Magnite, the largest independent sell-side advertising company, has announced an exclusive partnership with Playwire, a global leader in ad monetization for web publishers. This collaboration introduces Playwire's Flex Suite creative formats, including Flex Video, Flex Skin, and Flex Rail, to programmatic buyers exclusively through Magnite.

Key Highlights of the Partnership

1. Programmatic Access to Premium Ad Formats
Advertisers can now access Playwire's high-impact creative formats through Magnite, enhancing:

• Viewability: Ad formats designed for superior visibility and engagement.
• Seamless Experience: User-centric formats for uninterrupted browsing experiences.

2. Streamlined Supply Chain
This partnership addresses the disconnect between advertisers and publishers by:

• Ensuring a larger share of ad spend supports publishers directly.
• Sustaining free, ad-supported content while improving advertiser ROI.

3. Certified Inventory for Advertisers
Playwire’s Flex Suite operates exclusively on pre-certified publisher sites, ensuring:

• Correct formatting and collision-free ad placements.
• Premium inventory offering higher performance than standard IAB units.

Leadership Perspectives

Jayson Dubin, CEO of Playwire:
"Our partnership with Magnite scales high-impact creative formats programmatically, giving advertisers access to premium inventory with seamless integration and unmatched performance. Flex certification ensures quality for publishers and advertisers alike."

Sean Buckley, CRO of Magnite:
"Playwire’s custom ad formats redefine programmatic display by moving beyond traditional banners. These innovative units provide media owners and brands with immersive ad experiences, and we're proud to bring them to premium publishers and advertisers through automation."

Innovative Features of Playwire’s Flex Suite

• Flex Video: Large-format mobile video for high visibility.
• Flex Skin: Custom skin placements for immersive branding.
• Flex Rail: Expandable mobile units with options for 100% share-of-voice roadblocks.
• Responsive Design: All formats adapt seamlessly across devices for consistent user engagement.

Impact on the Digital Advertising Landscape

This partnership showcases how high-impact, user-friendly ad formats can drive performance while addressing inefficiencies in the advertising supply chain. By merging automation with premium creative formats, Magnite and Playwire redefine the standards for programmatic advertising.

According to the 2025 State of Business Texting Report published by Text Request, a leading business messaging platform, 97% of businesses that use text messaging would recommend it to others. The report, which surveyed over 500 professionals across the U.S. and Canada, highlights the growing trend of businesses adopting texting for customer communication and offers insights into what lies ahead in the coming year.

Key Findings from the 2025 State of Business Texting Report

1. High Engagement with Text Messages

   • 83% of people read their texts within 30 minutes, emphasizing the immediacy of the communication channel.

2. Primary Use of Texting for Customer Service

   • 76% of businesses who use texting primarily employ it for customer service, including appointment scheduling, updates, and quick responses.

3. Text as the Most Effective Channel

   • 59% of organizations find text messages to be the most effective channel for getting responses from customers.

4. Time Savings Through Texting

   • 67% of people report saving 1-5 hours a week by replacing other forms of communication with text messaging.

5. Preference for Receiving Texts from Businesses

   • 72% of people prefer to receive text messages from businesses, underlining the potential for companies to connect with their customers more effectively.

Opportunities for Business Growth

The report indicates that businesses are primarily using text messaging for administrative tasks like scheduling and customer service. However, Text Request points out significant growth opportunities, including:

• Seasonal promotions
• Payment reminders
• Sales team follow-ups

While consumers express a desire to receive these types of messages, few businesses are currently capitalizing on the potential to increase revenue through text messaging.

Leadership Insights

Kenneth Burke, Vice President of Marketing at Text Request:
"Businesses are seeing the benefits of texting for administrative tasks, but there’s a huge opportunity to increase revenue by sending timely messages like promotions and reminders. Consumers are asking for these messages, and businesses should seize the opportunity to connect with them in ways that boost both the customer experience and their bottom line."

The Future of Texting in Business

Texting is quickly becoming one of the most reliable and effective tools for businesses. It allows for rapid communication, better customer service, and the potential for higher sales and customer engagement. As texting continues to be a preferred method for consumers, businesses that embrace it are likely to see significant growth and enhanced operational efficiency.

Zeta Global, a leader in AI-powered marketing, today unveiled the Zeta Economic Index (ZEI) for December 2024. The ZEI is one of the first AI-driven economic indexes, utilizing Zeta's Generative AI technology and real-time consumer data from over 240 million US consumers. It provides valuable insights into the current state and trajectory of the US economy.

Key Highlights from December 2024 Zeta Economic Index

1. Record Economic Index Score (EIS)

   • The EIS reached a record-high of 71.5 points in December, marking a 0.6-point month-over-month (MoM) increase. This was the second consecutive month of growth, the first in over three years. It signals continued economic momentum, fueled by strong holiday shopping despite a shorter season this year.

