As media channels splinter, buying cycles compress, and AI becomes central to marketing operations, one long-standing problem continues to slow the industry down: advertising intelligence lives in too many places, in too many formats, and rarely where decisions actually happen.

MediaRadar thinks it has a fix.

The marketing intelligence firm today introduced MediaRadar Data Cloud, a new platform designed to make advertising data immediately usable across analytics tools, activation platforms, and AI workflows. Rather than forcing teams to extract insights from dashboards and manually push them downstream, the Data Cloud embeds MediaRadar’s intelligence directly into the systems where marketers, publishers, and adtech teams already work.

It’s a clear response to a market reality: insight delayed is insight wasted.

Why MediaRadar’s Data Cloud Matters Now

Marketing intelligence hasn’t kept pace with how modern teams operate. While AI adoption accelerates and media fragmentation deepens, advertising data often remains siloed—locked inside reporting tools, disconnected from planning systems, or unusable by AI models that need clean, structured context.

MediaRadar’s Data Cloud is positioned as a shift from “intelligence as a destination” to “intelligence as infrastructure.” Instead of asking users to come to the data, the platform pushes intelligence into analytics environments, planning tools, and AI systems in real time.

That’s increasingly table stakes.

CMOs and revenue leaders now expect competitive insights to inform everything from media mix decisions and budget allocation to automated recommendations generated by large language models. Data that can’t be activated quickly—or safely—loses value fast.

From Insight to Action, Without the Friction

At its core, the Data Cloud makes MediaRadar’s advertising intelligence interoperable across the modern data stack.

Clients can work with mission-critical datasets—such as competitive ad spend, creative trends, and media mix analysis—inside their own environments rather than toggling between platforms. That means teams can analyze markets, shape strategy, and activate insights across planning, measurement, and optimization workflows without breaking momentum.

More notably, MediaRadar is positioning the Data Cloud as AI-native, not AI-adjacent.

The platform is designed to connect trusted advertising data to AI models and agents running on platforms like ChatGPT, Anthropic, and Gemini. That opens the door for AI-driven workflows that don’t just summarize data, but reason over it—spotting shifts in spend, identifying emerging competitors, or flagging whitespace opportunities before rivals react.

Future support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP) suggests MediaRadar is thinking ahead to a world where advertising intelligence must move seamlessly across multiple AI agents, tools, and teams without losing consistency or governance.

A Data Foundation Measured in Billions, Not Dashboards

MediaRadar’s confidence in launching a data-first platform comes from the scale of its underlying intelligence.

The company’s data foundation spans:

• $280 billion in tracked media spend

• 35 million-plus creative assets

• 30+ media channels, including social, digital video, programmatic, CTV, AVOD, linear TV, and retail media

That breadth matters. As advertisers diversify spend across channels and formats, intelligence that only covers part of the ecosystem becomes less reliable. MediaRadar’s pitch is that comprehensive coverage enables cleaner benchmarking, stronger competitive analysis, and more trustworthy AI outputs.

In practical terms, brands and agencies using the Data Cloud can:

• Detect shifts in competitor spend and creative strategy in near real time

• Adjust media plans faster as market conditions change

• Benchmark share of voice across channels rather than in silos

• Identify underutilized channels or formats before they become crowded

This is especially relevant as retail media and CTV continue to blur traditional planning boundaries.

Built for Advertisers—and the Companies Selling to Them

While advertisers and agencies are an obvious audience, MediaRadar is also aiming squarely at publishers and adtech platforms.

Selling ads has become harder, not easier. Buyers are more selective, sales cycles are longer, and proof of value matters earlier in the conversation. The Data Cloud is positioned as a commercial intelligence engine that helps publishers and platforms compete more effectively for advertiser budgets.

With access to brand- and product-level advertising activity, sales teams can:

• Identify advertisers most likely to spend, not just those already in-market

• Tailor pitches based on actual media behavior, not assumptions

• Align outreach with emerging trends before budgets are fully allocated

In theory, this shortens sales cycles and increases win rates—two metrics publishers care about deeply as competition intensifies.

What’s Under the Hood: Key Capabilities Explained

Rather than positioning the Data Cloud as a single feature, MediaRadar is rolling it out as an integrated ecosystem built around interoperability, consistency, and AI-readiness.

AI-Enabled Brand Identity System
At the foundation is a parent-child taxonomy that acts as a single source of truth for brands, sub-brands, products, and co-ops. This structure ties together media spend, creative assets, and campaigns across channels. The payoff is cleaner analysis, better benchmarking, and fewer errors when AI systems interpret brand relationships.

Accessible Wherever Teams Work
The Data Cloud is fully cloud-native, delivering creative, competitive, commercial, and market intelligence directly into analytics platforms, planning tools, and AI environments. The goal is to eliminate lag between insight and action—especially in revenue and optimization decisions.

Context-Rich Semantics
Standardized metadata for brands, creatives, and campaigns ensures consistent meaning across datasets. That consistency is critical for AI systems, which are only as reliable as the context they’re given.

AI-Ready by Design
By harmonizing spend, creative, and campaign data into a single interoperable framework, MediaRadar aims to provide AI systems with the structured inputs they need to generate accurate insights, recommendations, and forecasts at scale.

