
from late 2012 found that most internet
users were unable to recall any online
ad except for mobile phone ads.
The Fundamental Stage
LEVEL: 1
The Tactical Stage
LEVEL: 2
hello!
thank you!
The Integrated Stage
LEVEL: 3
The Optimal Stage
LEVEL: 4The Fundamental Stage
LEVEL: 1
The Tactical Stage
LEVEL: 2
hello!
thank you!
The Integrated Stage
LEVEL: 3
The Optimal Stage
LEVEL: 4
The digital shift is
more than just media
shift but a lifestyle and
behavior shift.