2. Economic Stability Index (ESI) Growth

   • The ESI increased to 66.9, showing a 0.6% quarter-over-quarter improvement. This signals steady confidence in the economy’s ability to handle fluctuations, as consumers continue to spend despite rising inflation.

3. Consumer Spending and Inflation

   • Inflation edged up to 2.7%, reflecting a gradual rise, but it did not deter consumer spending, which remained robust during the holiday season. This suggests that consumers are adjusting to economic changes while maintaining higher spending levels.

Sector-Specific Insights

1. Consumer Technology Interest Soars

   • The consumer tech sector saw a 5.6-point MoM increase in interest, fueled by holiday demand for innovative devices. As CES 2025 approaches, the sector enters the new year with strong momentum.

2. Growth in Financial Services Spending

   • Interest in financial services grew by 3.0 points MoM, largely driven by Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) trends, where consumers relied on flexible payment options to afford high-ticket items, especially in tech.

3. Retail and Travel Sectors

   • Retail activity saw a 4.2% MoM increase, despite a 0.5% decrease in in-store visits as online shopping continued to dominate. Travel activity grew by 2.0 points MoM, aligning with the busy December travel season.

4. Job Market Sentiment Stabilizes

   • After a surge of 13.9% MoM in November, job market sentiment moderated slightly by 0.9% in December, reflecting the conclusion of temporary holiday positions. However, sentiment remains positive, signaling a stable employment outlook.

Zeta Economic Index: A New Lens on the Economy

Unlike traditional surveys, the ZEI uses real-time consumer behavior data, processed through Zeta’s proprietary Generative AI. This results in comprehensive economic sentiment and trend insights that reflect actual behavior rather than subjective opinions. With over 20 proprietary inputs recalibrated monthly, the ZEI offers a dynamic and real-time view of economic activity.

Statement from Zeta Global CEO

David A. Steinberg, Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Zeta Global, commented:
"Leveraging real-time signals from actual consumer behavior, the ZEI provides a unique and actionable perspective on the economy, helping decision makers navigate the coming year with greater confidence. As we close out the holiday season, consumer spending is stabilizing, signaling optimism for the year ahead."

The Zeta Economic Index

The Zeta Economic Index is publicly available and offered as a complimentary service. It provides essential data on economic trends, sentiment, and consumer behavior, enabling businesses and decision-makers to make more informed decisions. Please note that the ZEI should not be relied upon for investment advice.

Vimeo, a leading video experience platform for creators and enterprises, has announced the appointment of Javier Ortega Estrada as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). In his new role, Ortega Estrada will oversee global sales and revenue efforts, aiming to enhance customer experiences and drive increased revenue for Vimeo.

Leadership Announcement

Philip Moyer, CEO of Vimeo, expressed excitement about the appointment, stating:
"Over the past year, Vimeo has expanded its leadership team to provide the best experience for our customers, and we are excited to have Javier join as Chief Revenue Officer. Javier’s extensive experience in leading global go-to-market teams, creating world-class customer success, and building lasting customer relationships will help us take Vimeo to the next level."

Javier Ortega Estrada’s Background

Ortega Estrada brings more than a decade of experience in managing and collaborating with diverse revenue teams, including sales, growth (PLG), marketing, customer success, and account management. His career includes notable roles such as:

• Chief Revenue Officer at Veriff – Leading the company’s go-to-market strategy, and overseeing global revenue and marketing teams.
• Chief Sales Officer at Hopin
• Head of Sales - Americas at Dropbox
• Senior Strategy Consultant at Capgemini Invent

Ortega Estrada’s extensive background in driving revenue growth across industries aligns with Vimeo’s goal of expanding its reach and retaining users.

Ortega Estrada’s Vision for Vimeo

In his new role, Ortega Estrada emphasized the importance of customer experience in revenue generation:
"Revenue generation is a reflection of the customer experience, and, as a longtime fan of the Vimeo brand, I’m excited to join the team helping our customers and creators shape the future of video."

He added:
"With the exponential growth of multimedia content and Vimeo’s technology in just the last few years, we have a prime opportunity to unlock new means of customer engagement and help brands and professional creators communicate their stories."

Vimeo remains committed to being the world’s most innovative video platform, helping creators and enterprises showcase their stories with advanced tools. With new leadership in place, Vimeo aims to continue its growth and enhance the experience for both users and creators globally.

KERV.ai, a leader in video analysis, performance, and monetization, has announced a strategic partnership with PubMatic, a technology company focused on digital advertising. This collaboration enables marketers to integrate KERV's AI-powered interactive and shoppable video capabilities across PubMatic’s premium inventory, enhancing ad engagement and driving better results.

