AKP Phnom Penh, October 22, 2026 --

Southeast Asia’s digital economy is showing resilience with gross merchandise value estimated to grow by 17 percent to US$368 billion this year, putting it on track to exceed US$1.1 trillion by 2035, a new report shows.

“Underlying growth dynamics have shifted markedly,” says the report by Google, Singapore's state-owned investment firm Temasek and American management consultants Bain & Company.

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“Competitive advantage no longer comes from sheer scale and assortment, but from relevance, personalisation, and the quality of the AI-assisted customer experience,” it says.

Published on Wednesday, the e-Conomy SEA 2026 report notes that growth trends for individual sectors are “holding steady in the high double digits, or, in the case of online media, accelerating further.”

For online media excluding retail media networks, revenue is forecast to soar 22 percent to US$44 billion this year.

“Video leads growth as it broadens from brand to performance formats, including shoppable and clickable formats. Online video also continues to gain share from TV, particularly via connected TV.

“Emerging sectors like cloud gaming and digital banking are driving fresh ad demand through aggressive user acquisition.”

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The digital economy analysis— which covers all members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) except Timor Leste — estimates the size of the online media advertising market at US$33 billion, up 27 percent from last year.

Advertising has “significant” potential, given that it amounts to only 1-3 percent of gross merchandise value compared with 9-10 percent for Amazon in the United States.

Among other sectors of the digital economy in Southeast Asia, e-commerce is projected to grow 18 percent to US$226 billion this year, underpinned by deeper engagement and penetration gains.

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Online travel is forecast to expand 10 percent to US$59 billion with this sector “at the forefront of AI-transformation.”

In the mobility and food sector, gross merchandise value is seen climbing 15 percent to US$40 billion.

The report notes that mobility transactions by Singapore-based Grab Holdings — which operates in most ASEAN countries — surged 28 percent in the second quarter of this year.

In digital financial services, the gross transaction value of payments is forecast to rise 16 percent to US$1.65 trillion this year, buoyed by account-to-account and e-wallet transfers.

Digital lending is meanwhile expected to climb 22 percent to US$116 billion although macroeconomic headwinds and tighter regulations are bringing “renewed prudence to disbursements.”

In a separate report released this week, the World Bank noted that Cambodia had the world’s fastest growth in exports of information technology services in 2022-2023 — more than 200 percent — albeit from a low base.

“Cambodia’s IT services market is expanding as demand for software development and outsourcing services rises,” the bank said.

By Sao Da