Travel, Home & Family, Entertainment top audience data segments in 2018

Lotame, a real-time data solutions company that empowers clients to turn data into actionable audience insights and positive ROI, has released statistics looking at what pre-packaged data audience segments APAC marketers purchased from January to October 2018, compared to the previous year. The findings are based on spends across the Lotame Data Exchange (LDX) – the world’s largest data exchange for advertisers, representing what the industry as a whole is buying. The top-five categories that accounted for 61 per cent of the total APAC spends on Lotame pre-packaged data includes: Travel, Home & Family, Advanced Demographics, Entertainment and Business. 

Travel 

Travel contributed to the highest amount of APAC spends in 2018 at 20 per cent. The travel segments that saw the most revenue growth year-over-year (YoY) include Frequent Travelers at 140 per cent and Vacation Travelers at 84 per cent. Both Domestic and Discount travel segments accounted only for 11 per cent and 4 per cent YoY growth. 

Overall, niche travel segments made a larger YoY impact in contrast to the general travel segments, which went down by 23 per cent. 

“Asia Pacific has grown to be the fastest region in international tourist arrivals after Europe, per data from United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). And this growth can be attributed to increasing disposable incomes, urbanisation and more dynamic lifestyles,” said Fred Marthoz, Managing Director, SEA at Lotame. “Hence, it’s no surprise that marketers are increasingly tapping this robust audience category for a targeted and personalised approach.” 

Home & Family 

Home & Family came in next at 12 per cent of 2018 APAC spend, with a whopping increase in Green Family targeting at 6984 per cent. Both Outdoor Enthusiasts and Affluent Households followed next with 32 per cent increase. 

“Green consumerism is on the rise and brands everywhere are following suit to appeal to consumers’ demand and ethical choices,” said Marthoz. “This data demonstrates that marketers are paying attention to consumer choices and starting to prioritise data to foster long-term relationships.” 

However, this category also saw segments targeting Cat Lovers going down by 100 per cent. Parenting and College Students, too, didn’t hold much relevance for marketers and saw decreases by 35 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively. 

Advanced Demographics 

Accounting for 10 per cent of 2018 APAC spends, the segments in this category saw significant revenue increases in 2018. Parents of Infants saw an increase of 1430 per cent, while targeting Parents of Toddlers went up 981 per cent YoY. Similarly, audiences with relationship status (engaged, single, widowed, married, divorced and in-relationship) increased by 874 per cent. 

Surprisingly, Parents of Teenagers, went down by 22 per cent and Household without Children saw a much larger decrease of 76 per cent YoY. 

“Brands are getting a lot smarter about their prime target audiences. Unlike earlier, they are shifting away from big celebrity names to everyday consumers for deeper engagement and reach. And Pantene Japan’s latest one-year old hire to be their ‘Infant-luencer’ reflects the changing consumers’ sentiment,” Marthoz said. “This increase in above categories demonstrates marketers’ smart move to stay ahead in this crowded space.” 

Entertainment 

Like Advanced Demographics, Entertainment category also accounted for 10 per cent of 2018 APAC spend with increases in targeting Water Sports at 367 per cent and Console Gamers at 828 per cent. 

However, other segments that saw larger unexpected decreases include Football Lovers at 82 per cent and Online Gamers at 75 per cent. Movie buffs also went down by 42 per cent. 

“APAC region has been dominating the global video game market for years. The exponential growth in the smartphone users and rising economic growth, too, has led to a significant rise in the gaming industry for APAC,” Marthoz added. “Being the home to many gaming giants, marketers are seeing tremendous opportunities in targeting these audience sets for higher engagement and brand loyalty.” 

Business 

The Business categories accounted for 9 per cent of total APAC spend, with only Career and Employment accounting for an increase of 93 per cent. All other segments within this category didn’t seem to be a popular target for marketers. These include – Small Business Professionals went down by 91 per cent, IT Professionals were down by 72 per cent and Finance Professionals also saw a decrease of 11 per cent.