Proximic by Comscore, a division of Comscore, Inc. and a leading provider of audience and content targeting solutions, has released its third annual State of Programmatic Report for 2025. Key findings reveal that 72% of respondents plan to increase programmatic investments in 2025, highlighting the ongoing growth and reliance on programmatic strategies. The report explores trends in CTV, linear TV, digital, social, and audio, offering valuable insights for advertisers, publishers, and tech providers.

1. Growth in Connected TV (CTV)

• CTV Share of Media Budgets Doubles: Since 2023, CTV's budget share has surged to 28% in 2025.
• Shift from Linear to Digital: Nearly half of marketers increasing CTV budgets are reallocating funds from Linear TV, signaling a decisive shift towards digital-first streaming platforms.

2. Privacy-Focused Strategies

• Contextual Targeting Leads the Way:
  • 41% of marketers cite contextual targeting as their primary approach to address privacy challenges and shrinking ID coverage.
  • Over 52% plan to expand contextual data usage in 2025, emphasizing privacy-sensitive campaign strategies.
• Adapting to Privacy Regulations:
  • 60% of marketers feel prepared for upcoming U.S. privacy regulations, while 35% seek further education and support.

3. Demand for ID-Free Solutions and AI Integration

• Cookie-Free Strategies on the Rise:
  • 48% of marketers expect to primarily rely on cookie-free targeting tactics by the end of 2025, adapting to diminishing identifier coverage.
• AI Adoption Accelerates:
  • AI-driven insights are becoming pivotal for enhancing targeting and campaign performance, establishing AI as a major driver of programmatic growth.

4. Deduplicated Reach & Frequency Measurement

• Critical for Cross-Channel Success:
  • 80% of marketers emphasize the importance of accurate reach and frequency measurement to optimize audience targeting and campaign results across programmatic channels.

Expert Insight

“Our 2025 State of Programmatic Report revealed dramatic year-over-year changes as programmatic continues to gain momentum,” said Rachel Gantz, Managing Director of Proximic by Comscore.

“Connected TV emerged as a clear winner, while privacy-centric strategies like contextual targeting are now essential for marketers seeking to deliver effective and compliant campaigns.”

The financial services industry is undergoing a transformative shift with the introduction of psychographic profiling in financial decision-making. This breakthrough comes from a recent study by Psympl, conducted in partnership with Ipsos, offering a new dimension to understanding consumer behavior that goes beyond traditional demographic and socioeconomic metrics.

1. Moving Beyond Traditional Metrics

• Traditional Approach: Financial advisors and wealth managers have relied on income levels, asset sizes, and other quantitative metrics.
• Psychographic Profiling: Psympl introduces Psychographic AI™, which dives into psychological drivers, uncovering the motivations behind financial decisions.

“Traditional metrics tell us what a client's financial picture may look like, but not why they make the choices they do,” said Ran Mullins, Co-Founder and CEO of Psympl.

2. Enhancing Marketing and Client Engagement

• Personalized Strategies: Insights from psychographic data enable the creation of tailored messaging and client engagement strategies.
• Improved Outcomes: Financial firms can boost client acquisition, satisfaction, and loyalty through deeper connections and resonant communication.

3. The Digital Advertising Connection

• Market Growth: Financial firms are expected to spend nearly $43 billion on digital advertising by 2025.
• Efficient Resource Allocation: Psympl’s findings can help firms target the most receptive audiences, optimizing their advertising efforts.

Expert Insights on Industry Impact

Brent Walker, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Psympl, highlighted the broader implications:

“This research marks a significant advancement in the financial sector’s approach to client engagement. By integrating psychographic insights, financial services can foster deeper connections and more meaningful interactions with their prospects and clients.”

Future Implications for Financial Services

As the economic landscape continues to evolve, the integration of psychographic insights offers a competitive edge by enhancing the ability to predict and understand financial behaviors. Psympl is actively syndicating this research to empower financial services and wealth management firms with actionable strategies for improved marketing and client engagement.

LPL Financial LLC, a leader in wealth management, introduces an enhanced Marketing Solutions portfolio, including a new Digital Marketing Platform. Designed to deepen client relationships and accelerate business growth, this customizable platform empowers advisors to effectively engage clients and prospects through streamlined, multi-channel communication.

