TECH TRACKER
Tech tracker: Meta gives SMEs an AI power-up as WeChat monetises video ‘Channels’
How is Twitter boosting audience measurement amid Musk’s ‘bot’ claims? Why is Tencent monetising its new WeChat videos so soon? And how is Monday.com taking on Salesforce? Here’s all the latest adtech news in one place…
(1).png)
Kantar changes the RGM roadmap with completion of StepUp acquisition
From MapQuest to Waze, the world has changed. AI and frequent real-time insights aim to change the RGM game for CPG brands.
_1.png)
InfoSum upgrades privacy and data clean rooms with Platform Sigma
Customer-centric organisations will be able to collaborate across unlimited datasets, unlocking planning, measurement, and analytics for the privacy-first world.
Merkle aims to simplify customer experience management with ‘CXM on demand’
Early adopters include London North Eastern Railway, which now has capacity to send out 40x more personalised emails and texts,
.jpg)
Fighting misinformation with AI: Zefr partners with Adverif.ai
Acquisition of Israeli AI firm bolsters Zefr’s technology-led approach to identifying and defunding misinformation, in the wake of TikTok appointing them as brand safety partner.
_1.png)
DSP meets SSP: Hawk teams up with Azerion to boost omni-channel tools for clients
Automated ad buying platform Hawk Platform, has struck a global partnership with Azerion’s proprietary SSP, Improve Digital.
GumGum and JW Player link viewability and contextual tools
Clients across both platforms will now have access to proprietary viewability technology and MRC-accredited contextual, brand safety and suitability technologies.
.png)
Multilingual marketing: InnoVision Español division gives underserved hispanic market the attention it deserves
“Replicas of English messaging is not enough anymore”. New marketing division increases investment towards hispanic community with authentic messaging.
.jpg)
B2B marketing’s ‘sea of beige’ is painted over in Sectorlight and alan. Agency merger
Under combined leadership and rebranding as ‘alan. place & space’, the joined forces intend to expand its anti-beige “visceral marketing” approach.
New Influenster app matches shoppers with brands seeking honest customer feedback
As retail becomes more consumer-driven, shoppers are increasingly finding what they’re looking for through the power of peer-to-peer exchange, including user-generated content.
Adverty joins forces with SeenThis to bring programmatic video ad formats to gaming
Brands will be able to embed short form video directly into contextually appropriate positions within games, reaching captive, engaged audiences.
Disney Advertising upgrades first-party data deal with The Trade Desk
Brands can now target automated ads across the entertainment giant’s properties, using privacy-first data matched on the back end from Disney and The Trade Desk.
IAS syncs campaign bids for advertisers with Xandr’s Invest DSP
IAS Quality Sync Pre-bid Segment reduces ad campaign block rates and campaign activation time to match advertisers’ pre- and post-bid settings.
Adverty and Oracle Moat team up to enhance measurement within in-game ads
The partnership means Adverty’s in-game viewability tech is embedded in Oracle Moat Analytics so advertisers can measure impressions, invalid traffic and viewability.
Total Media Solutions partners with Content Ignite, creating new contextual ad formats
Publisher-first adtech company Total Media Solutions has teamed up with fellow adtech solution provider Content Ignite to bring new contextual ad formats to its publisher clients.
Kantar to buy StepUp RGM, turbo boosting its position in CPG software market
Kantar XTEL and SilverTree Equity are purchasing StepUp RGM in a bid to create the leading end-to-end Revenue Management Software platform.
Roku and Walmart bring speedy shoppable ads to streaming TV
World’s largest retailer and TV streaming platform team up to “crack the code of video shoppability” without cumbersome QR codes or credit card numbers.
.png)
SALT launches virtual food and beverage marketing consultancy in the metaverse
SALT, a specialist food and drink marketing consultancy, has become the first food and drink consultancy to launch on the global food metaverse, OneRare.
.png)
Fiverr helps advertisers create freelance ‘dream teams’ with AI-powered staffing platform
‘Creative Genome’ technology builds out freelance teams for specific jobs set by advertisers, from an exclusive group of creative talent.
.png)
Teads combines creative and media measurement with ‘Attention Program’
Launch at Cannes Lions, the new scheme aims to advance omnichannel attention measurement Combining Creative and Media
LifeStreet revamps DSP Nero to offer brands ‘complete visibility’
Mobile demand-side platform claims to offer “true bidding transparency’ for advertisers.
Cavai and Azerion launch conversation in-stream video to optimise engagement
The industry-first launch builds on long-standing partnership between the two providers.
Love Island, FIFA World Cup and I’m a Celebrity available on Snapchat in made-for-mobile content
Deal means that ITV advertisers can align with major sport and reality TV content via Snap’s non-skippable formats and a new ‘Best of British’ ad bundle.
Blis online calculator sheds light on lost audiences from ID reliant solutions
New e-guide and interactive calculator reveals that almost 50% of digital audiences are being missed.
GumGum and Frameplay team up to offer up interactive in-game ads
The partnership allows GumGum to expand its suite of high-impact ad products into gameplay.
