The battle is on for the attention of Indonesians online. Across the country, from metro cities to rural areas, digital consumption has grown significantly and especially so among youth.1 This has led to a steady increase in online video viewership and a rise in less engaged TV viewers. Notably, the number of light TV viewers has doubled since 2017 and online video penetration in this segment has grown by 100%.2
The growth in online video consumption is nonetheless fragmented across various channels and platforms, all of which are eager to win people’s attention. Choosing the best online platform and moments to connect with people can therefore be a challenge for brands.
YouTube, however, is a key online video touchpoint for both Indonesians and brands. People are spending more time on the platform3 and they use it to explore their interests and decide what they want to buy.4 In fact, 72% of video users say they discover new brands on YouTube.5 And brands that lean into the platform have noticed offline growth: almost 90% of YouTube campaigns have driven a lift in offline sales.6
For brands to unlock YouTube’s potential and win the attention of people, they need to know the right moments and best ways to capture Indonesians’ attention online.
Win the attention of high-intent audiences in micro-moments
More than 199 million Indonesians own smartphones, and at any given moment, they are using their phones to search, discover, learn, or do something. Brands that tap into these micro-moments to reach an attentive audience can help online shoppers cut short their purchase journey.
Leading Indonesian e-commerce company Blibli, for example, tapped into such micro-moments to drive sales among more than 100 million Indonesian YouTube viewers.7 It enhanced its TrueView for action ad with a product feed on Google Merchant Center, which enabled its products to be displayed prominently below its video campaign. This captured viewers’ attention and prompted them to click through, at that moment, to the product page. Existing Blibli app users, in particular, were guided straight to the app via deep links for a seamless buying experience.
“By implementing TrueView for action with the Google Merchant Center Feed, we were able to capture audience attention with just one video ad. We optimised the video’s creative to really emphasise Blibli’s unique selling point as a platform that offers both free and fast delivery. The product shelf below the video further complemented our unique selling point. As a result, we were able to land the brand message strongly and saw a better click-through rate.”
Blibli achieved a 1.7X higher click-through rate and 22% lower cost per click with the campaign. It also achieved a 2X higher uplift in traffic to its app and website. Compared with TV, the campaign reach was 1.8X more cost-efficient.
Blibli used YouTube to tap into micro-moments and win the attention of high-intent audiences
Give your attention to consumers in need and get noticed for it
Brands can also get people to sit up and take notice by reaching out to them in their moments of need and addressing what’s on their minds. For example, when Indonesians became increasingly concerned about online scams because e-wallets are a popular online payment method, payment solutions provider GoPay was quick to step in with a YouTube campaign to ease people’s anxieties.
It used its popular Gojek characters Jo & Jek to promote the safety features of its e-wallet and show viewers how to keep their e-wallet accounts safe. To amplify the message, it ran non-skippable and bumper ad formats, and optimised its creatives based on YouTube’s ABCD principles. By meeting its audience at their point of need and providing timely reassurance, GoPay achieved a 4.4% lift in brand favourability.
“People are especially concerned about safety during the pandemic. That’s why we created a video on payment safety, which would help increase brand consideration and favourability. We achieved a favourability metric of +4.4% which I know is a very difficult metric to move.”
Time your efforts to stand out during cultural and seasonal moments
The competition for Indonesians’ attention is perhaps toughest during cultural and seasonal moments such as Ramadan, payday, and major shopping festivals. But advertisers have an edge if they know how far ahead shoppers plan for sales events and where they browse for upcoming deals.
Last year, for example, e-commerce marketplace JD.ID launched its 9.9 shopping campaign a few weeks earlier than it usually would to cut through the noise of the busy shopping moment and to gain the attention of Indonesians. This strategic move was timely because Indonesian shoppers typically start stocking up their online shopping carts four to five weeks ahead of sales events.8
Drawing on learnings from previous seasonal campaigns, JD.ID created mobile-friendly ads with optimised creative assets to stand out, and it used YouTube’s full funnel approach to drive focused reach at scale. The result was that JD.ID reached 42.8 million shoppers in its desired age group and achieved a 32% lift in awareness and a 22% lift in ad recall.
“We only utilised YouTube for our 9.9 campaign and we collaborated closely with the Google creative team for the video assets. We’re happy with the Brand Lift Study results as it really translates into what we saw in sales.”
In the battle for people’s attention online, brands in Indonesia need to know where their audiences are and to pick the right moments to connect with them. With online video viewership growing and YouTube being a platform that Indonesians use to decide what they want to buy, advertisers can lean on a YouTube-first strategy to capture audiences’ attention and deliver marketing campaigns with better business results.
