Mr Andrew Khaw: Through the Resource Portal for the media sector, IDA hopes to encourage ICT adoption and best practices in the digital advertising industry.

As Singapore’s Media and Entertainment industry searches for new ways to monetise content, it can look forward to the backing of two new initiatives spearheaded by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) under its Digital Marketplace Programme (DMP).

The first of these is a Resource Portal for the media sector, through which IDA hopes to encourage ICT adoption and best practices in the digital advertising industry, said Mr Andrew Khaw, Senior Director of IDA’s Industry Development Group. To be ready by mid-2011, the IDA is developing the portal with the Interactive Advertising Bureau. It will be a repository of digital advertising standards, guidelines and operation
best practices.

For the second initiative, the IDA, the GSM Association and Singapore’s three mobile operators are exploring the feasibility of developing a Mobile Media Metrics (MMM) for Singapore, said Mr Khaw. MMM, which is a mobile measurement tool, can accelerate the growth of mobile advertising by delivering consistent, audited mobile metrics. This could drive new advertising revenue streams for Singapore’s mobile operators and the region’s mobile advertising ecosystem.

Mr Khaw was speaking at the Digital Marketplace Forum (DMP), a platform for media and entertainment industry members to exchange experiences and foster collaboration, get updated on relevant media ICT technologies for growth, and find out more about IDA’s initiatives for the sector.

The Digital Marketplace Forum provided a platform for media and entertainment industry members to exchange experiences and foster collaboration.

Mr Rohit Dadwal, another speaker at the forum, said that mobile advertising is set to be a significant driver for digital content and services as people are increasingly accessing the Internet via mobile devices.

“All advertising that could be done on traditional platforms can be done on the mobile platform,” said the Managing Director of the Mobile Marketing Association Asia-Pacific.

With new digital technologies, advertisers can turn passive advertisements to active advertisements that let them interact with customers, said Mr Dadwal. An example is an advertising campaign that encourages consumers to SMS an advertiser for recipes.

However, Mr Loo Cheng Chuan, Principal at SingTel’s Idea Factory, also reminded forum attendees of the one fundamental feature they must incorporate in their offerings – ease of use. He said that even if a service serves a very important purpose, if the “usability equals zero” - meaning it is difficult to use - the service will fail.

The DMP Forum was held in December alongside Asia Television Forum (ATF) 2010, an annual event for entertainment content players. Various players in the digital media ecosystem were grouped at the IDA Pavilion to showcase their capabilities at ATF 2010.