Carousell Media Group creates programmatic platform as alternative to walled gardens

Carousell Media Group has rolled out Connect, a recommerce programmatic buying platform that deploys DSP adtech, and is powered by the buying, selling and search data signals generated from the Carousell Media Group’s monthly users across Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Carousell Media Group is the advertising arm of Carousell Group that comprises Carousell, Mudah.my, ChoTot, OneKyat and Ox Street.

According to Carousell, the Connect platform will give advertisers a viable alternative to the closed environments such as Google and Facebook. This will be done by providing them with full-funnel marketing solutions and enabling them to engage with Carousell Media Group’s audiences on every ad format - video, display, audio and CTV. As part of 2022’s rollout under Connect, Carousell Media Group will be launching new ad products, such as Carousell Search Ads which will enable advertisers to fully leverage real-time keyword searches.

The group added that what sets Connect apart is the integration of first-party and third-party data sets to deliver end-to-end campaigns with actionable and verifiable results. The platform was initially offered to selected advertisers, with Decathlon being a prominent one. 

Decathlon's search engine marketing lead, Charles Tan, said both parties tied up for the first time during its 11.11 campaign last year and targeted active lifestyle shoppers and fitness enthusiasts with Connect. Through this, it managed to generate "a large number of website traffic" which Tan said exceeded its initial expectations from the campaign. At the same time, Tan explained that Connect managed to help Decathlon scale this tactical campaign and reach more users during the competitive period.

Meanwhile, JJ Eastwood, MD of Carousell Media Group, said it has witnessed unprecedented growth in recommerce over the last 12 months, that’s being propelled by consumer demand for sustainability as well as eCommerce. He added that recommerce is quickly becoming an important component of the consumer-brand relationship.

"However, because inspiration, discovery and purchase can happen anywhere, we launched the Connect platform to allow brands to reach our buyers and sellers both on and off our marketplaces," Eastwood said.

Separately, Carousell Group is reportedly eyeing a SPAC merger with L Catterton Asia to go public. Multiple media reports including Bloomberg and The Business Times (BT) said Carousell has entered into exclusive talks with the SPAC. This came after Bloomberg reported in June last year that Carousell was mulling a US listing via a merger with a blank-check firm and the potential transaction could reportedly value the company as much as US$1.5 billion.

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