CDP Institute

NBCUniversal has announced its own version of a cross-channel customer identifier, the uncreatively named NBCU ID. It will let advertisers target viewers within NBCUniversal’s walled garden of TV, online and theme park properties. Other projects include a data clean room and a slew of online shopping tools including Facebook and Instagram apps.

We’ve seen so many CDP acquisitions recently that it’s almost shocking when a CDP vendor raises money to grow independently instead.  ActionIQ just reminded us that’s an option with an eye-catching $100 million Series C extension, made just slightly less impressive by news that $60 million is new money and $40 million had been raised previously.

I’ve been looking for an excuse to mention that livestream shopping is now a thing.  It’s part of the larger trend for social ecommerce, which itself belongs to the still larger trend of retailers looking for ways to escape from Amazon’s clutches.  So while you may not really care that Nordstrom is adding a livestream channel, at least you know why I’m telling you about it.

The marketing automation industry went through its own acquisition phase several years ago.  Act-On Software never got bought but they did survive.  The company just raised $20 million in a combination of debt and equity, bringing its total funding to $92 million.  It’s their first substantial round since a $45 million investment in 2014.

Was Zaius on your CDP acquisition bingo card?  If so, you can tick that box, because they were just purchased by digital experience platform Optimizely, which was Episerver until recently.  Like other recent CDP purchases, the deal gives the buyer a way to unify multiple customer-facing systems: Episerver had seven previous acquisitions including three in the past two years.

There are measurements and then there are measurements.  Snapchat parent Snap has purchased Fit Analytics, which helps people find right-sized clothing.  You can file this under “social platforms expanding into e-commerce” if you want to connect it to something significant.

Elsewhere in Measurement Land, the Media Rating Council’s project to standardize advertising outcomes measurement has emerged with unintentionally hilarious conclusions that “there was not consensus by practitioners around a single method by which to measure outcomes” and “most users view current outcomes measurement as a largely opaque process in need of much greater transparency.”  Jamie in our Department of the Obvious is impressed.

You’re not the only one struggling to understand the impact Apple’s new tracking consent rules.  Here’s a helpful piece from our friends at AdExchanger on what will change with Facebook reporting.  Long story short: no more holdout tests or store visit optimization.

If marketing automation vendor Maropost has raised any money, they’ve been quiet about it. But, hey, they’re Canadian.  They did mention they’re buying ecommerce platform Neto for “$60 million + considerations”, which may be in Canadian currency. Have you noticed that a lot of companies are building comprehensive customer engagement suites?

We also have a $230 million Series F from Yotpo, which offers customer engagement modules for SMS messaging, loyalty and referrals, and user reviews, comments, and content. It’s an integrated platform but also connects with ecommerce platforms including Shopify, Magento, SAP, Salesforce, and BigCommerce. Total funding is now $406 million and the deal values the company at $1.4 billion, a hefty 14x their $100 million revenue.

Let’s follow some money today, Dear Reader. We’ll start with a $300 million funding by Website builder Squarespace, which has grown to include ecommerce, email, SEO, and social content. The round brings total funding to $578 million at a $10 billion valuation. No word on revenue although a newspaper article last November pegged it at $500 million pre-pandemic.

But, hey, we can’t spend all our time worrying about privacy.  So let’s worry that 44% of marketers aren’t effectively targeting their marketing to improve lifetime customer value.  In fact, just 17% even do a good job of tracking it, according to Deloitte Digital and CMO Council.  Good news for CDP fans: marketers top priority for the next 12 months is building a unified customer view.