Why AI-Ready Advertising Data Is the Real Differentiator

AI adoption in marketing has moved past experimentation. Teams now expect models to support planning, forecasting, competitive analysis, and even sales enablement. But many AI initiatives stall because the data feeding them is fragmented or poorly structured.

MediaRadar is betting that data readiness—not algorithms—will be the limiting factor for most organizations.

With clean, consistently classified datasets, clients can:

• Train AI models on higher-quality advertising intelligence

• Improve prediction accuracy for spend shifts and competitive moves

• Accelerate go-to-market and product decisions

• Identify whitespace opportunities before competitors see them

In other words, the Data Cloud isn’t just about better reporting—it’s about making AI outputs more reliable and more defensible.

A Signal of Where Marketing Intelligence Is Headed

MediaRadar’s launch reflects a broader shift across martech and adtech: intelligence platforms are becoming infrastructure layers rather than standalone tools.

As AI agents take on more decision support, data providers must ensure their insights are portable, interoperable, and governed. Platforms that remain closed or dashboard-centric risk becoming irrelevant—no matter how good their data is.

By focusing on interoperability, AI integration, and real-time activation, MediaRadar is aligning itself with how modern marketing teams actually operate. The challenge, as always, will be execution—particularly as more vendors make similar claims.

Still, the direction is clear. In an AI-driven advertising market, the winners won’t just have the most data. They’ll have the data that moves fastest, travels farthest, and makes the most sense to both humans and machines.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

Reshift Media, one of the most prominent digital marketing agencies serving franchise brands, is making a clear push into the U.S. market. The company has appointed seasoned sales and marketing executive Ryan Arcoraci as Sales Director, tasking him with leading Reshift’s growing U.S. presence and supporting franchisors navigating an increasingly competitive digital landscape.

Based in Las Vegas, Arcoraci will work directly with U.S.-based franchisors to deploy Reshift Media’s mix of digital marketing, website development, and proprietary software solutions—tools designed to help franchise systems scale without losing local relevance.

The hire signals more than a routine leadership addition. It reflects where franchise marketing is headed: toward data-driven execution, tighter alignment between marketing and sales, and technology stacks built to support growth across dozens—or hundreds—of locations.

Why This Hire Matters for Franchise Marketing

Franchise brands face a unique set of marketing challenges. They must balance national brand consistency with local market performance, manage complex lead flows, and prove ROI to both corporate teams and individual franchisees. As ad costs rise and platforms fragment, those challenges have only intensified.

Arcoraci brings more than a decade of experience at the intersection of digital advertising, SaaS sales, and franchise consulting, having worked closely with franchisors, business coaches, and franchise consultants. His background centers on helping multi-location brands turn marketing data into operational and revenue gains—a skill set Reshift Media sees as critical for its U.S. expansion.

“Ryan has a unique, end-to-end understanding of how technology, marketing, and sales intersect to fuel scalable growth for franchises,” said Steve Buors, co-founder and CEO of Reshift Media. “He has positioned himself as a trusted expert within the industries we serve, making him an ideal choice to lead our expansion into U.S. markets.”

In practical terms, that means helping franchise systems improve lead quality, streamline marketing operations, and connect digital performance to real business outcomes—areas where many brands still struggle.

A Track Record Built Around Data and Growth

Arcoraci’s career has focused on applying data-driven strategies to franchise marketing and sales ecosystems. His work has spanned lead generation optimization, funnel performance, and the operational systems needed to support growing franchise networks.

That experience aligns closely with Reshift Media’s positioning. The agency has built its reputation around helping franchises scale marketing programs that work at both the corporate and local levels, combining paid media, web development, and technology platforms designed for multi-location complexity.

Beyond client work, Arcoraci is also the host and producer of the Business Stories with Ryan Arcoraci podcast, where he interviews business leaders about growth, operations, and decision-making. The podcast has helped him build visibility within entrepreneurial and franchise communities—an added advantage as Reshift looks to deepen its footprint in the U.S.

Reshift Media’s Expanding Global Influence

Reshift Media is no newcomer to franchise marketing. The agency represents more than 200 major franchise brands across 22 countries, making it one of the most visible players in the space. Its client roster and global reach have earned consistent industry recognition.

Most recently, Reshift was named to Entrepreneur magazine’s Top Franchise Suppliers list for the third consecutive year, a distinction closely watched by franchisors evaluating agency partners. The company also picked up two 2025 Stevie® Awards, including:

• Silver for Company of the Year – Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

• Gold for Marketing Disruptor of the Year

In addition, Reshift Media played a central role in launching the first World Franchise Day, reinforcing its influence beyond client services and into broader franchise industry initiatives.

The Arcoraci hire builds on that momentum, adding U.S.-focused leadership to a company that has historically grown through international markets.

The U.S. Opportunity—and the Stakes

The U.S. franchise market is both massive and fiercely competitive. From QSR and fitness to home services and education, franchisors are under pressure to deliver predictable growth while managing rising acquisition costs and platform volatility.