.png)
FreeWheel rolls out multi-screen media solution for premium TV video ads
AudienceXpress lets advertisers in Europe buy premium TV advertising on an audience basis across all platforms, including connected TV (CTV), broadcaster streaming platforms (AVOD), and digital publishers.
Hawk integrates Skyrise data into CTV offering
Move allows brands and agencies to control, shape and deliver CTV campaigns to the most relevant audiences in real-time.
Yahoo ramps up ad formats in Southeast Asia with immersive ‘Stories’
Uniting the popularity of social stories, browsing experience of native ads, and the scale of programmatic advertising, Yahoo Stories Ad aims to deliver full-screen brand narratives in premium environments.
Snap launches dynamic travel ads ahead of summer holiday season
The move marks a significant category expansion for Snap's Dynamic Ads, wooing new advertisers from the hotel, airline and travel agency sectors.
Mindshare unveils AI-powered media planning tools for advertisers
The new suite of machine learning products aim to help brands better understand the motivations that drive consumer decision-making and then buy those audiences at scale.
Pipedrive aims to simplify CRM with integrated tool
Campaigns by Pipedrive offers users a real-time view of all their data in one place, including new ways in creating marketing emails and distributing to subscribers.
Performance CTV product from Cognitiv delivers deterministic attribution with deep learning
CTV is bigger than ever, but hard to measure. Cognitiv Performance CTV uses custom deep learning algorithms to measure and auto-optimise advertising performance.
.png)
IAS expands TikTok partnership boosting brand safety with measurable invalid traffic tools
A holistic solution provides granular transparency and third-party measurement for marketers on TikTok.
MediaVision unlocks predictive SEO with new tech stack
The digital performance agency perfects the tech to deliver to real-world commercial needs, working with New Look to achieve significant sales growth.
.png)
Tripadvisor rebrands self-service advertising tool, giving control to brands
Tripadvisor Ad Express helps small and mid-size businesses engage with a global audience with automated tool and easier cross-platform advertising.
Updated Kantar tool ‘can predict an ad's effectiveness within 15 minutes’
Link AI for Digital lets brands test their own, and competitors, digital campaign assets ads in a wider range of scenarios than before. Can AI reduce the time, scale and costs of the creative development process?
Samsung Ads launches new Consent Management Platform to help brands navigate compliance issues on CTV
The IAB compliant service gives users the control to consent and personalise their ads, and confidence to advertisers over privacy regulations.
.jpg)
Ozone and Mediacom partner to boost advertiser ‘story’ channels across social platforms
The popular story format on social channels combined with Ozone’s existing ad slots provides brands with 3 times more attention than standard social ads, according to company study.
JOKR boosts retail media ad placements for brands with new platform launch
Americas-based instant delivery app JOKR has launched a new retail media platform, offering marketing placements for CPG brands, with Kellogg’s, Grupo BIMBO, and Pernod Ricard México already on board.
.png)
Punch! partners Singing Grass to open Chinese market for UK B2B brands
London-based B2B sales and marketing agency Punch! is partnering with Anglo-Chinese business specialist Singing Grass Communications in a bid to open up markets in China for its clients.
Wavemaker ramps up Google Performance Max support for client campaigns
Initial testing has already yielded 18% lower cost-per-clicks and 20% lower cost-per-acquisition versus conventional channel specific campaigns.
Amobee and SeenThis partner to boost video ad optimisation at scale
Amobee teams up with SeenThis to drive maximised consumer attention through innovative adaptive streaming ad formats globally with energy efficient technology.
Back to reality: Snap boosts AR shopping tools with 3D asset manager
Snap has updated its AR Shopping features as the social network looks to expand its e-commerce reach for brands.
Validity debuts email marketing tool tailored for small businesses
The launch offers core Everest features at a lower price point to serve a broader range of businesses.
.png)
Adverity and IAS team up to boost campaign optimisation tools
The integration will enable more transparent and accurate campaign optimisation and actionable insights, removing data silos and helping digital ads avoid fraud.
.png)
Pinterest turns brand product catalogues into Shoppable Pins with WooCommerce
The new partnership lets businesses sync their digital catalogues and turn their products into shoppable Pins, displaying in-stock availability and pricing information.
Audio-first ads: AdTonos and NumberEight unlock contextual targeting capabilities
Partnership overcomes new regulation pitfalls by combining ability to insert audio ads on any stream with privacy-first contextual intelligence data.
Brightcom and Intent IQ team up for cookie-free cross device IDs
As user cookie IDs start going dark, this new adtech partnership claims to offer advertisers real-time data accessibility with ‘up to 97% accuracy’.
Moloco tunes up demand-side platform to optimise mobile ad campaigns
The demand-side programmatic ad exchange has rejigged its AI-powered tools to help advertisers get more out of their mobile budgets.
Data meets design: VidMob’s Creative Automation reduces ad testing costs for brands
The AI-driven tool 'frees creative teams from the tedium' of manually producing size, platform and product variations for performance-based advertising, giving brands and agencies “the fastest path to creative that works”.
