Billups, a global Out-of-Home (OOH) technology and managed services company, today announced the appointment of Stephanie Gutnik as global chief strategy officer. In her new role, Gutnik will develop and execute Billups’ international product roadmap and go-to-market strategy to promote the adoption of programmatic digital OOH (DOOH) and amplify the overall presence of OOH within the broader advertising industry.

“Thanks to new and emerging technologies like augmented reality, automation and artificial intelligence, the OOH industry is experiencing a digital renaissance, and Billups is at the forefront of this global transformation,” said Gutnik when asked why she decided to join Billups. “With 20 years of unparalleled OOH expertise and innovation, Billups is the gold standard for OOH planning, activation, and measurement. I look forward to contributing to its continued success and further cementing its leading position in the advertising technology landscape.”

Before joining Billups, Gutnik served as the global head of DOOH at Yahoo, where she was responsible for defining the company’s DOOH strategy, product feature set and go-to-market strategy. Prior, Gutnik served as vice president of digital strategy and programmatic sales at OUTFRONT Media and vice president of business development at Broadsign. She also previously ran marketing for Broadsign and worked in advertising sales at News Corp.

"Stephanie's appointment to our leadership team marks a pivotal moment in Billups' journey,” said Billups chief executive officer David Krupp. “As we approach our 20th anniversary, Stephanie’s vast experience, combined with her visionary approach to OOH, will undoubtedly advance our position as a global leader in the industry. We are thrilled to welcome her into the fold and eagerly anticipate the transformative impact she is poised to bring.”

An internationally recognized voice in the OOH industry, Gutnik is an award-winning public speaker and has received “Rising Star” awards from both the World Out of Home Organization and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA). Her commitment to the industry is evident in her roles on the board of directors of the Canadian Association of New York, the Digital Signage Experience Advisory Board, as well as her Co-Chair positions in the OAAA Innovations Committee and the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada DOOH Committee. She is also a doctoral candidate studying marketing at Edinburgh Business School.

Together, Krupp, Gutnik, and the global team at Billups aim to redefine the boundaries of OOH advertising, blending innovation with strategic, data-backed insights to drive unparalleled growth and engagement in the industry.

Report provides actionable advice on how to reach new audiences, optimize campaigns, and drive ROI with CTV advertising

Wurl, the leader in data-driven solutions for CTV, today released How to Turn CTV into a Performance Marketing Channel for Growth, a new report developed in partnership with leading marketing platform AppLovin (NASDAQ: APP). With CTV ad spending projected to reach over $25 billion in 2023, and more and more viewers moving away from traditional cable, the report highlights the significant role CTV advertising plays in reaching new audiences and driving revenue.

“CTV advertising is bringing the performance power of mobile user acquisition into the world of television, unlocking unprecedented ROI for streamers, content publishers, and mobile marketers alike,” said Katie Jansen, Chief Marketing Officer, AppLovin. “Whether operating in the dynamic world of mobile apps, or as a streaming app delivering engaging content, CTV is driving incremental and profitable growth for performance-minded marketers.”

Marketers can now leverage data-driven targeting and measurement, providing a clearer understanding of campaign outcomes. The report details how to:

• Drive incrementality by expanding reach to previously untapped audiences and acquiring net-new users and subscribers.
• Keep the right viewers engaged, targeting promos individually across CTV, mobile, and desktop.
• Drive deeper engagement through dual-screening when users are engaging with their mobile phones while watching CTV, and searching for information about the product or service.
• Measure and optimize with a full-funnel, cross-channel mindset ensuring a holistic understanding of CTV's role in driving down-funnel actions.
• Inspire engagement with CTV ads that leave a lasting impression and feature a clear call to action that motivates users to take the next step.

The report also features real-world case studies from apps that increased their install rates with AppDiscovery campaigns tapping into Wurl’s premium CTV supply. Picsart, the number two top-downloaded photography app, tripled its spend after achieving high install rates and tremendous scale, and popular credit building app Kikoff decreased its cost-per-engagement (CPE) by 27% and increased its install rate by 3X.

“We know that nearly half of viewers discover new content to watch through ads during other TV shows,” said Ron Gutman, Chief Executive Officer, Wurl. “With performance-driven advertising, streamers and publishers can leverage CTV as part of their marketing mix to attract high-value viewers, increase engagement, and, in turn, boost retention. All campaigns are 100% measurable through Wurl’s ContentDiscovery solution, allowing advertisers to effectively transform their marketing efforts from a cost center to a revenue driver with the ability to immediately see their ROAS and down-funnel metric performance.”