Digital marketing agencies serving this space are increasingly expected to do more than run ads. They must integrate technology, analytics, and process—often acting as an extension of internal marketing teams.

Reshift Media appears to be positioning itself squarely in that role.

By bringing on a sales leader with deep franchise-specific experience, the company is signaling its intent to compete aggressively in the U.S. market, not just as a service provider, but as a strategic partner for growth-stage and enterprise franchisors.

What Arcoraci Brings to the Role

According to Arcoraci, Reshift’s reputation within the global franchise community was a key factor in his decision to join.

“The Reshift name carries significant weight within the international franchising community,” he said. “It stands for innovation and sophistication, scaled to help franchise businesses build trust at both the local and national level. Reshift is poised to transform franchise marketing here in the U.S.”

His mandate will likely extend beyond traditional sales leadership. As franchisors demand clearer ROI, better reporting, and tighter integration between marketing and operations, sales leaders increasingly act as strategic advisors—guiding brands toward solutions that fit their growth models.

That advisory role aligns with Reshift’s broader positioning as franchise marketing becomes more complex and more accountable.

A Broader Signal for the Franchise MarTech Space

This move reflects a broader trend in franchise-focused martech and agency services. As technology platforms mature and AI-driven optimization becomes standard, differentiation is shifting toward execution, expertise, and industry fluency.

Agencies that understand franchise economics—and can translate marketing performance into business outcomes—are gaining an edge. Leadership hires like Arcoraci’s suggest Reshift Media sees that shift clearly and is investing accordingly.

For U.S. franchisors evaluating partners, the message is straightforward: Reshift Media is no longer just an international success story—it’s building the leadership and infrastructure to compete head-on in the American franchise market.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

">

As sports evolve into one of the world’s most powerful engines of culture, commerce, and fandom, brands are under growing pressure to show up with more than logos and sponsorship deals. Adcetera believes the moment calls for specialization—without sacrificing scale.

The Houston-based integrated agency has unveiled A82 Sports Marketing, a newly formalized division designed to help brands activate, perform, and differentiate across the global sports landscape. Alongside the launch, Adcetera debuted A82SportsMarketing.com, outlining the group’s services and its belief that sports, when done right, can forge deeper and more culturally resonant brand connections.

While the A82 name is new, the work behind it is not. Adcetera has quietly delivered sports marketing strategy, production, sponsorship support, and live event services for years. The difference now is focus—and a dedicated structure built specifically for sports.

Why Adcetera Is Doubling Down on Sports

Sports marketing has changed. What once centered on broadcast ads and jersey logos has expanded into a complex ecosystem spanning social platforms, live events, streaming, creator-led storytelling, and immersive fan experiences.

For brands, that means higher stakes and fewer second chances.

A82 Sports Marketing is Adcetera’s answer to that shift: a specialized team that blends deep sports expertise with the agency’s full-service creative, digital, and analytics capabilities. The goal is to help brands not just appear in sports, but perform within sports culture—authentically and at scale.

“Sports has become one of the most powerful storytelling platforms in the world,” said Thomas King, Vice President of Motion Services at Adcetera. “A82 Sports Marketing allows us to take Adcetera’s creative, digital, and strategic core and apply it with precision to the sports landscape.”

That precision matters as brands look to connect with fans across multiple touchpoints—from arenas and stadiums to TikTok feeds and streaming platforms.

From Sponsorships to Storytelling Systems

Unlike boutique sports agencies that operate in silos, A82 is positioned as a fully integrated extension of Adcetera. That means sports investments don’t live on an island—they plug directly into broader brand, media, and campaign strategies.

The division offers end-to-end support across teams, leagues, events, and sponsor brands, covering everything from early-stage planning to live execution and post-campaign measurement.

Its core capabilities include:

Sports Strategy and Planning
A82 helps brands enter or expand in sports with clear playbooks rooted in audience insight, cultural alignment, and measurable business outcomes—rather than one-off activations.

Sports Production and Content Creation
Backed by Adcetera’s award-winning Motion Services team, A82 produces broadcast-ready, social-first, and documentary-style content designed to elevate moments and energize fans with cinematic execution.

Partnership and Sponsorship Consulting
From evaluating opportunities to negotiating deals, A82 works to ensure sponsorships align authentically with brand values, audience expectations, and long-term growth goals.

Sports Events and Activations
The division develops immersive brand experiences—on-site, on tour, or digital—that give fans meaningful reasons to engage, not just observe.

What ties it all together is integration. Creative, media, digital, analytics, and campaign orchestration all sit within Adcetera’s broader ecosystem, allowing sports marketing efforts to scale consistently across channels.

A Response to Fragmentation in Sports Marketing

The launch of A82 reflects a broader trend in the marketing industry. As sports become more global and digitally native, brands are struggling to manage fragmented partner ecosystems—one agency for creative, another for sponsorships, another for events.

Adcetera is betting that consolidation wins.

“Our clients don’t need to piece together disconnected partners,” said Rowan Gearon, Chief Creative Officer at Adcetera. “Formalizing A82 simply gives a name to the expertise we’ve already built, and ensures clients benefit from both specialized sports leadership and the full creative and strategic depth of Adcetera.”

