Who Do You Believe : Google and Yahoo
According to Yahoo and Nielsen, Singapore is predicted to remain the highest in the region for search marketing in South East Asia, with growth from US$17.49 million (2008) to US$25.47 million (2010), with Indonesia also growing strongly to hit US$13.42 million from US$4.68 million and Thailand to reach US$10.07 million from US$2.52 million. Furthermore, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines will be driving 90% of the growth in the next five years. Indonesia has a bigger scope for growth.
In contrast, where Malaysia hardly warranted a mention for Yahoo, Google presented awards to Malaysian Airlines and Mindshare Malaysia for their use of Google solutions.
Whatever the difference in opinion between the 2 search giants, it is clear that companies in South East Asia are increasing turning to search to drive their marketing campaigns. Especially in times of lower budgets and calls for increasing accountability of adex spend, search provides a better alternative to display ads in terms of targeting, conversion rate and consequently ROI.