Showcasing market-leading tools, the latest enhancements give digital teams even more flexibility and control, completing Uniform’s digital experience composition platform as the most robust visual workspace available

Uniform, the leading provider in the emerging software digital experience composition platform (DXCP) category, today announced a series of enhancements to Uniform Canvas and Uniform Mesh. The new features round out Uniform DXCP as the most robust visual workspace, empowering digital teams to deliver winning multichannel experiences. The product releases complete the original promise of headless technologies: the final elements enable brands to visually weave multiple API-powered technologies together to create high-performance digital experiences quickly and with agility.

Uniform’s improved functionality makes creating web and app experiences faster and more flexible for marketers while giving developers a broader scope for building lightning-fast experiences with innovative technology. Below are the technical highlights and enhancements of Canvas and Mesh.

Put Power Back Into the Hands of Marketers

Canvas introduces Uniform Dynamic Pages and Uniform Redirect Manager, two powerful enhancements to the Canvas visual experience builder that offer marketers and merchandisers greater control over product-based experiences.

• Dynamic Pages enables business users to efficiently adapt and iterate across thousands of webpages, such as product detail pages, to build visual experiences at scale without developer support. No-code templates and custom page creation drive seamless content updates, consistent branding, and improves speed to market.
• Redirect Manager simplifies URL management through the creation of vanity URLs, activation of fast redirects using a modern content delivery network (CDN), and reliable page access. A visual tool helps business users quickly identify browser errors, improving accuracy and ensuring a smooth customer experience.

Freedom To Innovate With Best-of-Breed Tools

Mesh’s enhanced features underpin DXCP capabilities, removing silos, eliminating weeks of manual coding, and freeing developers to work with their tools of choice.

• Users can utilize any data source for building and reusing front-end components, boosting implementation speed and flexibility.
• No-code connections to any API, including headless services, legacy platforms, and single-use data sources, along with pre-built connectors for key services.
• Edgehancers enable cutting-edge performance and automatically push content to a CDN’s edge, enhancing page speed, user experience, and SEO performance without any custom code.

Accelerate Time to Market

Uniform is also launching the Component Starter Kit, an open-source and fully customizable collection of front-end components to streamline ideation for testing and production. Users can easily add these to a component development system like Storybook, and connect to content sources using Mesh.

“The excitement surrounding the new release comes from its ability to empower digital teams and tackle the challenges marketers encounter when delivering high-performing digital experiences,” said Darren Guarnaccia, president, Uniform. “These latest capabilities elevate the visual workspace, enabling true enterprise scalability and seamlessly blends content, data, and technology at remarkable speeds. With enhancements to Canvas, Mesh, and the introduction of the Component Starter Kit, we’re fulfilling the promise of what headless tools initially aimed to achieve. The envisioned future is one where marketers can focus on storytelling and audience engagement, free from the constraints of traditional platforms and processes.”

Blockgraph, the technology company making the future of privacy-focused, data-driven TV advertising possible, and NBCUniversal today announced a new partnership to optimize first-party data activation for the media and entertainment industry. The new, strategic collaboration will enhance the use of first-party data in marketing campaigns across One Platform to drive improved outcomes for brands. By enabling seamless data integration with NBCUnified, advertisers, agencies and measurement companies will be able to use first-party data efficiently for planning, targeting and measurement.

"We are excited about this partnership with NBCUniversal, and look forward to further maximizing the potential of proprietary first-party data across the industry,” said Jason Manningham, CEO of Blockgraph. “Our privacy-first approach ensures secure and compliant data collaboration while allowing brands to unlock important campaign insights and create more value within the rapidly evolving TV landscape."

Together, Blockgraph and NBCUniversal will enable advertisers to more accurately and efficiently match their first-party data sets across media and entertainment platforms, resulting in enhanced data interoperability, more precise audiences and improved campaign performance. Agencies and measurement clients will also gain access to richer and more comprehensive data sets, allowing them to deliver more accurate measurement and attribution solutions.

"At NBCUniversal, we see a future where all advertising campaigns activate against first-party and marketer data," said Krishan Bhatia, President & Chief Business Officer, NBCUniversal Advertising & Partnerships. "And with One Platform and NBCUnified, we're well on our way -- 60% of campaigns across our ad-supported streaming business are already data-enabled, and through our partnership with Blockgraph we will be able to accelerate this growth even further."