1. Customization to Fit Every Advisor's Needs

Advisors can choose from:

• Hands-on Tools: For those who prefer direct control, the Digital Marketing Platform offers an easy-to-use interface.
• Full-Service Support: For advisors who prefer to outsource marketing tasks, freeing up time to focus on their practice.

“By streamlining the often-overwhelming task of marketing, our advisors can focus on strengthening client relationships, nurturing prospects, and running a thriving practice,” said Les Matthews, EVP and Head of Business Services at LPL Financial.

2. Digital Marketing Platform Highlights

• Content Library: Access to financial content from trusted sources and LPL Research.
• Multi-Channel Capabilities: Efficiently manage email, social media, and more.
• AI-Powered Recommendations: Suggests high-value content that aligns with client interests.
• Automation Tools: Simplifies workflows for enhanced efficiency.
• Real-Time Analytics: Delivers insights on client preferences and identifies engaged prospects.
• Compliance-Friendly Workflows: Built-in review and approval processes ensure compliance.

Proven Results and Growth Impact

Advisors using LPL’s Marketing Solutions experience:

• 39% Faster Asset Growth: Over a six-month period compared to their peers.
• Improved Client Retention and Referrals: Personalized marketing drives stronger relationships and loyalty.

“Our tailored solutions help advisors stand out and differentiate their services,” added Matthews.

Seamless Integration and Accessibility

The Digital Marketing Platform integrates seamlessly into the LPL ecosystem through LPL Business Solutions, a comprehensive suite of strategic services aimed at helping advisors optimize and grow their practices.

Chatmeter, the leader in multi-location customer intelligence, announces exciting new features to its Pulse Ai platform, including AI-powered image analysis and a Review Generation tool. These updates aim to enhance how brands manage customer feedback, gather insights, and improve customer experiences across multiple locations.

AI-Powered Image Analysis: A Game Changer for Reputation Management

One of the most groundbreaking features of Pulse Ai is its ability to analyze photos in reviews. Chatmeter’s Signals can now surface relevant images from reviews, helping businesses identify key customer feedback trends—an industry-first capability. This new function helps multi-location businesses better understand customer sentiment and discover actionable insights from visual content.

• Key Benefits:
  • AI-driven sentiment analysis
  • Identifying critical business risks such as health and safety issues, and employee welfare
  • Identifying key trends across visual content at scale

“Imaging models will allow us to identify at scale crucial insights from images, including summarization, sentiment, and flagging risks,” said Dan Cunningham, CTO of Chatmeter.

Review Generation: Driving More Reviews Faster

Chatmeter’s Review Generation tool helps multi-location brands accelerate review collection by three times faster. With customizable templates for email, SMS, and QR codes, businesses can easily create, send, and track review requests, driving credibility and increasing customer trust.

“The ability to respond to and generate more reviews is a gamechanger for us,” said Desereé Lopez, Senior Director of Digital Marketing at Caliber Collision.

Survey Insights: Reviews Drive Consumer Trust and Decisions

A recent survey by Chatmeter uncovered key consumer preferences regarding online reviews:

• 95% of consumers trust businesses with a lot of online reviews.
• 92% of consumers look at photos when reading reviews.
• 46% of consumers wouldn’t dine at a restaurant without reading reviews, and 30% would even look at reviews or photos while ordering.

“Reviews have incredible influence over customer decision-making,” said John Mazur, CEO of Chatmeter.

Multi-Platform Presence is Essential for Trust

The study also highlighted the importance of multi-platform presence, with Google Reviews being the most trusted platform. However, preferences vary across generations, with Gen Z (42%) most trusting Google Reviews, and Baby Boomers (39%) preferring Better Business Bureau reviews.

Consumers look for signals like:

• At least a 4/5 average rating (52%)
• Reviews with photos (51%)
• A lot of reviews (46%)

Wordsmith AI, a leader in AI-powered legal reporting, is transforming the way legal teams manage critical operations such as pre-financing due diligence, contract risk analysis, and compliance audits. By blending cutting-edge technology with training services, Wordsmith AI ensures a seamless transition to legal AI, helping organizations achieve faster and more accurate results.

