SA making good stride in Digital space

Access to the digital space is vital in order to accelerate innovation and South Africa is at a turning point for harnessing the power of digital.

Josephine Buys, CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), was speaking at the annual IAB Digital Summit, a gathering for marketers, advertising executives, publishers and technologists, underway in Midrand, Gauteng on Thursday.

The summit is a platform for key roleplayers to come together to share insights about the reinvention of media platforms, creative & business models while exploring the latest thinking and innovation in the digital space.

She said there was much important work to be done – and referred to the first fake news and brand safety round table held in 2017 as one example. The inaugural task team agreed to ongoing discussion including the introduction a digital accreditation to verify IAB members as credible news sources.

Another highlight she said is the IAB being a signatory to the Issue Paper on Perspectives on universal free access to online information in South Africa, which focuses specifically on free public Wi-Fi and zero-rated content.

Buys said the digital space in South African is constantly evolving, and that the most important factor going forward is the need for collaboration.

She adds that despite the numerous challenges of access to the internet and high costs of data, it is important to ensure that young people are part of the process.

The summit wraps with the 10^th edition of the Bookmarks  awards on Thursday evening – awarding excellence in Digital efforts on South African platforms.

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