CDP Institute

The software landscape is continuing grow year-on-year, but 2022-2023 saw a slowdown, with the growth in number of applications at 8% compared with 14% in the previous year, according to software management platform Zylo. Growth in average portfolio size and spending have slowed too. For the first time since they began tracking, Zylo found AI apps appearing in their 15 most expensed apps list.

Rather than pay publishers for their content posted on its platforms, something a bill introduced in the Illinois General Assembly would require, Meta has said it will remove news links in Illinois. Last year, it announced that it would be “ending news availability” in Canada and it is in a battle with Australia over the same issue. Meta’s ability to remove news links is apparently more advanced than its ability to remove disinformation or other inappropriate content.

Information and insights firm TransUnion today launched OneTru, a new solution for managing, governing, analyzing and delivering data insights. OneTru has four key layers: Data management for streamlined access to TransUnion’s online and offline datasets; identity matching; AI-powered analytics; and a governance framework. Anticipated use cases include credit risk identification and fraud prevention.

In a survey of 500 advertising experts at brands, agencies and publishers, the IAB found that 95% expected privacy legislation and signal loss to continue to challenge the ad ecosystem, not just in 2024 but beyond. Nearly 80% expect to see investment in data privacy expertise training. Ad budgets are shifting to CTV, retail media, search, and social networks. Increased reliance by advertisers on walled gardens will be bad news for smaller independent publishers.

API-led ad serving company Kevel has secured $23 million in Series C funding. The funding is expected to allow Kevel to lean harder into retail media and drive product innovation, both to retailers and to marketplaces offering on-site retail media ad products. Kevel also announced the expansion of its C-Suite, adding former Frame.io CRO Puja Rios as President/COO.

Daasity, an analytics and data platform for consumer brands with omnichannel digital strategies, has announced the acquisition of Red Fox Analytics, a platform focused on retail CPG. As a combined digital and retail analytics platform, it will expand the range of sources of data brands can access in one place. The move seeks to break down ecommerce and retail data silos.

Twenty-seven billion dollars will be spent in 2024 on data, data services and infrastructure in support of some $270 billion in U.S. media buying across data-driven channels according to a white paper from strategic consultancy Winterberry Group. This spend is set to surpass $33 billion by 2027. Also foreseen, the evolution of CDPs from “systems of record” to unified intelligence and data management platforms.

Despite an apparent consensus that “Made for Advertising” sites provide a poor user experience and are damaging to the reputation of digital (and especially programmatic) advertising, Amazon and other major DSPs are still serving ads on MFA sites according to research by Adalytics. Supply sources are still full of “garbage inventory.” The ANA recommends advertisers become more active stewards of their media investments.

Proximic by Comscore’s natural language processing engine and AI contextual categorization technology will deliver to Epsilon insights into content including brand suitability and inventory quality in a new partnership. The contextual classifications will be used by Epsilon Digital, the company’s adtech platform. Contextual data is seen as increasingly valuable in an ad eco-system no longer supported by cookie-like tracking signals.

TikTok will be upgrading its Creator portal to the Creator Academy providing extensive education resources about the platform. This will focus on teaching creators about monetization opportunities. Reflecting TikTok’s international market, the Academy will initially be available in seven languages with more to come.

Management teams are almost twice as concerned about the lack of infrastructure for AI technology development than CEOs (32% vs. 17%) according to a survey of over 160 corporate retail employees. One third of management teams worry about the impact of AI on the workforce compared with 21% of CEOs. Strikingly, 90% of all those surveyed claimed to know how AI works in retail.

Businesses are bullish about disrupting their industries with AI with 78% considering it a competitive opportunity. However, fewer than 30% believe their IT teams have the key capabilities for rapid adoption. This is based on a poll of 300 C-suite, VPs or directors conducted by MIT Technology Insights in collaboration with telco company Telstra.