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.

Creative Realities, Inc., a leading provider of digital signage and media solutions, has unveiled AdLogic CPM+TM, an advanced campaign planning and management platform designed for in-store retail media networks. By integrating programmatic functionalities within a unified AdTech stack, the platform empowers advertisers and publishers to manage, optimize, and execute campaigns seamlessly.

Key Features of AdLogic CPM+

1. Dynamic Campaign Management

   • Plan and execute campaigns based on impressions, budgets, targeting parameters, and more.
   • Tailor campaigns to sub-networks for enhanced customization.

2. Advanced Targeting Capabilities

   • Leverage location-based data, geo-fencing, audience attributes, and digital asset types.
   • Optimize campaigns for precise reach and impactful messaging.

3. Private Marketplaces (PMPs)

   • Facilitate curated inventory transactions with select buyers for higher efficiency and yield.

4. Integrated DSP/SSP Functionality

   • Offer both direct and programmatic ad trafficking for maximum flexibility.

5. Seamless Platform Integration

   • Integrates with CRI’s AdLogicTM and ReflectViewTM systems, eliminating external tools and reducing third-party fees.

6. Real-Time Reporting

   • Access detailed analytics to monitor performance, measure ROI, and refine strategies for better outcomes.

Advantages for Publishers and Advertisers

• For Publishers:

  • Create private marketplaces to connect directly with buyers, reducing reliance on third-party intermediaries.
  • Retain a larger share of ad revenue by minimizing operational costs.
  • Simplify inventory management through streamlined workflows.

• For Advertisers:

  • Benefit from undiluted inventory for greater campaign visibility.
  • Achieve higher conversion rates with targeted and efficient messaging.
  • Leverage real-time insights to optimize campaign ROI.

Industry Impact

Rick Mills, CEO of Creative Realities, emphasized the transformative nature of AdLogic CPM+:

“Retail Media Networks are reshaping advertising, and AdLogic CPM+ empowers brands to maximize ROI with integrated, end-to-end solutions.”

By addressing complexities, enhancing cost-efficiency, and providing measurable results, AdLogic CPM+ is positioned as a comprehensive solution for modern in-store retail media networks.

AdLogic CPM+ establishes Creative Realities as a one-stop provider for retail media solutions. From on-premises screen deployment to sophisticated ad-serving tools, this full-service approach is set to revolutionize the retail media ecosystem, enabling brands to achieve impactful and efficient campaigns.

Comcast has unveiled Universal Ads, a groundbreaking TV advertising platform designed to simplify access to premium video advertising. Ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show, Comcast announced this one-stop solution to empower advertisers of all sizes with direct access to premium content from industry-leading media companies. Built on FreeWheel’s cutting-edge ad technology, Universal Ads will launch in Q1 and promises to revolutionize the TV advertising landscape with a seamless, unified buying experience.

Strategic Collaboration with Industry Leaders

Universal Ads represents Comcast’s first large-scale cross-industry collaboration. Launch partners include A+E, AMC Networks, DIRECTV, Fox Corporation, NBCUniversal, Paramount, Roku, TelevisaUnivision, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Xumo. More partners are expected to join, solidifying Universal Ads’ position as a premium marketplace for advertisers and publishers.

Key Features of Universal Ads

1. Universal Ads Manager:

   • A free, self-service tool that simplifies TV ad buying.

2. Premium Video Access:

   • Direct access to brand-safe video content reaching over 90% of U.S. households.

3. AI-Driven Creative Production:

   • Plans to provide free, automated AI-powered tools for creating TV commercials.

4. Marketing API:

   • Enables developers to build custom applications for reporting, measurement, and creative generation.

Driving Performance for Advertisers

The platform addresses key challenges identified in a 2024 Comcast Advertising study:

• Diminishing ROI on Social Media: 50% of advertisers reported declining returns from social media advertising.
• Demand for TV Advertising: 89% of advertisers expressed willingness to explore TV advertising.