Strategic Vision

Ryan Schoenfeld, VP of Technical Partnerships at KERV, emphasized the partnership’s potential, stating:
"KERV's focus continues to be innovating with the industry's most forward-thinking partners. PubMatic's curation platform provides a turnkey and scalable conduit to bring KERV's cutting-edge tech and data to the masses."
He further explained that the partnership unlocks KERV’s comprehensive suite of interactive and commerce-based ad products to buyers on premium supply and lays the groundwork for future data-driven and content-based solutions.

KERV’s Interactive and Shoppable Ad Units

Through this partnership, brand and agency buyers now have access to KERV’s AI-powered interactive and shoppable creative ad units across two major formats:

• Online Video (OLV)
• Connected TV (CTV)

These formats are combined with cookie-free, first-party targeting capabilities driven by KERV’s unique audience identifiers. This ensures contextual relevance and brand safety for advertisers.

PubMatic’s Role in the Partnership

Abbie Reichner, Regional VP of Customer Success, CTV at PubMatic, highlighted the collaboration’s benefits:
"Our partnership with KERV provides direct access to premium ad spaces and leverages first-party data to deliver the most engaging and relevant shoppable, interactive ad experiences."
She added:
"This is just the beginning as we introduce scalable, innovative solutions that simplify and accelerate the path to purchase, benefiting both advertisers and consumers."

Availability and Future Potential

The KERV and PubMatic partnership is now available to all existing customers, offering new opportunities to enhance user engagement and maximize revenue for brands and publishers alike. Both companies remain committed to continuous innovation in digital advertising.

Jivox, a leader in Generative Commerce Marketing, has introduced significant updates to its self-service commerce media campaign management platform, Jivox IQ DaVinci. The new feature integrates deep API connections with the two largest retailer DSPs – Amazon DSP and Walmart Connect DSP, along with additional integrations for retailers using The Trade Desk DSP. This platform unifies first-party audiences, creative assets, and media workflows into a single, efficient process.

Solving Campaign Management Challenges

As brands transition from traditional sponsored listing ads to more advanced formats like display, video, social, CTV, and in-store ads, managing campaigns across multiple Retail Media Networks (RMNs) can become complex. This often involves multiple creative approvals, varying audience targeting options, and different workflows for each platform.

Jivox IQ DaVinci+ eliminates these barriers by streamlining campaign launches across multiple RMNs using a single, uniform workflow. This reduces the cost and effort of managing display and video campaigns and ensures uniform measurement and reporting.

Key Features of Jivox IQ DaVinci+

Diaz Nesamoney, CEO and Co-Founder of Jivox, shared his excitement about the update:
"We are pleased to offer brands and agencies a self-service platform that accelerates campaign launches using pre-approved, reusable creative templates, populated with product content targeting first-party retailer audiences, all in a single unified workflow."
He added:
"These templates enable advertisers to differentiate their products with unique branding elements, offering lifestyle content alongside product content, while activating campaigns across various channels and platforms without the need to learn different tools for each retailer."

Seamless Integration with Major Retailers

Jivox's deep integration with Amazon Ads and DSP allows advertisers to leverage Amazon's first-party audiences and contextual targeting within the same workflow, streamlining campaign creation. This integration provides an efficient, single interface to activate and launch campaigns using Amazon Seller APIs, Amazon DSP APIs, and Amazon Sponsored Ads APIs.

Similar capabilities are also available for Walmart Connect DSP and The Trade Desk DSP, offering cross-platform flexibility and control for advertisers.

Campaign Management Workflow

Jivox IQ DaVinci simplifies campaign management with the following process:

1. Select Reusable Campaign Templates
   Choose from a library of retailer-approved templates for dynamic product ads, video, social, or CTV formats across RMNs.

2. Select Audiences
   Target retailer-first-party audiences using shopper data such as purchase history, search queries, loyalty program data, and more for personalized campaigns.

3. Select Products
   Access integrated retailer product feeds or advertiser product content from partners like Salsify to add product assets to ads.

4. Preview Ads
   Preview every automatically generated variation of ad creative side-by-side, comparing how the brand’s products look in pre-approved retailer templates across all sizes and formats.

5. Launch Campaign and Measure Performance
   Activate the campaign in the selected RMN. The ads and settings automatically sync with the platform, enabling performance tracking via built-in dashboards.

Customization and Brand Control

For advertisers seeking greater customization, Jivox IQ DaVinci offers several powerful features:

• Customize with Brand Assets
  Upload branded assets like lifestyle images or promotional collateral directly into templates, which can then be quickly approved by retailers.

• Resize Brand Assets
  Use Smart Resize, Pan, Zoom, Crop, and Generative AI Fill to adjust assets that don’t fit perfectly into the pre-approved templates.