1. Game-Changing AI Legal Reports

• Advanced Reporting Tools: Analyze thousands of contracts in minutes, uncovering compliance gaps, contract risks, and critical insights. Reports can be tailored to specific business needs.
• Enablement & Training: Unique programs designed to integrate AI into legal workflows, reducing errors and enhancing efficiency.
• Flexible Support: Operate independently or collaborate with Wordsmith’s legal experts for verification and custom reporting.

2. Solving Key Legal Challenges

• Due Diligence: Streamline mergers and acquisitions (M&A) by organizing and analyzing critical contract data, reducing delays and errors.
• Risk Analysis: Extract vital details from historical customer and vendor contracts to identify non-standard terms and compliance risks.
• Commercial Insights: Extract performance data from contracts and summarize commercial terms across thousands of agreements.

Real-World Impact

Cybersecurity Incident Management

A tech company analyzed 8,000 contracts in 24 hours to identify notification obligations, saving weeks of effort.

M&A Due Diligence

A private equity firm expedited due diligence by 85%, avoiding costly delays.

Talent Agreement Review

A media company bulk-reviewed agreements to optimize commercial terms and improve operational efficiency.

Leadership Insights

Lucy Tyrrell, General Counsel at Wordsmith AI

"When reviewing thousands of contracts under time pressure, human error is almost unavoidable. Wordsmith eliminates that risk, delivering accurate results far faster than manual methods. Just as importantly, we empower lawyers to embrace these tools, ensuring they remain trusted experts in their organizations."

Ross McNairn, CEO of Wordsmith AI

"Wordsmith is trusted by some of the world’s most forward-thinking companies because we combine practical technology with meaningful enablement. Our training ensures legal teams are faster, smarter, and ready to navigate a rapidly changing landscape."

Wordsmith AI is more than a technology provider—it’s a partner in innovation. By offering advanced AI tools and empowering legal teams through training, Wordsmith AI ensures businesses can tackle today’s challenges while preparing for the future.

After 17 years as Tonaquint, the company is rebranding to ValorC3 Data Centers. This strategic transformation underscores its commitment to expanding modern colocation, cloud, and connectivity services in emerging U.S. markets.

Rebranding Significance

The ValorC3 name reflects the company’s client-centric focus, serving leading enterprises in healthcare, technology, energy, and finance industries.

• ‘C3’ Pillars: Represents the company’s dedication to providing robust solutions across colocation, cloud, and connectivity.

Leadership Vision

Jim Buie, CEO of ValorC3, explains the vision behind the rebrand:
"Technology is advancing at lightning speed – and so are we. ValorC3 is designed to empower clients in the data-driven age of AI. With scalable, dependable infrastructure, we are positioned to help clients overcome challenges and stay ahead of the competition."

Core Offerings

• Colocation Services: Dependable data center infrastructure with concurrently maintainable facilities.
• Cloud Solutions: Scalable cloud platforms tailored to enterprise needs.
• Connectivity Services: Reliable and secure solutions to support modern IT demands.

Key Differentiators

1. Client-Driven Approach: Solutions tailored to meet industry-specific challenges.
2. Trusted and Dependable: Infrastructure designed for reliability and operational excellence.
3. Rapid Growth Strategy: Build-to-suit capabilities and access to capital enable expansion into new markets.

Locations & Expansion

ValorC3 operates state-of-the-art data centers in:

• St. George, Utah
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Boise, Idaho
  Each location offers available inventory and the capacity for further expansion to meet growing enterprise demands.

With its rebranding to ValorC3, the company is poised to lead in colocation, cloud, and connectivity solutions, empowering enterprises to thrive in the fast-evolving digital landscape.

Certain, a leader in event management software, has unveiled Session Advisor AI, an advanced AI-powered solution designed to deliver highly personalized session recommendations at scale. This innovative tool not only enhances attendee engagement but also drives measurable business outcomes by streamlining session selection processes and offering actionable insights for marketers.

