In our latest webinar, APAC Digital Index 2026: aiming high or failing fast?, Richard Dixon, Chief Digital Officer at Black Sun Global, and Neale Few, APAC CEO, explored the latest findings from our APAC Digital Index. The session examined how organisations across the STi30 and Hang Seng Index are adapting their digital communications in an increasingly complex digital landscape, highlighting key trends, areas of progress and opportunities for improvement.
As stakeholder expectations continue to evolve, organisations are navigating changing behaviours, increasing regulatory complexity and growing demands for clearer, more connected corporate communications. The research explored how leading organisations are responding to these challenges and where opportunities remain to strengthen digital performance.
Several key themes are influencing the future of corporate communications:
Regulation is evolving, diverging and converging - regulatory compliance remains a minimum standard bar, and the bar is raising at different velocity across markets
Performance without context leaves value on the table - In a fight for global capital, companies need to better articulate differentiators, investment proposition and value creation
Sustainability is increasingly core to valuations - resource scarcity, geopolitical tension and stakeholder activism means sustainability is a test of enterprise value
Investors allocate capital to the future, not the past - In a dynamic global marketplace, companies need to communicate future strategic value beyond past performance
AI is changing who controls and sees the corporate story - AI is a lens, filter and interpreter of communications which places a premium on consistency and authority
One of the most significant themes explored during the webinar was the growing impact of AI on content discovery and stakeholder behaviour. Research presented by Black Sun found that 60% of searches are now clickless, rising to 83% when an AI overview is present, while a typical corporate website experiences more than 200,000 AI scrapes and crawls each month.
At the same time, organisations are seeing 25% fewer sessions and page views overall, but those who reach corporate websites are more engaged, with 20% longer session durations and 26% more page views per session.
As AI increasingly becomes an intermediary between organisations and their audiences, the focus is shifting from simply driving website traffic to ensuring content is authoritative, discoverable and accessible across both human and AI-powered channels.
The APAC Digital Index assesses corporate websites using a “Triple A” framework:
Our analysis highlights five key areas where APAC organisations are evolving their digital communications. While progress is evident across purpose-led storytelling, sustainability and stakeholder engagement, AI is accelerating the need for organisations to rethink how content is structured, published and discovered.
The themes below explore where organisations are performing strongly, where gaps remain, and how leading companies are approaching these areas in practice.
Purpose-led storytelling remains a strength across APAC corporate websites. Within the STI 30, 83% of organisations present a purpose-led narrative, while 83% provide at-a-glance summaries. Among Hang Seng companies, 67% communicate a purpose-led narrative, and 83% provide at-a-glance summaries.
Organisations are increasingly connecting purpose, strategy, objectives and value creation to create more cohesive corporate stories. There is also growing emphasis on communicating competitive advantage, strategic priorities and innovation more clearly.
Hongkong Land and Genting were highlighted as leading examples in this area. Hongkong Land in particular demonstrated how strategy, vision and philosophy can be brought together to create a compelling and accessible corporate narrative.
As AI becomes increasingly embedded within investment research and decision-making processes, the corporate website remains a critical source of truth for investors.
Globally, 59% of organisations now communicate an investment case on their website. However, the APAC market lags behind this benchmark, with only 17% of STI 30 companies and 7% of Hang Seng companies currently communicating an investment case.
The webinar highlighted the importance of connecting investment propositions with purpose, business strategy, value creation and sustainability priorities. Providing context around performance and future growth opportunities is becoming increasingly important as investors look beyond historical performance.
Jardine Matheson and Genting were identified as leading performers, while examples from Jardine Matheson and Sembcorp demonstrated how organisations can create stronger and more integrated investment narratives through clear storytelling and online reporting.
Sustainability communications continue to mature across APAC, with organisations increasingly focusing on demonstrating outcomes and impact.
The research found that 90% of STI 30 companies provide targets for each sustainability focus area, compared with 47% of Hang Seng companies.
Leading organisations are moving beyond commitments alone to provide greater transparency around material issues, governance structures and performance against sustainability priorities. There is also growing adoption of structured online sustainability content, helping improve accessibility for both stakeholders and AI systems.
City Developments Limited and UOB were highlighted as leading performers. UOB was showcased as a strong example of how organisations can communicate sustainability priorities, materiality assessments and evidence of impact through clearly structured content and supporting case studies.
Corporate websites continue to play an important role in attracting talent. Research cited during the webinar found that 8 in 10 employees look for company values that align with their own when evaluating potential employers.
Within the APAC Digital Index, 77% of STI 30 companies communicate culture and values content, compared with 43% of Hang Seng companies.
The strongest careers experiences provide a clear employee value proposition, demonstrate culture through authentic employee stories and offer tailored content for different audiences and career paths.
ST Engineering and UOB were identified as leading performers in this area. UOB was highlighted for its use of employee stories, career development content and clear communication of workplace culture.
AI is transforming how stakeholders discover and interact with corporate content. Organisations are increasingly recognising the importance of communicating how AI is being used within their business and ensuring their content is structured in ways that improve visibility in AI-powered search experiences.
The research found that 73% of STI 30 companies and 67% of Hang Seng companies now publish articles about AI and how it is being leveraged within the business.
The webinar highlighted the growing importance of publishing content in machine-readable formats such as HTML to improve authority and visibility within AI search results. Organisations that publish richer, structured online content are better positioned to influence how AI platforms interpret and surface their corporate story.
Keppel and CapitaLand were identified as leading performers. Keppel demonstrated how AI can be integrated into a wider corporate narrative, while CapitaLand showcased how AI can be positioned as a driver of future growth and innovation.
The webinar also highlighted AIVIA, Black Sun's AI-powered web assistant. Designed to provide stakeholders with direct access to approved website content, AIVIA enables users to ask questions in natural language while providing organisations with valuable insight into audience interests, content gaps and emerging information needs.
We support organisations in strengthening their digital communications and improving performance across the areas highlighted in the Digital Index.
This includes:
If you would like to learn more about your organisation's performance or explore how these insights apply to your digital communications, please contact:
Abbie Dixon, Relationship Marketing Executive
adixon@blacksun-global.com
About Black Sun
Black Sun Global is a stakeholder advisory and engagement agency that's been driving transformation and positive change for ambitious brands for more than 20 years. With deep expertise in disclosure and reporting, ESG, sustainability, and digital engagement, we reshape how organisations connect with customers, investors, employees, and the wider world.
We are trusted partners to some of the most influential global organisations, sparking innovation and sustainable performance through our strategic insights, partnerships, and proprietary technologies.
As founders of the Positive Change Group, we are on a mission to create a new kind of stakeholder relations partner. Our world-class specialists work closely with executive leadership teams to protect reputations, inspire trust, and promote responsible business practices - building resilience and long-term value in a rapidly changing world.
For more information, please visit: www.blacksun-global.com
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