For brands, that could mean fewer handoffs, clearer accountability, and stronger alignment between sports initiatives and overall marketing performance.

Sports as a Growth Engine, Not a Side Bet

The timing of A82’s launch is deliberate. Global sports fandom continues to surge, driven by streaming access, social amplification, and the rise of athlete-led media. At the same time, sponsors are demanding more measurable returns on often sizable investments.

That combination is pushing sports marketing toward performance-minded creativity—where storytelling, data, and experience design must work together.

A82 positions itself squarely at that intersection, offering brands a way to treat sports not as a passion project, but as a disciplined growth engine.

Whether that approach resonates will depend on execution. But the message from Adcetera is clear: sports marketing has matured, and brands need partners built for its complexity—not just its spectacle.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

For all the promise of generative AI in marketing, many agencies are discovering an uncomfortable truth: more tools don’t automatically mean more efficiency. In fact, they often mean the opposite.

Cogzia, an AI-native enterprise application platform, is betting that the next phase of AI adoption isn’t about smarter models—it’s about better orchestration. The company has announced a strategic collaboration with Marketing Maven, a bicoastal integrated marketing agency, to unify the agency’s growing stack of AI tools into a single, secure, and automated system.

The partnership tackles a problem quietly plaguing modern marketing teams: AI tool sprawl.

When AI Innovation Becomes Operational Drag

Marketing Maven has been an early adopter of generative AI, integrating tools for SEO, content generation, and data analytics into its proprietary Marketing Maven Method. Like many forward-thinking agencies, it embraced best-in-class tools for specific tasks—copywriting, imagery, analysis—each excelling in isolation.

The downside emerged over time.

As AI agents multiplied, workflows became fragmented. Context had to be manually passed between tools. Data lived in silos. Strategists spent more time switching tabs than shaping campaigns.

“Marketing agencies today are drowning in tabs,” said Lindsey Carnett, CEO and President of Marketing Maven. “We have excellent tools for copy, distinct tools for imagery, and separate tools for analytics, but no connective tissue.”

That lack of “connective tissue” is what Cogzia is designed to provide.

Cogzia’s Pitch: The Last Mile of Enterprise AI

Cogzia positions its platform as the “Last Mile Infrastructure” for enterprise AI—less about building new models, and more about making existing ones work together securely and at scale.

By deploying Cogzia, Marketing Maven can connect disparate AI agents, internal databases, and workflows into a unified system. The result is orchestration without engineering bottlenecks.

Instead of relying on developers to stitch tools together, Cogzia enables non-technical users—so-called “citizen developers”—to build custom applications that automate complex, multi-step workflows.

In practice, that could mean turning market research directly into campaign briefs, syncing analytics outputs with creative tools, or automating reporting across clients—all without writing code.

“We aren’t just using AI tools anymore,” Carnett said. “We are building an integrated AI ecosystem that aligns perfectly with our client workflows.”

Why Orchestration Is Becoming the Real Differentiator

The collaboration highlights a growing realization across martech and professional services: AI capability is no longer scarce. Integration is.

Many agencies now use similar models for content, design, and analysis. What separates leaders from laggards is how seamlessly those models work together—and whether they can do so securely for enterprise clients.

Cogzia addresses this with three core pillars:

Unified Orchestration
The platform acts as a central nervous system, allowing Marketing Maven’s teams to trigger workflows that span multiple AI models and internal systems. Tasks that once required manual handoffs now run automatically, preserving context end to end.

Enterprise-Grade Data Security
Unlike public, web-based AI tools, Cogzia processes client data within a governed environment. This matters for enterprise brands that care deeply about compliance, privacy, and data ownership—areas where ad hoc AI usage often falls short.

The Citizen Developer Model
Strategists and marketers don’t have to wait in line for engineering resources. They can build and adapt “mini-apps” themselves, accelerating experimentation without sacrificing control.

This approach reflects a broader shift: AI is moving from experimentation to infrastructure. And infrastructure needs guardrails.

Built on Model Context Protocol (MCP)

Under the hood, Cogzia is built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an emerging standard designed to help AI tools and data sources share context consistently.

According to Cogzia co-founder and CEO Lana Feng, context—not intelligence—is the biggest bottleneck in enterprise AI.

“The biggest bottleneck in enterprise AI isn’t model intelligence; it’s the inability of tools to share context securely,” Feng said. “MCP provides the universal standard necessary for different tools and data sources to ‘speak’ to one another.”

By leveraging MCP, Cogzia allows Marketing Maven to chain together specialized AI agents—from data analysis through creative execution—without losing meaning or continuity along the way. That continuity is critical for workflows that span strategy, content, and performance measurement.

A Blueprint for the Next Phase of AI Adoption

While this partnership is specific to Marketing Maven, its implications are broader.

Across marketing, consulting, and professional services, firms are hitting the same wall: dozens of AI tools, each powerful, collectively chaotic. The next competitive advantage won’t come from adding yet another model—it will come from running core operations on unified AI infrastructure.