This news follows Blockgraph’s recent announcement of the launch of GraphPort, which will further scale access to the Blockgraph platform for first-party and first-party-like data deployments. Blockgraph also recently reported 10x improved match rates through their partnership with Kantar, signifying a significant step forward for the accuracy and efficacy of data matching in the TV industry. The industry-wide acceptance of Blockgraph’s clean technology and its ongoing adoption by key players in the marketplace continues to propel the future of the TV industry and data-driven TV.

44% Say LGBTQ+ Representation is Important: Higher Among Gen Z, Black Consumers, Asian Consumers

Numerator, a data and tech company serving the market research space, has released new data on diverse representation in advertising, sourced from a sentiment survey of over 1,200 consumers, equally balanced between Gen Z, Millennial, Gen X, and Boomers+. Overall, 63% of consumers say diverse representation in advertising is important to them, though younger, urban, and racially diverse shoppers place a higher emphasis on the importance of diversity and its positive impact than older, rural, and white consumers.

Overall Representation Findings:

• Nearly two-thirds of consumers think diverse representation in advertising is important. 63% say diverse representation in advertising is definitely or somewhat important to them, while only 16% say it is unimportant.
• Racial and ethnic diversity, age diversity, and disability representation were listed as most important across generations. When asked which types of diversity are important or compelling in advertising, 62% of consumers cite racial and ethnic diversity, followed by age diversity (56%), disability representation (56%), LGBTQ+ representation (37%) and gender identity (34%).
  • Younger consumers place a higher importance than older generations on LGBTQ+ representation and gender identity. 45% of Gen Z shoppers and 40% of Millennials say LGBTQ+ representation is important or compelling; 40% of Gen Z and 44% of Millennials say the same of gender identity.
• The majority of consumers say diversity in advertising has a positive impact on society. Overall, 51% of consumers say it has a positive impact, with certain groups skewing higher: Gen Z (58%), Millennial (55%), urban (59%), Black (71%), Asian (62%) and Hispanic/Latino (58%) consumers.
• Advertisements that feature diverse representation can sway consumer purchasing. 47% of consumers say they are likely to buy from a brand that includes diversity in their ads, while 41% say representation would not impact their decision to buy products. Only 12% of consumers say they are unlikely to buy from brands who feature diverse representation.
• Consumers are split on the current level of diverse representation in advertising. While 47% of consumers believe the amount of representation is “just right,” 31% think there is too much and the remaining 22% believe there is not enough.
  • Gen Z and Black consumers want more diversity. Gen Z is 44% more likely and Black consumers are 76% more likely to say that there is not enough diverse representation in advertising, while Boomers+ consumers are 30% more likely to say there is too much, along with Gen X consumers (22% more likely).

LGBTQ+ Representation Findings:

• 44% of consumers agree that LGBTQ+ representation in advertising is important. When specifically asked about LGBTQ+ representation, 44% strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement “it is important to have LGBTQ+ representation in advertising.” Different generations and ethnicities were even more likely to agree, including Gen Z, Millennials, Black consumers, Asian consumers and Hispanic/Latino consumers.
• Over three-quarters of consumers feel positive or neutral when they see LGBTQ+ individuals or themes represented in advertisements. Positivity and neutrality around LGBTQ+ representation is again significantly higher among younger, urban and racially diverse shoppers. 24% of shoppers report feeling negatively about LGBTQ+ representation, which is higher among Boomers+, rural and Midwest shoppers.
• Consumers are split on whether LGBTQ+ representation in advertising has a positive impact on society. 37% of consumers do not think LGBTQ+ representation has a positive impact on society, while 34% think it has a positive impact and 29% are neutral.
  • The positive impact varies heavily by age, race, urbanicity and regionality. Over 40% of Gen Z, Millennials, urban, Black, Asian and Hispanic/Latino shoppers think LGBTQ+ representation has a positive impact. Over 40% of Gen X, Boomers, Rural, White and Midwest shoppers think it has a negative impact.
• LGBTQ+ representation affects consumers’ buying habits. 40% of shoppers say they are likely or very likely to buy from a brand that includes LGBTQ+ representation in their advertisements or product offerings, 21% say they are unlikely or very unlikely to do so, and 39% say it has no impact on their purchasing decisions.

Numerator’s Quick Pulse representation survey was fielded 6/01/23–6/03/23 to 1,202 individuals, equally balanced between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X and Boomers+.

