Here’s a sign of the times: Salesforce has confirmed it is no longer selling its Audience Studio DMP, which started as its $700 million Krux acquisition in 2016. Current users will be supported but the company expects third-party audiences to be loaded into its CDP in the future, and first-party audiences to be pushed to Facebook, Google, Amazon and other closed ad platforms via Advertising Studio.
Maybe you’re rather make your own ecommerce product recommendations. Personalization engine Qubit is on the case, with a new system that bases its recommendations on “deep learning”, which they assure us is much, much better than mere “machine learning”. No word on whether there’s a dial that goes to 11.
How often do you find yourself saying, I wish I had more apps to talk to? Apparently, often enough that the folks at Native Voice have just raised $14 million for an app that listens for you to call other apps, and wakes them when summoned. It’s a dream come true, if your dream happens to be The Brave Little Toaster.
It’s tough to get brand safety right, but the industry keeps trying. IPG Mediabrands announced a new set of tools to find and block inappropriate ad placements, while IAS expanded its suitability measurements to include standards from the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). Meanwhile, DoubleVerify admitted a mistake made brand safety on X/Twitter look worse than it really was in October 2023 and March 2024.