Cogzia and Marketing Maven are effectively offering a case study in what that future looks like:

• Fewer manual handoffs

• Faster campaign execution

• Better governance over client data

• AI systems that align with real-world workflows

For agencies serving enterprise clients, that combination could become a baseline expectation rather than a differentiator.

From AI Experiments to AI Operations

The Cogzia–Marketing Maven collaboration underscores a key inflection point for martech. The industry is moving past isolated AI experiments toward operationalized AI systems that power day-to-day business.

Firms that fail to address fragmentation risk slower execution, higher costs, and inconsistent results—no matter how advanced their individual tools may be.

By unifying AI agents, data, and workflows into a single platform, Cogzia is positioning itself not as another AI solution, but as the layer that finally makes them all work together.

And for agencies like Marketing Maven, that could mean less time managing tools—and more time delivering outcomes.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

LiveRamp is making a clear statement about where advertising data is headed next—and it’s not just toward better targeting, but toward AI systems that can reason, predict, and act using real-world, permissioned data.

The data collaboration company today announced a major expansion of its Data Marketplace, adding support for AI training data, third-party AI models, and AI-powered applications and agents. The move effectively transforms the Marketplace from a data licensing destination into a centralized hub for building, deploying, and scaling AI across advertising and marketing workflows.

For marketers, data scientists, and developers, the promise is simple: easier access to high-quality data and AI capabilities—without sacrificing governance, privacy, or control.

Why LiveRamp Is Reframing the Data Marketplace Around AI

AI adoption in marketing has accelerated rapidly, but most teams face the same constraint: models are only as good as the data they can safely access.

Public data is limited. First-party data is siloed. And licensing third-party data or models often involves complex negotiations, technical integration, and compliance risk. LiveRamp’s expanded Marketplace is designed to remove that friction.

By enabling clients to license data for AI training, license partner AI models, and soon license AI-powered applications, LiveRamp is positioning its Marketplace as infrastructure for responsible AI—not just a transaction layer.

The shift reflects a broader industry reality: AI in advertising is moving from experimentation to production. And production-grade AI demands governed access to real consumer signals.

A Centralized, Governed Marketplace for AI

At the heart of the expansion is LiveRamp’s focus on trust and control.

Through a single, user-friendly interface, clients can now access premium datasets and AI intelligence for specific, auditable use cases. Every interaction in the Marketplace is authenticated, purpose-bound, and logged—an important distinction as regulators, brands, and consumers scrutinize how data is used in AI systems.

For data partners, the Marketplace offers something equally important: visibility.

Instead of losing control once data or models are licensed, partners retain clear insight into how their assets are being used, where they’re deployed, and by whom. That transparency lowers the barrier for data owners who want to participate in AI ecosystems without exposing sensitive assets.

For marketers, the result is a single destination to power AI initiatives—without stitching together point solutions or navigating legal gray areas.

Three Core AI Use Cases LiveRamp Is Targeting

LiveRamp’s expanded Data Marketplace is structured around three primary AI-driven use cases, each addressing a different layer of the marketing stack.

1. Licensing Data to Train and Tune AI Models

Clients can now securely discover and license AI-ready, permissioned datasets spanning consumer behavior, commerce activity, media engagement, and transaction signals.

These datasets help fill persistent blind spots in consumer intelligence—improving model accuracy, scoring, and real-time decisioning. For brands building predictive models or personalization engines, access to richer signals can mean the difference between generic automation and meaningful relevance.

Crucially, the data remains governed throughout the process, ensuring it’s used only for approved purposes.

2. Licensing Partner AI Models—Without Data Movement

In a notable shift from traditional data sharing, marketers can license a partner’s AI model and apply it to their own first-party data—without sensitive information moving or being exposed.

This model-first approach allows brands to tap into external intelligence while maintaining control of their data. It also opens the door for specialized modeling partners to distribute AI capabilities without handling raw customer records.

For enterprises concerned about data leakage or compliance, this architecture is likely to resonate.

3. Licensing AI-Powered Applications and Agents (Coming Soon)

Looking ahead, LiveRamp plans to enable direct access to AI-powered applications and agents within the Marketplace. These tools will support use cases such as audience building, measurement, and media optimization—effectively packaging AI outcomes, not just inputs.

If executed well, this could significantly lower the technical barrier for marketers who want AI-driven results without building or training models themselves.

Why Permissioned Data Is Becoming AI’s Competitive Advantage

As large language models become more commoditized, differentiation is shifting to data—specifically, data that is accurate, current, and permissioned.

“Just as language is now fuel for AI reasoning, consumers and their attributes help AI drive the most effective possible ad targeting,” said Adam Heimlich, CEO of Chalice AI. He pointed to LiveRamp’s role in enabling AI systems to operate privately within trusted environments like clean rooms.

That distinction matters. AI systems trained on ungoverned or low-quality data risk poor performance and regulatory exposure. By contrast, AI powered by permissioned, real-world signals can deliver more incremental lift—while staying on the right side of privacy expectations.

LiveRamp’s extensive network gives brands reach and scale that would be difficult to replicate independently, particularly as third-party cookies disappear and identity resolution grows more complex.