Incorta works with TrustArc to certify that their privacy practices meet the requirements of the TRUSTe Enterprise Privacy Seal Assessment Criteria

Incorta, a leader in the data and analytics industry, today announced it has selected TrustArc to help demonstrate its ongoing commitment to rigorous data privacy and protection standards with the TRUSTe TrustArc Enterprise Privacy Seal. The certification is a testament to Incorta's adherence to a comprehensive set of requirements governing data privacy management practices as outlined in the TRUSTe Enterprise Privacy Seal Practices Assessment Criteria.

TrustArc certifications are managed by TRUSTe LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of TrustArc. This partnership underlines Incorta's dedication to maintaining stringent privacy standards and upholding transparency in its data practices. As a component of the certification, TrustArc will also provide independent dispute resolution services to address privacy-related queries around customer data from users, thereby enhancing our commitment to fostering trust and assuring our customers about the secure handling of their data.

Further, TrustArc will provide ongoing access to privacy guidance, thus ensuring Incorta stays abreast with evolving data privacy regulations and best practices, further fortifying our commitment to safeguarding customer information.

Incorta worked with TrustArc to review and verify that its data privacy management practices comply with standards which are aligned with the TrustArc Privacy & Data Governance Framework. By achieving the TRUSTe Enterprise Privacy Seal, Incorta is demonstrating its commitment to strong data privacy practices and enhancing customer and business partner trust.

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“We are honored and proud to have demonstrated and effectively met the requirements of the TRUSTe Enterprise Privacy Seal, a dedication to meeting high privacy standards”, said Osama Elkady, CEO & Cofounder, Incorta. “This accomplishment shows our customers, partners, and employees, the level of commitment and strides Incorta has made to protecting their data privacy.”

The TRUSTe certification follows a three-phase process, using a combination of experienced privacy analysts, proven assessment methodology and the TrustArc Privacy Platform.

• Phase I includes a comprehensive review of the participant’s privacy practices against the TRUSTe privacy standards and creation of a detailed privacy findings report.
• Phase II includes a review of the findings by TrustArc with the participant, implementation by the participant of remediation recommendations and documentation of action item completion.
• Phase III includes certification activation including issuing the TRUSTe Seal, providing dispute resolution services and providing access to TrustArc Assessment Manager to support ongoing privacy compliance.

TrustArc CEO Chris Babel said, “We believe that a strong privacy management program is critical for companies to build customer trust and ensure privacy compliance, and with its achievement of this certification Incorta is demonstrating its dedication to meeting high privacy standards.”

New-Age Italian Content Provider Has Deployed Amagi's Premier Cloud Solutions, Amagi CLOUDPORT and Amagi THUNDERSTORM, to Amplify Its Reach and Revenue on FAST

Amagi, the global leader in cloud-based SaaS technology for broadcast and connected TV (CTV), today announced a partnership with CIAO USA TV to amplify the distribution and monetization of CIAO USA TV's channel on Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (FAST). CIAO USA TV caters to Italians worldwide with customized content and advertising. Amagi will distribute the platform's content to multiple FAST platforms, including an owned and operated (O&O) platform, and enable it to monetize their channel better with dynamic server-side ad insertion.

"Niche content providers like CIAO USA TV are the lifeblood of the FAST ecosystem. Their customized programming keeps audiences engaged and coming back for more, said Srinivasan KA, Co-founder & Chief Revenue Officer, Amagi. "We look forward to facilitating their growth with our comprehensive distribution network and ad solutions specifically tailored to FAST."

Besides employing Amagi's innovative channel creation, distribution, and monetization solutions — Amagi CLOUDPORT and Amagi THUNDERSTORM — CIAO USA TV is also exploring the possibility of leveraging Amagi's first-party ad platform, Amagi ADS PLUS, to boost their ad revenues, and Amagi's end-to-end content marketplace to reach more audiences in the CTV-led FAST universe.

"With Amagi as our technology and distribution partner, our brand expansion strategy is on the fast track," said Giuseppe Barone, CEO of CIAO USA TV. "We are keen to take this partnership to the next level with more channel launches, higher audience engagement, and revenue growth."

Amagi provides a complete suite of solutions for channel creation, distribution, and monetization. Amagi's global clients include ABS-CBN, AccuWeather, A+E Networks UK, Cinedigm, Cox Media Group, Crackle Plus, Fremantle, Gannett, Gusto TV, NBCUniversal, Tastemade, The Roku Channel, and Vice Media, among others.

