We knew that product-led marketing, such as freemium and free trials, is increasingly popular. But we hadn’t realized that two-thirds of businesses already offer some sort of free trial – including nearly as many B2B (64%) as B2C (69%). That’s according to Recurly, whose study also provides lots of other information on conversions, subscription plans, churn rates, payment methods, and more.
If you want a broader perspective, B2B Marketing Expo and friends released a survey that covers B2B marketer objectives, tech investments, budget allocations, training, and mental health. CDP shows up as a relatively low priority, recently bought by 13% of respondents and planned for near-acquisition by 10%. Marketing automation (22%), video marketing (17%), and account based marketing (15%) rank higher in purchase plans, while data management platforms, digital events, and ecommerce fell off the list entirely.
Cord-cutting is another trend that turns out to be further along than you may have realized. Pixability reports that 41% of U.S. consumers say they’ve already dropped their cable subscription and another 20% plan to leave within the next year. That would leave just one-quarter of consumers watching linear TV. Marketing dollars are sure to follow.
Unauthorized training data isn’t an existential threat to generative AI but it’s certainly a headache for users and developers alike. Most developers are trying to exclude materials that creators have explicitly labeled as unauthorized and citing “fair use” as justification for copying everything else. Getty Images has taken an opposite approach, building its gen AI tool only on materials that are explicitly licensed. It’s possible that tracing the provenance of training data will become a standard, similar to how organic food producers trace the origins of their ingredients.