SEA finance app marketers spent over US$244m on user acquisition in 2020

Marketers in Southeast Asia spent more than US$244 million on user acquisition and remarketing efforts last year, forming about 8% of global marketing spend which totalled US$3 billion in 2020. According to AppsFlyer’s 2021 State of Finance App Marketing report, marketing spend in the region is mainly reliant on trends in fintech app demand, with about 65% of marketing budgets allocated to gaining users through non-organic installs.

Out of the US$244 million spent in user acquisition, the report found that investment apps were pushed the most aggressively, forming more than 65.5% of non-organic installs in Southeast Asia. The pandemic has also led to more users in Southeast Asia utilising loan apps, making 58.3% share of non-organic installs in the region. Meanwhile, financial services came in last out of all categories with non-organic installs of 37.3%. This can be attributed to the fact that many users in Southeast Asia have switched to using contactless payments as a result of social distancing measures.

Southeast Asia's overall demand for fintech apps grew over the past year, with Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, in particular, showing higher demand during the first quarter this year compared to 2020. Thailand saw demand rise by 8.5% during Q1 2020 to Q2 2020 despite lockdowns, while Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam saw a drop in demand between 6.6% to 34% during the same period. These three countries did see demand bounce back from Q3 onwards.

The region’s changing trends in demand saw marketers respond in a similar way; across the four countries, marketers reduced spend by 46% during Q1 2020 to Q2 2020, in response to the falling demand. Philippines and Thailand saw the most significant drop in marketing spend, with budgets being reduced by 35%. The report also found that marketers in Indonesia and Vietnam were less cautious, choosing to increase their ad spend from Q2 2020 to Q3 2020. Meanwhile, Indonesian marketers increased spend by 31% while Vietnamese marketers increased their spend by a substantial 52%.

v

Meanwhile, mobile fraud in Southeast Asia remains high, especially in the finance sector. According to AppsFlyer, this is mainly attributed to its high pay-out and scale which is a draw for fraudsters. However, this trend is changing slowly and according to the report, there have been significant improvements in anti-fraud solutions which led to a 20% drop in Southeast Asia fraud rate between Q1 2020 and Q1 2021. Marketers have also become more vigilant in recent years, as financial services apps saw a 48% dip in fraud rates.

AppsFlyer's report tracked 2.7 billion app installs in Asia Pacific between Q1 2019 and Q1 2021, of 4.7 billion app installs globally The report also examined 600 million non-organic installs and 1,230 apps across SEA markets including Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Finance apps in the report have also been separated into different categories, such as digital banks, traditional banks, financial services, loans, and investments.

Photo courtesy: 123RF