• Generate Backgrounds with Generative AI
  Easily remove white backgrounds from product images or use Generative AI to create new backgrounds for product placement.

InfluxData, the creator of the leading time series platform InfluxDB, has appointed Pat Walsh as the new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Walsh brings a wealth of experience in open source innovation, product management, and go-to-market execution, with a successful track record in scaling businesses and fostering robust developer communities.

InfluxData's Strategic Focus and Leadership Vision

Evan Kaplan, CEO of InfluxData, shared his thoughts on the appointment:
"Real-time systems are reshaping industries, and managing time series data with precision and scale has never been more critical. InfluxDB sits at the center of this opportunity, empowering developers to turn the relentless stream of data into innovation. Bringing Pat on board at this key moment for InfluxData ensures we have the leadership to scale our business, strengthen our developer communities, and continue to drive market leadership in this fast-growing space."

Pat Walsh's Proven Leadership Experience

Pat Walsh joins InfluxData from Privitar, a company acquired by Informatica, where he served as CMO and led the global go-to-market strategy, including demand generation, product marketing, strategic communications, and branding. Before Privitar, he held CMO roles at Tufin, guiding the company through a successful IPO in 2019, and worked in key marketing and product leadership roles at Core Security and Talend (acquired by Qlik). His broad expertise in scaling data management platforms makes him an ideal fit to lead InfluxData’s marketing initiatives.

Focus on InfluxDB 3 and the Future of Time Series Data

As CMO, Pat Walsh will lead the introduction of InfluxDB 3, a groundbreaking advancement in time series database technology. InfluxDB 3 is designed to handle the most complex time series data challenges with new features such as:

• Unlimited Cardinality
• High-Speed Ingest
• Real-Time Querying
• Advanced Data Compression

These features are poised to deliver significant cost savings and provide unmatched performance in a single datastore, empowering businesses to tackle demanding workloads with speed and precision.

Pat Walsh's Excitement for InfluxData's Future

Walsh expressed his enthusiasm about joining InfluxData:
"InfluxData is at a pivotal moment, redefining what’s possible with time series data. I'm excited to join InfluxData, a true category leader built on engineering excellence in solving time series challenges. The potential for InfluxDB 3 is immense, and we’re just beginning to unlock its impact across the market."

NextRoll, a San Francisco-based marketing technology company, has partnered with Audigent, part of Experian and a leader in data activation, curation, and identity platforms, to deliver a groundbreaking solution within Google Privacy Sandbox. Together, they’ve activated Audigent Interest Groups on the AdRoll DSP, providing an innovative, privacy-first approach to audience targeting without relying on third-party cookies.

Innovation in Google Privacy Sandbox

This partnership unlocks a new use case for Google's Protected Audience API (PAAPI), enabling the creation of Interest Groups using Data Management Platform (DMP) data and activation on Demand Side Platforms (DSPs). This privacy-forward audience solution helps brands maintain advertising performance while adhering to the privacy principles of Google Privacy Sandbox.

Roli Saxena, CEO of NextRoll, shared:
"We are committed to protecting user privacy while helping brands maintain advertising performance, and the solutions we've built within Privacy Sandbox will allow advertisers to retain upper funnel and retargeting tactics while keeping privacy intact. Our hope is that this breakthrough use case encourages industry participants to collaborate and test so we can continue to improve the utility of the Privacy Sandbox APIs."

Initial Test and Results

The first test involved NextRoll connecting over one billion browsers to an Interest Group across Audigent's network of publisher websites. Over a two-week campaign, the Interest Group was targeted across Privacy Sandbox inventory, delivering nearly five million impressions across 42,000 domains. This successful test provided insights into the technical workflows and system requirements necessary to activate Interest Groups at scale.

Industry Insights

Jake Abraham, Chief Commercial Officer of Audigent, commented on the collaboration:
"Audigent is a leader in audience aggregation and segmentation, delivering both at scale to advertisers. With Google representing such a foundational part of the industry, understanding how to activate within PAAPI is a priority. Our work with NextRoll has shown we can deliver scale when targeting with Interest Groups, and marks a positive step forward for the viability of this approach."

NextRoll has played a pivotal role in the development of PAAPI, contributing recommendations to W3C and partnering with IAB and Google Chrome teams to enhance testing and improve the utility of Privacy Sandbox APIs. They’ve also developed a new bidder that enables performance advertising across Chrome’s Privacy Sandbox.

Audigent’s Reach and Future Potential

With a scaled DMP footprint spanning over two million websites and a daily reach of more than 400 million Chrome browsers, Audigent provides the necessary data networks to build actionable, scaled Interest Groups. The partnership with NextRoll allows them to lead audience activation in an evolving ecosystem, particularly as the availability of third-party cookies in Chrome continues to evolve.