New suite empowers developers and tech partners with a streamlined, accelerated path to composable web architecture

Netlify, the leading platform for modern web development, today announced the general availability of the Netlify Software Development Kit (SDK), a suite of innovative tools designed to provide technology partners, web development agencies, and customers with custom integration development capabilities. With Netlify SDK, development teams can custom tailor their web projects, web properties, and web architectures for their business needs. Netlify SDK brings improved productivity, flexibility, and speed-to-market to level-up enterprise development team capabilities.

Without the necessary tools, developers find themselves spending valuable time connecting their disparate systems and managing their data, rather than focusing on innovating. According to Gartner, one of software engineering leaders' top concerns is improving the developer experience by streamlining burdensome processes. With the Netlify SDK, busy enterprise development teams will be able to ship code rapidly and gain easy access to both ready-made and customizable integration tools, helping them to reduce the complexity of modernizing their web experiences.

"As the demands for more modern, personalized digital experiences continue to grow, businesses are seeking effective solutions to streamline their development workflows and accelerate innovation," said Matt Biilmann, CEO of Netlify. "With the introduction of the Netlify SDK, our commitment to empowering enterprises with modern, composable tools they can use to scale their initiatives is stronger than ever."

Netlify SDK provides developers and partners with a streamlined framework for creating time-saving integrations between their software platforms, creating a diverse digital ecosystem composed of custom building blocks that teams can build upon and scale, effortlessly. Netlify SDK includes several new features for Netlify Front-End Cloud, including Build Event Handlers, API Handlers, a new Integration UI, and more. Through the Netlify SDK, development teams can transform and streamline complex web architectures by connecting a wide array of systems and solutions, removing the friction of innovating at speed and at scale.

With this increased speed to start building and continue innovating, Netlify SDK seeks to empower organizations to accelerate the migration to and evolution of composable web architectures. Netlify SDK helps enterprise development teams gain:

• Support for any content source - With a standardized development process, users can quickly, and reliably spin up custom integrations that can sync to nearly any data source.
• Improved developer productivity - Netlify SDK enables partners to build and development teams to take advantage of off-the-shelf integrations across all development stages to help facilitate shipping quality digital experiences.
• Decreased time to delivery - Developers can reduce the time required to get started building custom architectures and continue scaling bespoke web experiences with standardized development practices and streamlined workflows.
• An elevated visual editing experience - Innovative integrations with Stackbit leverage a visual editing experience with their backend tooling of choice, making it easier for cross-department collaboration that empowers non-developers to intuitively interact with the platform, removing the friction between technical and non-technical teams so they can focus on delivering groundbreaking digital experiences to their customers.

"In today's fast-evolving technological landscape, seamless integration and customization are pivotal for businesses to thrive," said Nick Van Wiggeren, VP of Engineering at PlanetScale. "With the launch of Netlify SDK, we created the PlanetScale integration for Netlify, empowering joint customers to easily deploy data-intensive apps without worrying about the underlying infrastructure or issues with data scalability. With more automated processes that lead to powerful workflows and scalable data, users will benefit from a richer developer experience with both PlanetScale and Netlify."

"The integration we have built with Netlify SDK enables developers to seamlessly pull data and content from Storyblok, providing a frictionless user experience in a typically complex, ambiguous, and time-consuming data fetching process. The SDK truly revolutionizes how developers can provision content management, and this partnership materializes the new age of agile content delivery, automated workflows, and lightning-fast web performance." - Barry D'Arcy, VP of Partners at Storyblok.

Netlify looks forward to seeing what their customers will build next. Netlify SDK is the next step in realizing the journey to a scalable, performant, and innovative composable web.

Dolby.io and Play Anywhere are thrilled to provide a combined solution to deliver low latency and interactive experiences that will provide the ultimate viewing experience for sports fans. Both teams will develop proof of concepts to showcase a synchronized, real-time video stream. This solution will enable fans to engage in exciting ways through gamification, e-commerce, and interactive ads.

“We're eager to show fans and league partners what is possible when you combine real-time stadium video with designated data APIs to create a fan-friendly, engaging experience,” said Peter Scott, Chief Strategy Officer of Play Anywhere.

Dolby.io and Play Anywhere believe that a thoughtfully designed interface and omni-channel approach will expedite the solution, allowing fans to see their favorite game action in near real-time, on any device.

“Dolby is excited to partner with Play Anywhere - an innovative and leading-edge technology that will help define the future of entertainment,” said Maggie Peressini, Director Cloud Sales of Dolby.

Both Dolby.io and Play Anywhere share a common vision to enhance the quality of both the high-end and low-end viewing IP experience, so all fans feel like they’re at the game.