LiveRamp’s Broader AI Push Comes Into Focus

The Marketplace expansion doesn’t exist in isolation. It builds on a series of recent LiveRamp innovations designed to make AI usable across data collaboration workflows.

Those include multi-agent collaboration, AI-powered segmentation, and AI-driven search, all aimed at reducing friction between data, insights, and activation.

Taken together, the strategy is clear: LiveRamp wants to be the connective tissue between enterprise data and AI execution—especially in environments where privacy and trust are non-negotiable.

According to LiveRamp Chief Revenue Officer Vihan Sharma, safe access to premium data will fundamentally reshape enterprise intelligence. “By increasing access to the world’s most powerful data collaboration network, we can empower the ecosystem with the highest quality signals for superior, responsible performance,” he said.

Implications for Marketers, Data Scientists, and AI Builders

For marketers, the expanded Marketplace simplifies AI adoption. Instead of managing multiple vendors, contracts, and integrations, they can source data, models, and applications in one governed environment.

For data scientists and developers, it shortens the path from experimentation to deployment—especially for models that require real-world behavioral signals to perform well.

And for data partners, it creates a new revenue stream that aligns with modern expectations around transparency and control.

In a market where AI ambition often outpaces operational readiness, LiveRamp is betting that infrastructure—not algorithms—will decide who wins.

From Data Licensing to AI Infrastructure

LiveRamp’s expansion marks a meaningful evolution in how data marketplaces are defined. This is no longer just about buying and selling datasets—it’s about enabling AI systems to operate responsibly at scale.

As advertisers, agencies, and platforms race to embed AI deeper into planning, measurement, and optimization, access to trusted data will become a prerequisite rather than a differentiator.

By turning its Data Marketplace into a hub for AI data, models, and applications, LiveRamp is positioning itself at the center of that shift—where data collaboration meets AI execution.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

Programmatic advertising may power most of today’s digital media buying, but its biggest criticism hasn’t gone away: too much happens in the dark. Advertisers struggle to understand what they’re buying, publishers struggle to see where value leaks out of the supply chain, and everyone pays the price in trust.

The Trade Desk thinks the fix starts at the auction itself.

The ad tech giant today announced broad publisher support for OpenAds, a new auction environment designed to give publishers and buyers a more direct, transparent, and high-integrity way to transact. Early supporters include AccuWeather, The Arena Group, BuzzFeed, the Guardian, Hearst Magazines, Hearst TV, Newsweek, People Inc., and Ziff Davis—a lineup that spans premium journalism, entertainment, and large-scale digital audiences.

The message from both sides is clear: the industry wants cleaner auctions, clearer signals, and fewer hidden fees.

Why OpenAds Matters in a Programmatic-First World

Programmatic advertising is no longer the future—it’s the default. As brands push more budgets into automated buying, expectations have shifted. Advertisers want visibility into fees, reseller paths, and audience quality. Publishers want auctions that properly value premium inventory instead of commoditizing it.

OpenAds is The Trade Desk’s latest attempt to address those tensions.

The company positions OpenAds as a high-integrity auction environment that prioritizes transparency and signal quality. In practical terms, that means advertisers can better understand what they’re buying and who they’re reaching, while publishers gain clearer insight into how their inventory is being sold.

“OpenAds represents a major advance in how our industry thinks about a clean and transparent supply chain, starting with the auction,” said Will Doherty, SVP of Inventory Development at The Trade Desk. “This technology benefits buyers and publishers by helping advertisers understand what they are buying and the audience they are reaching with the best signal possible.”

That emphasis on signal is key. As third-party cookies fade and identity becomes more fragmented, the quality of auction signals increasingly determines campaign performance—and publisher revenue.

Building on OpenPath, Not Starting From Scratch

OpenAds doesn’t appear out of nowhere. It builds on The Trade Desk’s OpenPath, which focuses on creating more direct connections between advertisers and publishers by reducing intermediaries.

Where OpenPath tackled access, OpenAds tackles auction mechanics.

By offering a transparent, auditable auction environment, OpenAds aims to ensure that the highest bid truly wins—and that publishers can independently verify how auctions are run. That’s a direct response to long-standing complaints about opaque fee structures and unclear reseller activity in programmatic supply chains.

For publishers, that transparency isn’t theoretical. It directly impacts yield, forecasting, and trust.

Publishers See Transparency as Revenue Protection

The early publisher quotes underscore a shared frustration: value often disappears somewhere between buyer and seller.

“One of the biggest challenges in programmatic is understanding where value is lost between buyers and publishers,” said Megan Hong, Senior Director of Partner and Yield Management at The Arena Group. “OpenAds brings much-needed transparency to the auction, especially around fees and reseller activity.”

That sentiment is echoed across the publishing ecosystem. With ad revenues under pressure and newsroom economics under constant strain, publishers are increasingly vocal about wanting auction environments that reward quality rather than arbitrage.

At the Guardian, the appeal is verification.

“It means the highest bid wins in a transparent, auditable auction environment that publishers can independently verify,” said Dave Strauss, VP of Revenue Operations and Strategy. “The Guardian is excited to be a part of that strategy.”

Verification matters because it shifts power back toward publishers—especially premium ones—by giving them confidence that their inventory is being fairly valued.

