Messaging company Airship has acquired ReplyBuy, which enables two-way conversations and payments over SMS. Airship plans to add commerce capabilities to all its channels. Perhaps you’ve heard that ecommerce has grown rapidly this year.
I’ve been kind of hoping that a citizen newsletter editor would take over some of my work here, but so far, no luck. Citizen developers are getting more support from Google, which has just released an Airtable-like system named, um, Tables. It lets non-programmers define processes, share data, and do other stuff that used to require a highly trained professional.
Forrester analysts have also been hard at work, with a Google-sponsored study finding that better use of data and analytics is a top-5 priority for 63% of marketers and siloes are the top data challenge (57%). Fewer than half (42%) have a cross-platform view of Web and app analytics, which might seem like a little or a lot. But 84% consider cross-platform analytics critical or very important, so let’s call that glass half empty.
The IAB is forecasting that digital video will capture some 60% of total TV/video ad spend this year, a growth of 100% on its share five years ago. The new 2025 Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy Report also notes that CTV saw a 16% increase YoY in ad spend growth. CTV and social video will be the top “must-buys” for advertisers in 2025.