“The live streaming industry is evolving at the fastest pace in its history. This is especially true as sports leagues and content owners shift to a direct-to-consumer (D2C) model. Play Anywhere is providing significant innovation in the way these rightsholders can create new revenue streams based on Interactive rights across betting, gamification and e-commerce. This innovation aligns perfectly with our strategy at Dolby.io where we focus on providing technology that enables our customers to build Immersive, Interactive and Social experiences to engage their audiences and monetize their value," said Ryan Jespersen, Director of Product Strategy of Dolby.

Study reveals pressing societal issues across the world; top ranked issue in the US this year is Unemployment, while Mental Health takes top spot globally

Semrush, a leading online visibility management SaaS platform, today launched its “2023 Annual Global Issues Index,” the first-of-its-kind study designed to inspire organizations driving change in society.

The Index, co-authored by Columbia Professor Jeremy Kagan, reveals the most searched societal issues based on average monthly Google searches between January 2019 and June 2023, and how they rank across 35 countries. The study lists the Top 10 issues in each country, as well as a global aggregate ranking, from a group of 24 core issues including racism, gun control, sustainability, pollution, unemployment, mental health, the war on drugs and more.

“Semrush is known as a force in the industry with reliable data and actionable insights for marketers and businesses of any size. As a company committed to giving back to our own customers and communities, we wanted to use our data collection expertise to build a resource for organizations to do the same,” said Andrew Warden, CMO of Semrush. “The Annual Global Issues Index is a study that every business owner and marketer should become familiar with to see what people in their community are most concerned with, and to seek inspiration from businesses who are already driving positive change.”

Key findings from the report include:

• This year, the top 5 most pressing societal issues based on search across the world include Mental Health (1), War on Drugs (2), Sustainability (3), Public Health (4), Pollution (5).
• In the US, the top 5 most searched social issues in 2023 are Unemployment (1), Mental Health (2), War on Drugs (3), Public Health (4), and Sustainability (5).
• In Europe, online interest in Energy, Pollution, Sustainability, and War on Drugs grew significantly over the past three years.
• In the Oceania region, online interest in Mental Health this year was highest, followed by Public Health. Concerns about the War on Drugs and Sustainability have been growing steadily since 2021.
• In the Middle East, online interest in Education, College Debt and Mental Health grew strongest over the past three years.
• In Africa, Pollution and Sustainability are the highest ranked social issues this year, while in Asia, Mental Health and the War on Drugs rose to the top.

“Understanding the social concerns of different countries can be challenging, especially when trying to compare these issues around the world. Protests, local news, segment surveys, and political debate give some indication, but search volume is an amazing way to gain deeper insights on what populations are concerned with- people with access to the internet turn to search to solve problems and to get more information on topics of interest and debate. The trends we see in the Annual Global Issues Index give us a sense of the changing priorities and relative importance of common topics across nations,” said Jeremy Kagan, Columbia University Professor.

The Annual Global Issues Index was prepared using the Semrush Keyword Magic Tool which collected 157,000+ keywords, phrases and queries related to each of the 24 core issues, to discover the average monthly search volume for each. The total counts were then listed from highest to lowest in each of the 35 countries analyzed, to reveal a Top 10 list in each country, across the last five years.

The Organic Research tool was then used to identify 3 of the most visited CSR initiatives (by subdomain) being led by businesses, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), or government agencies as a direct response to the Top 10 most searched social issues in 2023. Semrush and Jeremy Kagan plan to co-author this study every September, with the intent to look back at the past five years.

Agillic is delighted to announce its new partnership with Merkle, one of the top global names in the customer experience space. This collaboration is aimed at delivering rapid value to businesses seeking to reap the benefits of personalised marketing automation.

This strategic partnership brings together Agillic's expertise in creating sustainable customer relationships through personalised experiences and Merkle's CX prowess to provide a solution that empowers mid-sized and data-driven companies to harness the full potential of marketing automation more swiftly and efficiently.

Merkle's Chief Growth Officer, Bobby Hollingsworth, expressed the unique value of this partnership, stating, "What makes our new partnership with Agillic special is the fact that we can empower businesses to reap the benefits of personalised marketing automation much faster. We know that many CMOs are hesitant due to time constraints and resource limitations. Hopefully, this makes their decision a bit easier."

Hollingsworth added, "Our Copenhagen office is just a bike ride away from Agillic, and we look forward to working closely together. They deliver the software, and we do the consulting and delivery. This means that we can meet more of the SMB market's demands head-on. Being able to accelerate value for that segment is a great add-on to our existing suite of CX services and products."