Mark Marshall, Chairman of NBCUniversal Global Advertising & Partnerships, emphasized:

“Universal Ads combines the premium reach of TV with the precision of data-informed targeting, making it accessible for businesses of all sizes.”

Benefits for SMBs and Advertisers

Universal Ads democratizes TV advertising, breaking down barriers for small and medium businesses (SMBs). As Gary Vaynerchuk, Chairman of VaynerX, stated:

“The biggest mistake TV has made is acting like it’s still 1995. Universal Ads drops the barriers, letting brands of all sizes play at scale.”

Bridging the Programmatic Gap

According to the IAB, 75% of Connected TV (CTV) ads are purchased programmatically, yet only 20% of premium video transactions follow this model. Universal Ads aims to address this gap by offering:

• A unified platform for interacting with supply, data, and technology partners.
• Tools to enable more programmatic trading in the premium video space.

Leadership and Vision

Comcast has appointed James Grant to lead the Universal Ads initiative. Former Snap executive James Borow will oversee product and engineering development, ensuring a cutting-edge and user-friendly experience.

Universal Ads is poised to transform the premium video advertising landscape, providing a simple, scalable, and effective solution for advertisers and publishers alike. By unifying premium media partners under one platform, Comcast is setting a new standard for TV advertising, making it as accessible and efficient as social media.

Muck Rack, a leader in PR software innovation, has announced the acquisition of Ruepoint, a top global media intelligence company. This strategic move strengthens Muck Rack’s capabilities, enhancing its media intelligence services with curated monitoring, executive digests, and actionable insights. Following its September 2024 acquisition of the social media platform Keyhole, Muck Rack is rounding out its integrated platform to provide even more value to its PR and communications customers.

Merging Expertise and Innovation

The acquisition brings together Ruepoint’s expertise in content augmentation, media monitoring, and insights with Muck Rack’s AI-powered data and technology. This combination allows Muck Rack’s customers to access enriched media intelligence services and deepen their PR strategies with insights that track market trends, monitor competition, and measure PR’s impact on business performance.

Greg Galant, cofounder and CEO of Muck Rack, commented:

“In today’s fast-paced media environment, where new platforms and rapid news cycles can overwhelm, Ruepoint’s insights provide clarity. Integrating Ruepoint's expertise with our innovative tools empowers our customers to shape impactful PR strategies.”

Key Features of the Enhanced Muck Rack Platform

Customers who choose the new media intelligence services, available through Muck Rack's Brand Premier subscription, will gain access to:

1. Curated Monitoring:

   • Global media monitoring across print, digital, TV, and radio, enriched by expert editorial oversight. Delivered via email, API, or business intelligence software.

2. Executive Digests:

   • Tailored media reviews and digests to keep business leaders informed, from C-suite executives to Public Affairs and Legal teams.

3. Measurement and Insights:

   • Consultancy-led services offering qualitative and quantitative analysis of earned and social media. Includes interactive dashboards and graphical reports to evaluate trends, campaigns, and PR effectiveness.

Kevin Fagan, cofounder and CEO of Ruepoint, emphasized:

"By combining Ruepoint’s editorial expertise with Muck Rack’s data-driven approach, we are positioned to offer global brands a deeper understanding of their media performance and equip them with actionable insights."

A Focus on Actionable Insights and Strategic PR

Ruepoint’s focus on editorial expertise, alongside Muck Rack’s AI-driven technology, is designed to deliver not just information, but human-curated insights that empower PR professionals to drive business outcomes. Raina Lazarova, cofounder and COO of Ruepoint, highlighted the powerful combination of the two companies' strengths:

"Muck Rack’s advanced technology and global reach, combined with Ruepoint’s content curation and personalized approach, will create a uniquely powerful media intelligence platform."

Built on Powerful Data and AI

Muck Rack’s platform already monitors over 600,000 media outlets worldwide, analyzing more than 3.5 million articles daily across television, print, digital media, podcasts, and social channels. This wealth of data powers Muck Rack’s Dashboards tool, which tracks five key areas of media relations: Media Impact Analytics, Brand Reputation Insights, Competitive Analysis, Relationship Summary, and Outreach Performance.

