The data business is infinitely fascinating, amirite? So you’ll be excited to learn that two firms which track consumer purchases are merging. NielsenIQ specializes in measuring fast-moving consumer goods, while GfK collects data about consumer durables purchases. Both are majority-owned by private investment firms, which will retain shares in the combined operation.
Voyantis, which calls itself a “prediction-based growth platform” has launched with a machine learning product that uses customer value predictions to optimize advertising campaigns and tailor individual customer treatments. What’s special is the predictions are updated more or less continuously, enabling quicker reaction to behaviors than usual. The company also announced it has $19 million in seed funding.
Will the metaverse rescue marketers from the loss of third-party cookies and device tracking? Perhaps you scoff the metaverse doesn’t actually exist. That didn’t prevent 74% of marketers telling Qualtrics they were already advertising in it and 59% of that group saying it’s their most successful channel. Pioneering? Optimistic? Delusional? Take your pick.
Nearly one-third of major news publishers have blocked generative AI tools from reading their content. But that’s a drastic measure which could also exclude their results from conventional search engines. Microsoft has just given publishers the option to block access by Bing Chat without also removing their content from search results. We’ll see if competitors do the same.