Perion Network Ltd., a leader in advanced advertising technology, has announced the appointment of Stephen Yap as its new Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). With over 17 years at Google, Yap brings extensive experience in digital marketing, data analytics, and global strategy.

Stephen Yap’s Industry Expertise

1. Google Leadership Experience

• Led sales and operations for Google’s platform business for 7+ years.
• Founded Google’s data and measurement platforms, including:
  • Google Analytics Premium
  • Google Tag Manager
  • Audience Center
  • Data Studio
  • Attribution Solutions

2. Key Contributions to AdTech

• Former Director of Sales at DoubleClick.
• Specialized in developing and commercializing marketing platforms.
• Expertise in AI-driven data analysis and omnichannel marketing solutions.

Perion’s Vision for the Future

• Tal Jacobson, CEO, Perion: "Stephen is the ideal leader as we transform into a marketing and advertising platform company. His expertise will help drive our global commercial strategy."
• Stephen Yap, CRO, Perion: "Perion is at the forefront of AI-powered marketing. Our technology will enhance efficiency, transparency, and omnichannel strategies for advertisers and agencies worldwide."

Stephen Yap’s appointment marks a strategic move for Perion as it strengthens its position in AI-powered advertising. His leadership is expected to drive innovation and accelerate growth in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Meltwater, a global leader in media and consumer intelligence, has announced a strategic partnership with Snap Inc., making it the first social listening platform to offer Snapchat-specific insights. This integration enables brands and agencies to enhance their advertising and content strategies by analyzing engagement, sentiment, and performance metrics on Snapchat.

Features of the Integration

1. Advanced Campaign Analysis

• Track engagement, reach, and sentiment of branded content.
• Generate in-depth reports on campaign performance.

2. AI-Powered Image Recognition

• Identify brand mentions, logos, and sponsorship activities in video and image content.
• Measure ROI with AI-generated tagging.

3. Optimized Content Strategy

• Analyze top-performing Snapchat content to refine marketing approaches.
• Gain insights into trends and audience preferences.

4. Competitive Benchmarking

• Compare brand performance with competitors.
• Identify opportunities to outperform industry rivals.

5. Audience Intelligence & Trendspotting

• Uncover audience interests, attitudes, and emerging trends.
• Align content strategies with real-time consumer insights.

Industry Reactions

• Ali Rana, Global Head of Revenue Partnerships, Snap Inc.:
  “Meltwater’s integration with Snapchat sets a new standard for social listening, helping brands stay competitive and engaged with their audiences.”
• Chris Hackney, Chief Product Officer, Meltwater:
  “This partnership empowers brands with deeper insights into video content performance, allowing them to craft more effective campaigns.”

With Snapchat’s growing influence in digital marketing, Meltwater’s integration ensures brands can leverage AI-powered insights to refine their content strategies and maximize campaign impact.

StreamLayer, a leader in interactive advertising solutions for live sports and entertainment, has announced its integration with Google’s programmatic advertising technology. This innovation enables media companies, sports leagues, and OTT platforms to deliver AI-driven, hyper-relevant ads during live broadcasts without disrupting the viewer experience.

How StreamLayer’s AI-Powered Ads Work

StreamLayer’s platform identifies natural breaks in live content—such as pauses between plays in football or before faceoffs in hockey—to deliver contextual ads. By combining AI-driven insights with Google’s real-time bidding technology, advertisers can now achieve:

1. Premium Ad Placement

• Serve ads during pivotal moments of the game.
• Capitalize on high-engagement scenes for maximum impact.

2. AI-Driven Audience Targeting

• Deliver personalized ads tailored to specific demographics.
• Leverage real-time analytics to optimize ad relevance.

3. Maximized ROI with Real-Time Bidding

• Ensure optimal ad placement with automated, data-driven bidding.
• Boost ad performance and increase monetization potential.

Expanding Beyond Sports: A Future-Ready Platform

StreamLayer’s technology is built for scalability, extending beyond sports to live events such as:

• Award Shows – Monetize high-profile entertainment broadcasts.
• Live Concerts – Engage audiences with interactive brand placements.
• Reality TV Events – Integrate contextual advertising without disrupting content flow.

