It’s safe to say that a lack of software isn’t holding marketers back. Dentsu reports that finding the right data is CMO’s biggest external challenge (38%), followed by understanding changes in consumer behaviors (35%). Keeping up with emerging new tech (33%) and dealing with the fragmented tech landscape (30%) headed the list of media transformation challenges.
In another study of software buyers, G2 found marketing software ranked fourth (14%) in year-to-year growth in the number of products, behind AI (39%), design (17%), and human resources (14%). The fastest-growing marketing categories were surprisingly prosaic: the top three were QR code generators, content creation, and press release distribution. In total, G2 found 6,359 total marketing products, so 14% growth translates to net new 780 products.
You probably don’t need to be told that AI is used widely (88% of businesses) or delivering good results (90% say it will deliver cost or time savings). So let’s instead note that Twilio Segment found predictive AI is used more widely than generative AI (34% vs 24%), employee training is the most-cited obstacle to AI success (38%), many firms need better data quality to get the most value from AI (71%), and companies with a CDP grew faster than companies without one (32% vs 21%).
T-Mobile will acquire out-of-home adtech business Vistar Media for $600 million. Vistar Media is managing advertising campaigns across over one million digital screens. Its capabilities will combine with T-Mobile’s customer insights and data and its extensive in-store retail media network.