This partnership between Agillic and Merkle will provide a flexible solution designed to rapidly turn ambitions into results, offering the advantages of marketing automation while ensuring compliance with EU laws and providing Danish support.

Emre Gürsoy, CEO of Agilic adds: "At Agillic, we're all about personalisation. That's why we're thrilled to collaborate with like-minded thinkers and doers at Merkle. Teaming up with top-tier CX experts allows us to meet the demands of a large, new customer base. Our go-to-market strategy aligns perfectly with Merkle's vision, especially for businesses in the Nordics. We look forward to helping many new clients achieve their marketing automation goals."

 Kaspersky has released a premium version of SubsCrab, a mobile app that helps users track their subscriptions and control their payment schedules. SubsCrab makes the entire process of tracking subscriptions transparent and cost-effective for users. It is a multiplatform app available on iOS and Android that contains more than 4,000 subscription services and 11,000 rate plans.

The subscription model is a convenient and transparent tool for monetizing digital services that has become widely popular in recent years. According to The Business Research Company's "Subscription E-Commerce Global Market Report," the global subscription e-commerce market grew from $119.4 billion in 2022 to $196.35 billion in 2023, for a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 64.4%. Deloitte's "Digital media trends survey" revealed that 20% of the world's population have more than 10 paid subscriptions each, totaling over 100 US dollars per month.

SubsCrab was developed within the Kaspersky Product Studio, the company's business division responsible for developing and validating innovative new partnerships and products.

SubsCrab is a multiplatform app, available on both iOS and Android. It contains a large catalog of available subscriptions, including more than 4,000 subscription services and 11,000 rate plans. And, unlike other subscription tracking apps, SubsCrab does not have any limitation on the number of subscriptions users can add.

The app has Free and Premium versions. The Free app includes a basic subscription tracker that allows the user to view and manually add all active subscriptions, as well as a calendar of future charges. In addition, there are push notifications about upcoming charges available, as well as alternative services and useful information about subscriptions of interest.

The functionality of the paid Premium version is much wider, with a variety of additional helpful tools. In particular, the Email Scan option helps to eliminate the need to manually enter each active subscription into the service: the app simply scans a selected mailbox and automatically finds and adds the user's active subscriptions.

In addition, the user can assign accounts to separate categories. For example, it is possible to separate work-related subscriptions from personal subscriptions like games and streaming services.

"Today, most digital services, programs and applications operate on a subscription model," said Kirill Yurkin, SubsCrab's founder. "It is a user-friendly approach that is also easy to understand. At some point, however, users accumulate too many subscriptions, making it difficult to keep track of these and potentially very expensive. We designed SubsCrab to consolidate each user's active subscriptions in one place, giving them the ability to track an important part of their lives that would otherwise be very difficult without such assistance."

Trueba will oversee marketing and growth for the brand’s trusted human transcription services and world-class AI offering

Rev, the world’s most accurate speech-to-text provider, today named Fernando Trueba as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Fernando will bolster the Rev brand and help to accelerate Rev’s growth for both their existing transcription offerings along with their new enterprise AI platform.

With over 20 years of marketing experience, Trueba has spent his career lending his growth marketing and consumer branding expertise for companies such as eBay, Microsoft, Redbull, Johnson & Johnson. As CMO of Favor Delivery, Trueba led the company's marketing efforts through the surge in demand of the COVID-19 pandemic to safely provide meal delivery.

“Rev’s unique offering harnessing the power of humans and AI for transcription has led them to be an integral partner in building efficient media pipelines for organizations across markets,” said Trueba. “I couldn’t be happier joining a team that is so passionate about their mission of understanding the human voice.”

Trueba joins at an exciting time for the company as Rev’s continued development on AI-powered speech-to-text transcription has yielded an additional 10% improvement to word error rate. Already the world’s most automatic speech recognition (ASR) across languages, dialects and genders, this update provides over 92% accurate recognition without human intervention. Additional diarization improvements also provide more accurate identification of speaker switches, even in noisy environments.

“For over 10 years Rev has been invested in supporting storytelling across the world,” said Jason Chicola, founder and CEO of Rev. “Today marks a leap forward in how we want to share the story of Rev and our values. Fernando brings the expert knowledge that Rev needs to achieve our coming goals.”

Trueba will lead Rev’s strategic efforts to bring awareness to accessible AI so that all voices can be heard. As part of these efforts, Rev recently partnered with leading all-in-one video solution provider Vimeo to power auto-captions and automatically create accessible videos. Rev has also developed their first Brazilian Portuguese ASR model for body-camera manufacturer Axon.