Index Exchange, an independent SSP, has launched the Data Vendor Ecosystem, which provides audience intelligence directly on the sell-side. This will give agencies and marketers better options for ad targeting. Similarly, Causal and OpenX are partnering to expand performance-focused CTV options.
Instacart and TikTok have announced an integration for ad targeting to reach specific groups of Instacart shoppers. Advertisers will be able to use Instacart data and access their product catalog from within TikTok’s Ad Manager. It’s another example of retailers monetizing their data outside of their own platforms.
Perhaps AI isn’t quite as great as the hype suggests. Salesforce users expressed great frustration when the Agentforce AI assistant replaced a dedicated search bar, so Salesforce is reinstating the search bar with conversational AI functionality. Relatedly, a Dataiku and Harris Poll study found that 95% of data leaders around the world lack full visibility in AI decisioning and 75% are concerned about trust in agent deployments.
American Express is the latest company to make its customer data available in a retail media network. Amex Ads provides contextual targeting based on extensive first-party data, as well as ad measurement for online and offline sales. The program is currently available on AmexTravel.com and will expand to other platforms in the future.