SG competition watchdog hunts for consultant for study on digital ad ecosystem

The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS), in collaboration with the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) has launched a hunt for a consultant to conduct a market study on the digital advertising ecosystem (which covers search and display advertising) in Singapore, with a focus on open display.

The objectives are to establish a good understanding of the digital advertising ecosystem in Singapore including the key privacy enhancing technologies which are being considered or used in digital advertising ecosystem in Singapore, it said in GeBiz documents seen by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE. 

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The market study is to be conducted through research and engagements with key industry stakeholders, and the findings are to be set out in a report addressing and providing an in-depth discussion on the issues mentioned using case studies and evidence that is specific to Singapore.

"From advertising to publishing, the digital advertising ecosystem is comprised of both vertically integrated players and third-party players that compete to deliver targeted advertisements to consumers," said CCCS in tender documents. 

It added that digital advertising plays an important role in the provision of valuable services and content to consumers, including internet search, social media and news journalism.

"Consumers typically do not pay directly for these highly valuable services – rather, platforms and publishers finance them by using consumers’ attention and data to sell targeted digital advertising," it said. 

In turn, for a wide range of firms, digital advertising provides a highly effective method of delivering advertisements that are relevant to consumers, helping to drive brand awareness and sales, it said. With the greater connectivity and the proliferation of personal mobile devices, businesses can also leverage digital advertising to reach out to a larger base of customers in real time to promote their products and services.

"Data plays a central and transformative role in today’s digital advertising world. Across online channels and platforms, a wealth of data is constantly generated and collected from which advertisers can leverage advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to extract valuable insights on user behaviour, preferences, demographics and browsing patterns to optimise advertising campaigns, identify ideal audiences, and tailor targeted, relevant, and personalised advertising content to consumers," it said. 

As privacy enhancing technologies and data privacy regulations evolve, digital advertisers need to address customers’ privacy concerns and expectations, align to changes in data protection and privacy regulations and technologies and ensure that their digital advertising platforms can still function effectively, according to CCCS. 

In recent years, numerous market study reports by overseas competition and data protection authorities (e.g. UK, Australia and Japan) have examined the various types of digital advertising, including search advertising, owned-and-operated and/or open display advertising ecosystem in their respective jurisdictions and assessed the competition, data protection/privacy, and consumer concerns that have arisen, it added. 

This market study is intended to contextualise and understand the digital advertising landscape in Singapore, including the market structure and dynamics.

The chosen consultant will be required to propose to CCCS and PDPC its methodology to address the issues set out.

The consultant may consider a range of research methodologies for the market study, including but not limited to the use of market or industry reports, guidelines, market study reports and opinion papers from regulators in other jurisdictions, research papers by academics or surveys.

It will also have to identify and propose the representative sample of interviewees to be interviewed across different groups of industry participants.

To do this, it will need to have industry expertise which includes knowledge of industry developments, trends and challenges related to digital advertising, it said.

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