Hyro.ai leverages Mona's new OpenAI integration to optimize their GPT-based applications

Mona, the leading intelligent monitoring platform, unveils a new monitoring solution for GPT-based applications. The free, self-service offering provides businesses with granular visibility into GPT-based products and valuable insights into costs, performance, and quality.

Large language models (LLMs), and specifically OpenAI's GPT models, have taken the world by storm, as many engineering and data science teams today are moving resources to integrate them into production applications and processes. Hyro, a leader in plug and play conversational AI, primarily for the healthcare industry, leverages LLMs responsibly to power specific skills for health systems, such as site search and answering FAQs. To optimize the performance of LLMs in their user-facing and backend systems, Hyro has deployed Mona to track metrics such as token usage, API performance, and LLM response quality.

"We have been using Mona's AI monitoring solution for the past few years, and their recent GPT integration has already been beneficial for us," said Nitzan Bar, Chief Architect at Hyro. "The integration process was seamless, in which we received valuable insights that helped us address issues in both the efficiency and quality of our GPT usage."

Mona helps organizations alleviate poor visibility and performance degradation for GPT-based applications by providing teams with a holistic monitoring solution. Mona ensures efficient and high-quality GPT products by providing teams with early alerts and detailed information on problematic issues including anomalous API usage, privacy concerns, and low-quality prompts. Mona also helps businesses to identify areas of high token usage, thus enabling significant cost reduction.

"Our user research showed us that while adoption in applications for LLMs and specifically OpenAI's GPT is growing exponentially, concerns and uncertainty are growing at a similar pace," said Itai Bar-Sinai, Chief Product Officer and Co-founder at Mona. "Our new GPT integration allows teams an incredibly quick and cheap way to address these concerns, and make sure they are not blind when using this rapidly evolving technology."

Upwave’s New Persuadability Scores™ Bring Brand Advertising to the Programmatic Era By Using Real-Time Brand Signals to Feed Into Algorithmic Bidders

Upwave, the leading analytics platform for brand advertising, today announced the launch of its new Persuadability Scores^TM – making it possible for the first time ever to auto-optimize live campaigns based on brand signals. Persuadability Scores^TM enable brand advertisers to make granular campaign optimizations based upon actual brand objectives rather than proxy metrics–helping achieve higher brand outcomes.

Until now, only performance campaigns had real-time signals, e.g., clicks, conversions, etc., to feed into bidders, and brand campaigns often relied on mid and post-campaign PowerPoint reports read by researchers to plan the next campaign. Additionally, it hadn’t been possible to auto-optimize live brand campaigns on the open web based on their goals of lifting specific attitudinal metrics because brand campaign measurement did not provide an ongoing, in-flight signal of brand performance. ™

Upwave’s Persuadability Scores^TM revolutionizes the industry by providing this real-time, brand outcome-based optimization signal, developed to be easily fed to algorithmic bidders. In addition, its machine-friendly design reduces adoption friction by integrating seamlessly with the existing programmatic performance advertising stack. As a result, this new metric enables integrated demand-side platforms (DSPs) and media platforms to add as much value to brand campaigns as they have for years to performance campaigns.

Here’s how Persuadability Scores^TM work:

• Persuadability Scores^TM calculate the expected brand impact of exposure, providing a response variable that algorithmic bid optimizers can optimize towards.
• Using Persuadability Scores^TM optimizers can learn which bid requests are better opportunities to show an ad that will resonate and change brand opinion.
• Upwave is the only brand measurement company to recalculate and reweight lift measurements on a daily basis - this is what enables Persuadability Scores^TM.
• An industry-first, using Persuadability Scores^TM allows for the auto-optimization of programmatic campaigns to maximize brand impact.

“Historically, brand lift only provided advertising decision-makers with proxies to optimize a live campaign to meet brand objectives. Click-through rates are a poor proxy, and down-funnel conversions aren’t relevant in predicting the likelihood of people becoming more aware of brands. This is inadequate in an era where a brand is held to performance standards,” said Chris Kelly, CEO of Upwave. “Now, with our industry-first Persuadability Scores, brand advertisers have access to real-time brand signal. As a result, they can now optimize brand campaigns to directly impact the end brand outcome.”