Industry Insights

• John Ganschow, CEO of StreamLayer:
  “By merging AI-powered ad targeting with Google’s programmatic ad capabilities, we’re revolutionizing live broadcast monetization.”

StreamLayer’s integration with Google Ads marks a major advancement in live content monetization, providing advertisers with an unprecedented opportunity to engage audiences in real-time while preserving the integrity of live experiences.

Outbrain Inc. has completed its acquisition of Teads, merging their branding and performance advertising solutions under the Teads name. This transformative deal establishes one of the largest optimized supply paths for the premium open internet, connecting advertisers with curated media environments through AI-driven, data-enhanced creative experiences.

What This Means for Advertisers & Media Owners

The new Teads platform will empower advertisers with:

1. Expansive Reach & Direct Access

• 96% open internet audience reach across premium environments.*
• 10,000+ media partnerships with direct publisher relationships.
• 50 billion monthly CTV ad opportunities, including exclusive homescreen inventory.

2. AI-Powered Predictive Advertising

• 1 billion predictions per minute for optimized ad performance.
• 50 live AI models processing 4 billion signals per minute.
• Teads Omnichannel Graph (OG) extends audience targeting into the CTV landscape.

3. Data-Driven Creative Solutions

• Beautiful, high-impact ad formats optimized for audience engagement.
• 74% higher attention rates for unique CTV native creatives.
• Seamless storytelling across screens—from CTV to premium editorial content.

Industry Leaders on the Merger

David Kostman, CEO, Teads:
"This merger bridges a major industry gap—creating a scaled, end-to-end platform that delivers results from awareness to conversion across screens."

Jeremy Arditi, Co-President & Chief Business Officer, Teads:
"By prioritizing creative excellence, trust, and measurable outcomes, we’re building a stronger, more transparent advertising ecosystem."

Sital Banerjee, Global Head of Media, Lipton Teas & Infusions:
"This merger unlocks new ways to engage audiences with full-funnel solutions and improved business outcomes."

The newly formed Teads is set to redefine omnichannel advertising, offering AI-driven, full-funnel marketing capabilities across premium content and CTV environments. This marks a major step forward in scaling open internet advertising while delivering superior audience engagement and brand outcomes.

Rakuten Advertising, a leader in affiliate marketing, has announced a strategic partnership with Marcode to enhance brand protection against link hijackers, fraudsters, and trademark infringers. This collaboration aims to safeguard brand keywords and improve security across Rakuten Advertising's publisher network.

Highlights of the Partnership

1. Advanced Fraud Detection with Marcode

• Marcode’s Brand Protection module detects fraudulent affiliates and link hijacking attempts.
• Uncovers affiliate details hidden within deceptive websites.
• Identifies and bypasses link cloaking platforms for greater transparency.

2. AI-Powered Anomaly Detection

• Uses AI-driven search intelligence to monitor niche subnetworks.
• Enhances detection of anomalies in difficult-to-track affiliate activities.
• Accelerates takedown of fraudulent affiliates to protect advertisers.

3. Multi-Layered Protection for Advertisers

• Complements Rakuten Advertising’s partnerships with AdPolice and The Search Monitor.
• Provides flexible, tailored protection services to meet advertiser needs.
• Ensures the integrity of affiliate programs with continuous monitoring.

Industry Insights

• Nick Stamos, CEO of Rakuten Advertising, emphasized the need for varied protection solutions tailored to different advertisers.
• Andy Cooney, Co-Founder of Marcode, highlighted Marcode’s advanced fraud detection capabilities and commitment to stamping out affiliate fraud.

This partnership reinforces Rakuten Advertising’s commitment to securing its network, ensuring advertisers can operate with confidence. With Marcode’s AI-powered tools, affiliate fraud detection and prevention reach new heights, setting a benchmark for brand protection in the affiliate marketing industry.