A Growing and Successful Company

This acquisition comes amid rapid growth and financial success for Muck Rack. In addition to the recent acquisition of Keyhole, Muck Rack received a $180 million institutional investment in 2022, further fueling its expansion. Despite this, the company remains majority-founder owned and profitable, showcasing its continued commitment to innovation and customer success.

By acquiring Ruepoint, Muck Rack is poised to further solidify its position as a leader in PR software and media intelligence. This acquisition enhances its platform, offering businesses of all sizes powerful tools to track, measure, and improve their PR strategies with greater precision. As Muck Rack continues to expand and innovate, this unified offering will deliver unmatched insights to clients navigating the complex media landscape.

MMDSmart, a leader in business messaging, CPaaS, and call center solutions, has announced an exciting partnership with Optimove, the pioneering Customer-Led Marketing Platform. This collaboration introduces Viber, the cross-platform messaging app, as an integrated marketing channel within Optimove's suite of tools. This integration provides Optimove clients with a unique opportunity to enhance their customer interactions by using Viber’s personalized, real-time communication capabilities, driving more impactful CRM marketing efforts.

A Global Reach with Viber Integration

Viber, with its 1.17 billion global users and over 820 million active monthly users, enables businesses to connect with customers in 192 countries and 40 languages. The app's robust features and high engagement rates make it an ideal platform for delivering personalized, real-time messages that boost customer engagement.

By adding Viber to its already extensive marketing channels, which include mobile, text, push, email, and WhatsApp, Optimove further solidifies its commitment to marketing channel extensibility. This new integration offers businesses a powerful way to foster personalized customer connections, enhancing their CRM marketing strategies.

Key Capabilities of Viber Integration for Optimove Clients

The integration of Viber into Optimove’s platform provides several key capabilities to brands, including:

1. Personalized Recommendations and Content Delivery

   • Optimove clients can now enrich customer engagement with tailored recommendations and content delivery via Viber. This feature seamlessly integrates Viber interactions into any cross-channel journey, enabling AI-powered orchestration of campaigns across multiple touchpoints.

2. Dynamic Orchestration

   • Viber’s rich media capabilities can now be orchestrated alongside all digital and offline marketing channels. This dynamic approach ensures more relevant and engaging interactions, further driving audience engagement.

3. Expanded Personalization

   • With access to Viber’s extensive user base, businesses can leverage new global markets, including emerging regions such as Brazil and Southeast Asia. This opens up new avenues for hyper-personalized marketing campaigns tailored to different regional audiences.

4. Improved Efficiency

   • MMDSmart’s reliable messaging infrastructure guarantees seamless, cost-effective communication for businesses of all sizes, ensuring optimal efficiency in delivering marketing messages via Viber.

What the Partnership Means for Marketers

Adi Dagan, Senior Director of Partnerships at Optimove, expressed excitement over the partnership:

"Viber as a marketing channel aligns perfectly with our mission to provide innovative tools that amplify marketing impact. Its global reach opens up new opportunities for our clients to deliver hyper-personalized, data-driven campaigns. This partnership with MMDSmart further strengthens our ability to help marketers build lasting customer relationships and drive measurable results."

Arie Frenlakh, CEO at MMDSmart, highlighted the importance of personalization in 2025:

"We are honored to integrate Viber’s unique messaging capabilities with Optimove’s CRM platform. The need for a personal touch in marketing is more critical than ever. Together with Optimove, we offer an unmatched opportunity for brands to deliver data-driven campaigns that resonate with audiences, driving smarter, more impactful engagement."

The partnership between MMDSmart and Optimove marks a significant leap forward in marketing technology. By integrating Viber into Optimove’s platform, the two companies are offering businesses a new, powerful tool for delivering hyper-personalized, multichannel marketing campaigns. This collaboration provides brands with the technology and infrastructure needed to enhance customer relationships and achieve measurable marketing success on a global scale.