Email deal: Validity snaps up Mailcharts to help boost ecommerce campaigns
The addition aims to help email marketers launch more creative and further optimised campaigns.
Airship debuts App Experience Platform: no-code tool for brands to accelerate monetisation
New platform speeds up time to market and ROI, with Shell, NBC Sports Group, Orange France and OneFootball signed up already.
.jpg)
7th Minute harnesses contextual TV data to inform marketing strategies
New platform uses content recognition technology to identify and analyse every word spoken on TV, helping marketers understand when and where to buy media.
Seedtag upgrades brand safety with image recognition technology
The LIZ© tool is designed to offer a ‘human-like’ understanding of brand risk with high-impact solutions ensuring a safer advertising environment.
.png)
Immersive shopping: InMobi blends brand and performance with AI-powered e-commerce tool
Powered by machine learning, InMobi Commerce enables product discovery with influencer and shoppable video solutions, helping businesses monetise video in more than just social.
.jpg){kind=tracking}
First-party data solution for publishers as TripleLift acquires 1plusX
Publishers and advertisers can now take control of their data and address audiences effectively in the absence of third-party cookies.
Next level in-game ad formats for brands from Bidstack and Xaxis partnership
Brands have access to a global portfolio of programmatic in-game ad solutions and experiences as gaming is more popular than ever.
Social media trend monitoring tool from Campfire gets clients ahead
New proprietary trend monitoring tool, Spark, marks the company’s transition into a social-first digital performance agency.
The Trade Desk ties into Adobe customer data platform
The integration will mean advertisers can activate their first-party data at scale across the open internet - including channels like Connected TV - without relying on third-party cookies.
SEO monitoring for brands: Conductor snaps up ContentKing
New partnership makes a bold claim to be ‘a search landscape that never sleeps’ for marketers.
Hawk’s DOOH planning tool optimises media buying with real-time intelligence
After a post-pandemic bounce back for DOOH, Hawk’s tool optimises advertising campaigns across all channels, including the metaverse, with front-end mapping technology.
Sleeker storytelling across social with Yahoo’s new Video Lite feature
Piloted with Grab and foodpanda in SE Asia, Video Lite unlocks more interactive ad features on video. Amidst fierce competition among APAC brands, the feature helps close the loop with meaningful engagements.
Mobile in-game ads: AdInMo and NumberEight join forces for privacy-first targeting
The adtech partnership brings together on-device contextual intelligence to tackle ad targeting at scale by leveraging untapped first-party data.
Mediaocean streamlines personalisation for brands with social creative tool
The global ad tech platform has launched a new set of creative solutions for social media personalisation and performance, bridging the walled gardens.
BuzzGuru connects brands to Instagram influencers via analytics platform
A new tool helps performance marketers match the right creator for the right campaign outcome, via filtering and analytics.
Unruly launches CTV ad exchange
Unruly has launched a content-level targeting solution to help publishers segment their inventory based on attributes that mirror TV buys, such as genre and rating.
Hawk’s programmatic platform gives advertisers new ‘survey’ insights
Programmatic ad platform Hawk has launched an in-built survey tool to help brands get granular insight on the effectiveness of their advertising across mobile, audio and digital out-of-home (DOOH).
Spotify launches podcast ad banners
Spotify is making podcast advertising more interactive and accessible with call-to-action (CTA) cards.
Sky Media offers brands hyper-optimised ‘Smart Sponsorship’ format
Sky Media has expanded its AdSmart technology with a new sponsorship tool, opening up a new level of real time, geo-targeted TV ads for brands.
Snappier shopping with AR Lenses
Snap has given its AR shopping tools a major boost with catalogue-powered Shopping Lenses, designed to simplify the experience for retailers and consumers alike.
Outbrain takes native ads cookie-less with AI-powered bidding tool
Engagement Bid strategy (EBS) is a new AI-based performance optimisation solution using attention metrics, without the need of cookies or tracking codes.
Smart AdServer creates TV advertising alliance in France
TVMOTIK aims to support TV channels in activating and marketing targeted advertising offers via Bouygues Telecom’s home gateways.
Adform ID Fusion aims to shed light on cookie-less audiences
New programmatic solution activates first and third-party IDs across all browsers and devices in a bid to reach the 50% of people hidden by crumbling cookies.
Ubisoft’s in-game ads deal with Anzu gets a power-up
Big-name clients and developers are reaping the rewards of non-intrusive gaming ads. A 176 percent increase in brand awareness takes this partnership to the next level.
Native ads coming to TV screens: why Outbrain is buying vi for £55million
Recommendation engines are evolving from publisher websites and onto CTV, as advertisers seek more measurable (and cookieless) ways of reaching the Netflix generation.
“Verify everywhere”: DoubleVerify adds pre-campaign insights with $150m OpenSlate takeover
The latest acquisition in adland shows how brands are hungry for data from both sides of their campaigns...