Freshpaint, the creator of the Healthcare Privacy Platform, has unveiled the Ad Performance platform designed to provide healthcare marketers with full visibility into the patient's journey. This platform links ad platform data with actual appointment outcomes, allowing marketers to measure ROI while maintaining compliance with patient privacy regulations.

Features of Freshpaint Ad Performance

1. Connecting Ad Data to Real Outcomes

• Integrates appointment data with digital ad performance.
• Provides visibility into critical actions like booked appointments, attended visits, and generated revenue.
• Enables healthcare marketers to track the true ROI of their marketing campaigns.

2. Privacy-First Approach

• Ensures compliance with HIPAA and other privacy regulations.
• Protects patient privacy while providing actionable insights for healthcare marketers.

3. Improved Google Ad Performance

• Leverages appointment data to optimize Google Ads campaigns with advanced strategies like tROAS (Target Return on Ad Spend).
• Maximizes return on ad spend, with plans to support additional ad platforms in the future.

4. End-to-End Patient Journey Insights

• Visualizes the entire patient journey from the first ad click to the in-office visit.
• Uncovers valuable insights into customer acquisition cost (CAC) and ROI across all service lines.

5. Optimized Marketing Budgets

• Provides privacy-compliant ROI data that justifies budget increases.
• Helps marketers allocate budgets precisely for high-ROI service lines.

Testimonial

"Without Freshpaint's ROI data, I'd have assumed some campaigns weren't converting as well, when they were actually outperforming on the backend," says Justin Olson, CMO of Fast Pace Health.

The Freshpaint Ad Performance platform empowers healthcare marketers to make data-driven decisions while safeguarding patient privacy. By providing clarity on ROI and marketing performance, healthcare marketers can optimize their strategies and improve customer acquisition costs, all while adhering to strict privacy regulations.

Socure, a leader in AI-driven digital identity verification, fraud prevention, and sanctions screening, achieved remarkable growth in 2024, outperforming industry expectations. As the threat landscape evolves with AI-based fraud tactics, Socure’s innovative platform has delivered enhanced solutions while competitors faced challenges in maintaining accuracy.

Key Achievements in 2024

1. Unprecedented Growth

• Verified over 2.7 billion identity requests, doubling 2023 totals.
• Expanded customer base by 42%, now serving 2,800+ organizations across multiple sectors, including financial services, telecom, insurance, and government.
• Public sector partnerships grew by 193%, covering 13 U.S. states and multiple federal agencies.

2. Financial Performance

• GAAP revenue increased by 54% YoY.
• Exceeded financial goals, achieving 108% of new bookings and 121% of adjusted operating profit plans.

3. AI-Powered Performance Excellence

• Socure's platform outpaced AI-driven fraud solutions by improving speed and accuracy.
• The Risk Insights Network Consortium enables continuous improvement, with each identity decision enhancing the platform's effectiveness.

Performance Highlights

4. Fraud Prevention

• The Sigma Fraud Suite captured 92% of ID fraud in the riskiest top 3% of users, compared to the industry average of 37%.
• Achieved a 40% YoY reduction in false positives, enabling more legitimate consumers to be approved.

5. Identity Verification

• Socure Verify achieved 99% verification rates for mainstream populations, a 3% YoY increase.
• Verified 30% more 18-year-olds and 92% of Gen Z consumers compared to competitors.

6. Document Verification

• Socure's DocV solution led the industry with a 98.2% true accept rate, completing verifications in just 1.5 seconds (p99 speed).

7. First-Party Fraud Consortium

• The industry's first and largest consortium now includes 190 million contributed identities, 325 million accounts, and 20 billion transactions, leading to better fraud detection.

New Innovations and Expanded Capabilities

8. Cutting-Edge Innovation

• Filed 16 new patents in 2024, with two patents granted for fraud prevention and document verification.
• Launched enhancements to the prefill solution, achieving first-time prefill rates of over 90%, outperforming competitors by 40%.

9. Addressing New Identity Vectors

• Expanded multi-factor authentication, Zelle enrollment, and profile change detection, with fraud capture rates exceeding industry standards by 20-25%.