Premium Publishers See Strategic Alignment

For Hearst, early support for OpenAds aligns with a broader push toward transparent monetization models.

“Hearst Magazines’ early support for OpenAds underscores our commitment to transparent, high-integrity auction mechanics,” said Scott Both, VP of Programmatic Monetization & Operations at Hearst Magazines. He noted that OpenAds advances buyer transparency while reinforcing the value of premium publisher inventory.

Hearst Newspapers and TV echoed that view, framing transparency as essential to the future of programmatic monetization and fair representation of high-quality journalism.

This is an important signal. Large media groups don’t back new auction environments lightly. Their participation suggests OpenAds addresses real operational and commercial pain points—not just theoretical ones.

Advertisers Want ROI, Publishers Want Proof

From the advertiser side, the value proposition is efficiency with accountability.

“At People, we have proven over time that better ads, on the best brands, drive better outcomes for advertisers,” said Patrick McCarthy, SVP of Programmatic Monetization at People Inc. “We believe having a more transparent advertising supply chain benefits everyone.”

That’s a subtle but important point. OpenAds isn’t positioned as charity for publishers—it’s pitched as a way to deliver efficient premium outcomes. In an era where marketers are scrutinizing every dollar, transparency isn’t just ethical; it’s economical.

Ziff Davis, long known for its digital publishing scale and experimentation, framed OpenAds as an industry step forward.

“OpenAds represents a step forward for advertising online, helping ensure more efficiency and accountability in programmatic,” said Mark Obermoller, VP of Programmatic Strategy and Yield.

The Broader Industry Context: Clean Supply Chains Are Back in Focus

The launch of OpenAds lands at a moment when the ad tech industry is once again grappling with supply chain reform.

Initiatives like ads.txt, sellers.json, and supplychain object helped expose bad actors, but they didn’t fundamentally change how auctions operate. Meanwhile, concerns around MFA sites, arbitrage, and signal dilution persist.

OpenAds is part of a newer wave of efforts that focus less on blocking problems and more on restructuring incentives. By making auctions transparent and auditable, the theory goes, healthier dynamics emerge naturally—publishers with quality inventory win more often, and advertisers get clearer value.

It’s also a strategic move for The Trade Desk. As one of the most vocal advocates for the open internet, the company has consistently positioned itself against opaque “black box” buying environments. OpenAds reinforces that stance while giving publishers a concrete reason to align more closely with its platform.

What Happens Next Will Matter

Support from major publishers gives OpenAds credibility out of the gate, but adoption will determine its impact. Advertisers will want to see measurable improvements in performance and clarity. Publishers will look for proof that transparency translates into better yield, not just better reporting.

If OpenAds gains scale, it could pressure other auction environments to match its level of openness—or risk being viewed as part of the problem.

At minimum, it raises the bar for what “transparent programmatic” is supposed to mean.

In a market where trust is fragile and budgets are scrutinized, that may be exactly the conversation the industry needs to have again—this time, with the auction at the center.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

PMG, the global independent marketing services and technology company, has acquired London- and New York-based influencer marketing agency Digital Voices, marking a strategic move to deepen its creator marketing capabilities as the influencer economy enters a rapid growth phase.

The acquisition comes as influencer marketing is projected to grow nearly tenfold over the next eight years, evolving from a brand awareness channel into a full-funnel driver of performance, commerce, and customer loyalty. While financial terms were not disclosed, the deal signals PMG’s continued investment in customer-centric, technology-enabled marketing at a global scale.

Founded with a focus on blending data, creativity, and technology, Digital Voices has built a strong reputation for delivering influencer campaigns that generate measurable business outcomes. The agency employs around 70 people across London, New York, and Costa Rica and has worked with major global brands including General Mills, Adobe, DoorDash, and Unilever.

Strengthening PMG’s Influencer and Full-Funnel Capabilities

With the addition of Digital Voices, PMG significantly expands its influencer marketing practice, positioning creators as a core component of integrated media and commerce strategies rather than a standalone tactic.

Digital Voices brings proprietary technology to PMG’s ecosystem, including its tools Chord and Composer. These platforms provide AI-led insights, centralized campaign management, benchmarking, and predictive analytics—capabilities designed to improve efficiency and strategic clarity for global influencer programs.

As part of the integration, PMG plans to layer these tools into its proprietary operating system, Alli, further enhancing its ability to unify data, media execution, and performance measurement across channels.

“This is another exciting step forward in PMG’s global growth and our commitment to giving customers an edge in a rapidly evolving landscape,” said George Popstefanov, Founder and CEO of PMG. He noted that the creator economy has matured into a strategic lever for performance marketing, brand storytelling, and commerce, making Digital Voices a strong cultural and technological fit.

Data-Backed Creativity Meets Scalable Technology

Digital Voices has differentiated itself in the crowded influencer marketing space by combining talent strategy with deep channel expertise. Rather than focusing solely on reach or creator popularity, the agency emphasizes authenticity, scalability, and measurable impact across platforms.

Its work spans multiple industries, including technology, CPG, beauty, education, and health and wellness—sectors where trust, storytelling, and creator alignment play a critical role in influencing purchase decisions.

