Marketers across Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, spend nearly one full workday each week on manual advertising adjustments, according to the 2025 Global Insights report on artificial intelligence (AI) and automation by digital media measurement platform DoubleVerify.
The report found that marketing teams spend close to 12 hours a week on repetitive campaign optimization tasks as digital campaigns grow more complex and spread across multiple platforms. This reduces the time available for planning, analysis, and creative work.
“The marketer’s challenge isn’t access to data, but the ability to act on it efficiently,” said Tinee Cruz, senior business director at DoubleVerify Philippines. “Automation isn’t about replacing human creativity; it’s about clearing room for it. By freeing up teams from repetitive work, marketers can concentrate on strategy, storytelling and innovation, three core elements that support brand growth.”
Cruz shared these findings at DMAP DigiCon 2025, a major digital marketing conference in the Philippines. She said marketers in the Asia-Pacific region now spend about 27.5% of their time on manual campaign adjustments. This is equivalent to nearly ₱850,000 per team member each year, based on time spent rather than direct costs.
According to Cruz, the heavy reliance on manual work shows the growing difficulty of managing ads across different platforms, formats, and audiences. While marketers have access to large amounts of data, turning that data into timely actions remains a challenge.
To address this, advertisers in the region are increasingly using AI-based automation tools that can adjust campaigns automatically based on real-time data. Cruz cited DoubleVerify’s AI-driven optimization tool, DV Scibids AI, as an example of technology designed to reduce manual work by handling routine performance adjustments.
Cruz said combining automation with media verification data allows marketers to improve efficiency while maintaining transparency and control over where and how ads appear. This approach, she noted, helps teams focus on higher-level decisions instead of constant hands-on changes.
“As marketing teams continue to evolve, automation is no longer a future concept; it’s a practical solution to reclaim time and focus,” Cruz said. “As the digital marketing landscape grows in complexity, automation has emerged not as a replacement for creativity but a foundation for it. For marketers, adopting smarter, data-led solutions will be key to maintaining both agility and authenticity, leaving them with more time to make decisions that power performance and deliver results.”
The report suggests that as digital advertising continues to expand, reducing manual workload through automation may become necessary for marketing teams to keep up with both performance demands and creative goals.