Revolutionizing Event Personalization

Session Advisor AI redefines event personalization by leveraging AI-driven attendee insights:

• Dynamic Recommendations: Analyzes attendee profiles, interests, and interaction behaviors to deliver tailored session suggestions.
• Networked Intelligence: Learns from attendee and peer preferences, refining recommendations over time for greater relevance and impact.
• Seamless Experience: Reduces decision fatigue by cutting through extensive session catalogs to highlight the most relevant content.

Peter Micciche, CEO of Certain, explains:
"Session Advisor AI simplifies decision-making for attendees while providing marketers with critical buying signals and insights to optimize engagement and drive meaningful follow-ups."

Key Features and Benefits

1. Enhanced Event Intelligence

• Identifies shared attendee interests and behaviors to foster networking and deeper engagement.
• Real-time insights on session attendance and engagement levels to measure ROI effectively.

2. Empowering Marketers

• Detects key intent indicators to prioritize high-value leads and improve follow-up strategies.
• Enables actionable event intelligence for personalized, data-driven marketing campaigns.

3. Seamless Integration

• Integrates with websites, session catalogs, and email campaigns to provide a cohesive, branded experience.
• Functions as both a standalone recommendation engine and an integrated feature for Certain customers.

Driving ROI with AI

Session Advisor AI delivers measurable outcomes for event marketers:

• Real-Time Analytics: Provides clear data on engagement and ROI, enabling strategic refinements.
• Networking Optimization: Enhances attendee connections through shared-interest groupings.
• Lead Prioritization: Captures buying signals to support sales pipelines and drive business growth.

Why Choose Session Advisor AI?

• Flexible and Scalable: Adapts to any event size or type with intelligent filtering and branding options.
• Continuous Learning: Evolves with each interaction to deliver increasingly personalized recommendations.
• Customizable and Actionable: Aligns session content with audience needs to create meaningful experiences that fuel growth.

With Session Advisor AI, Certain empowers event professionals to transform attendee engagement and achieve superior event outcomes. The solution's advanced personalization, real-time analytics, and seamless integration provide the tools marketers need to optimize event strategies, enhance lead quality, and drive ROI.

Effects SDK, a leading provider of SDKs for live audio and video communication, has unveiled its 2024 updates. These enhancements focus on improving video quality, optimizing system resource usage, and expanding device compatibility. With the integration of cutting-edge AI features and advanced rendering technologies, the updates aim to deliver seamless and high-quality video communication for businesses and developers alike.

1. AI Video Enhancer: Crystal-Clear Video Quality

The AI Video Enhancer introduces real-time video clarity improvements for live video sessions, including:

• Enhanced Visuals: Sharpens video resolution, even with lower-quality webcams.
• Universal Application: Ideal for online meetings, video calls, and recordings.
• Boosted Engagement: Ensures sharper visuals to elevate user satisfaction and engagement.

2. WebGPU Support: Accelerated Video Processing

The addition of WebGPU support revolutionizes high-quality video rendering:

• Optimized for AI Features: Powers demanding tasks like background replacement and skin smoothing.
• Reduced Latency: Delivers faster video processing and smoother experiences on modern web applications.
• Enhanced Browser Performance: Particularly benefits users accessing services via web browsers or devices with high graphical demands.

3. 50% Reduction in CPU Usage

Performance optimization has drastically minimized CPU usage:

• Improved Efficiency: Reduces the strain on system resources.
• Compatibility with Older Devices: Ensures smoother video playback on less powerful devices.
• Enhanced Multitasking: Allows users to run multiple applications without compromising video quality.

4. 30 FPS Support Across More Devices

Broadened device compatibility now ensures smooth playback at 30 FPS:

• Wide Range of Devices: Supports smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops.
• Consistent Quality: Ensures lag-free, high-quality video, even on lower-end hardware.

Transforming Video Communication for Businesses and Developers

With these updates, Effects SDK empowers businesses and developers to:

• Enhance user experiences with AI-driven video quality improvements.
• Deliver faster, smoother video services with optimized system performance.
• Expand accessibility with improved cross-platform support.

Effects SDK's 2024 updates redefine video communication standards, delivering enhanced video quality, reduced resource consumption, and improved compatibility. These features enable businesses to meet growing user demands while ensuring a seamless and efficient video communication experience.