10. AI-Powered Sanctions Screening

• Reduced sanctions screening review time from 15 minutes to less than 1 minute using Socure's GenAI explainability agent.

CEO Perspective

Johnny Ayers, Founder and CEO of Socure, highlights the company’s commitment to transforming how businesses verify customers in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. “Our growth reflects the massive demand for certainty in identity verification, and no one delivers the performance or value like Socure.”

Acquisition and Industry Expansion

• In late 2024, Socure acquired Effectiv, a real-time risk decisioning company, expanding into the $200 billion enterprise fraud industry.
• Customers can now access complete no-code flexibility for building and deploying fraud prevention workflows.

Socure’s breakthrough performance in 2024 underscores its leadership in identity verification, fraud prevention, and AI-driven solutions. As businesses face increasingly sophisticated fraud threats, Socure remains the trusted partner for ensuring accurate and secure customer verification.

Cloudflare, a leading connectivity cloud company, unveiled a groundbreaking solution for content creators and publishers: Content Credentials. This tool enables the seamless preservation of an image’s digital history, from creation to edits, across the global Cloudflare network. This initiative is a response to the growing concerns about verifying the authenticity of images, especially in an age where AI-generated content is on the rise.

Features of Content Credentials

1. Digital ‘Nutrition Labels’ for Images

Content Credentials provide a digital "nutrition label" that details the origin and edits of an image, offering transparency for both creators and consumers. This includes:

• Creation details: Who created the image and how it was made.
• Edit and resize tracking: Any modifications made to the image throughout its lifecycle.
• Consumer verification: Easy access for viewers to verify the authenticity and provenance of an image.

2. Industry Standards for Content Provenance

• Content Credentials are based on the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) standard.
• Cloudflare has joined the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI), a global community led by Adobe, to support the widespread adoption of Content Credentials.

The Challenge of Verifying Image Authenticity

As AI technology advances, so does the ease of creating convincing fake images and videos, raising concerns about trust in digital content. Cloudflare’s solution addresses this challenge by providing verifiable metadata for every image, making it easier to distinguish between authentic content and AI-manipulated media.

Real-World Application

• Consumers can now easily verify if an image or video—whether it’s a celebrity endorsement or viral content like UFO sightings—is authentic or generated by AI.
• Example: A viral image of a celebrity can now be traced to its source, showing whether it was created with a smartphone or manipulated by AI tools.

Cloudflare’s Impact on Content Creation and Management

3. Empowering Publishers and Creators

Cloudflare’s integration of Content Credentials across its network ensures that media and news organizations can maintain the authenticity of their work, regardless of where it is shared online. This fosters trust and helps publishers protect ownership of their content.

4. Easy Integration with Cloudflare Images

• One-click solution: Cloudflare Images users can easily enable Content Credentials with a single click.
• Global preservation: Once activated, the metadata is embedded and preserved across Cloudflare's entire network, including any image transformations, which are recorded using public key cryptography.

5. Verifying Image Transformations

• Any image resized or transformed through Cloudflare Images retains its metadata, ensuring that consumers can trace every alteration back to the original image.
• Verification is simple: Users can check an image’s digital history using the Adobe Content Authenticity Inspect tool.

Expert Perspectives

Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare

“The future of the Internet depends on trust and authenticity. By integrating Content Credentials, we are empowering publishers to preserve the integrity of their content and maintain trust with their audience in the face of rapidly evolving AI technologies.”

Andy Parsons, Senior Director Content Authenticity at Adobe

“Cloudflare’s integration of Content Credentials strengthens the integrity of digital content. This is especially important in the era of generative AI and deepfakes, helping media organizations, journalists, and creators ensure proper attribution and trustworthiness.”

Cloudflare's introduction of Content Credentials marks a significant step towards ensuring the authenticity and provenance of digital content. By enabling creators and publishers to protect their work while giving consumers the tools to verify authenticity, Cloudflare is setting the stage for a more transparent and trustworthy digital future.