“Joining PMG means multiplying the value we create for both creators and brands,” said Jennifer Quigley-Jones, Founder and CEO of Digital Voices. She emphasized that PMG’s scale and technology platform will allow Digital Voices to expand its media capabilities, accelerate innovation, and help clients unlock stronger commercial outcomes.

Part of a Broader Growth Strategy

The Digital Voices acquisition marks the fourth in PMG’s 15-year history and follows the company’s purchase of Momentum Commerce in summer 2025. Over the past year, PMG has accelerated its expansion across EMEA, launched Alli Marketplace, and added new capabilities in retail media, commerce, and marketing measurement.

Together, these moves reflect PMG’s strategy to position itself as a future-forward partner that helps brands navigate fragmented media environments by unifying technology, storytelling, and performance under a single operating framework.

Influencer marketing, in particular, has become increasingly intertwined with retail media, paid social, and commerce platforms. By bringing Digital Voices in-house, PMG aims to help brands better connect creator-led storytelling with measurable business impact across the customer journey.

Integration Begins Immediately

PMG confirmed that the integration of Digital Voices will begin immediately, with a focus on maintaining service quality and continuity for existing clients. Both organizations will prioritize collaboration, talent retention, and innovation as they scale influencer marketing programs globally.

As brands continue to seek authentic connections with audiences in an increasingly competitive digital landscape, the acquisition positions PMG to play a larger role in shaping how influencer marketing evolves—from awareness-driven campaigns to performance-oriented, technology-enabled growth engines.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

2X, a global leader in subscription-based go-to-market (GTM) services, has acquired The Kiln, a top-performing Clay partner known for its deep expertise in GTM Engineering Services. The move significantly expands 2X’s capabilities beyond marketing execution into full go-to-market orchestration, positioning the company among the first Marketing-as-a-Service providers to deliver integrated strategy and execution across the entire revenue technology stack at enterprise scale.

The acquisition combines The Kiln’s specialized GTM Engineering expertise with 2X’s enterprise-grade delivery infrastructure, which spans nearly 1,300 professionals across the U.S., Malaysia, and the Philippines. Together, the companies aim to address a growing market gap as enterprise organizations look to adopt GTM Engineering at scale without sacrificing reliability, governance, and operational maturity.

Bridging the Gap Between Innovation and Enterprise Scale

Clay’s ecosystem of more than 100 boutique agencies has demonstrated the effectiveness of GTM Engineering across thousands of SMB customers. However, enterprise clients often require more than innovation alone—they need proven frameworks, delivery consistency, and long-term organizational stability.

By bringing The Kiln into its platform, 2X is positioning itself to meet those enterprise demands, offering a unified approach that blends advanced GTM engineering with large-scale managed services delivery.

Backed by private equity firms Recognize Partners and Insight Partners, 2X now orchestrates the full GTM system for enterprise clients. This includes identifying in-market accounts, enriching and activating contact data, automating personalized outreach, and executing campaigns at scale across marketing, sales, and revenue operations.

Deepening Expertise Across the Revenue Tech Stack

The acquisition builds on 2X’s recent expansion into Revenue Operations and GTM Technology through prior acquisitions, including Intelligent Demand and Outbound Funnel. As a result, the company now brings hands-on expertise across a broad range of leading revenue platforms, including 6sense, Salesforce, Adobe, HubSpot, Clay, Gong, Bombora, WordPress, Google, Meta, and others.

“Traditional marketing providers deliver demand generation and content,” said Domenic Colasante, CEO and Co-Founder of 2X. “We now orchestrate the complete GTM system—across marketing functions, the full GTM tech stack, and into sales and revenue operations. The Kiln brings exceptional talent and proven Clay expertise that, combined with our global delivery infrastructure, enables predictable revenue growth for enterprises.”

Scaling GTM Engineering Without Losing Its Edge

Founded in New York City by Patrick Spychalski and Mathias Powell, The Kiln has built its reputation helping companies unlock revenue through GTM Engineering. The acquisition allows the firm to scale its impact to enterprise clients without compromising the agility and effectiveness that defined its success.

“We’ve built our business helping clients unlock revenue through GTM Engineering, but scaling that expertise to serve enterprise clients requires infrastructure we couldn’t build alone,” said Spychalski. “2X gives us the resources, enterprise relationships, and delivery capability to take our work to companies that need it most—without losing what makes us effective.”

Varun Anand, Co-Founder of Clay, also welcomed the deal, highlighting The Kiln’s leadership within the Clay ecosystem and the strategic fit with 2X as GTM Engineering adoption accelerates globally.

A Single Partner for Strategy, Technology, and Execution

For 2X clients, the acquisition means access to a single partner that can deliver both GTM strategy and execution, spanning services and technology. This integrated model reduces reliance on multiple vendors, accelerates time to value, and helps GTM leaders drive greater impact while lowering operational costs.

As enterprises continue to modernize their revenue engines, the combination of 2X and The Kiln reflects a broader shift in the market—from fragmented marketing services toward fully managed, technology-enabled GTM orchestration designed for scale and measurable growth.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.