24/7 Software, the industry leader in venue operations technology, is proud to announce the launch of EliteOps by 24/7 Software. This groundbreaking enterprise solution marks a transformative leap in the world of premier venue management.

Elevating Premier Venue Management
EliteOps by 24/7 Software is specifically designed to meet the needs of larger premier venues and sports and entertainment districts worldwide. It caters to the unique requirements of premier destinations such as Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park, Melbourne & Olympic Parks, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, and Cedar Fair Entertainment.

The company will continue to offer its current product suite to wider markets for venues of all sizes. In addition, the company will be launching a new product package geared towards smaller venues in early 2024.

Gerald Hwasta, CEO of 24/7 Software, remarked, "EliteOps represents a transformative leap for our industry. This enterprise solution exemplifies our unwavering dedication as the market leader to drive innovation for venue operations, delivering Peace of Mind for the World's Greatest Properties™ with our new advanced analytics suite, new automated partner integrations, new mobile applications, and SOC II Type 2 compliance."

Key Highlights of EliteOps: 

• Entire Platform and New Workflows: EliteOps includes all 24/7 Software modules, as well as new platform additions such as an event calendar, pre-event planning, work orders for events, staffing, and Health and Safety inspections.
• Seamless Suite of Partner Integrations: EliteOps by 24/7 Software includes out-of-the box automated partner integrations across drone detection, weapons detection, ticketing, customer experience, video management, accreditation, and facilities management.
• New Analytics Dashboards: A new product for managing all aspects of venue operations for individual venues and multi-venue organizations. This provides deep insights into your data to help make operational decisions, identify trends, reduce risk, and highlight deviations from your standard operating procedures.
• Enhanced Mobile Functionality: EliteOps includes a new Communicator Application for iOS and Android, as well as a new unified messaging platform to enable mass communication capabilities.
• Enterprise Security Compliance: EliteOps sets the benchmark for security compliance standards with SOC II Type 2 compliance and the esteemed Department of Homeland Security Safety Act Designation, helping venues reduce risk and liability.

In categories like Shopping, Health & Fitness, Photography, and Business, top apps grew engagement by over 1,000% between 2022 and 2023

Similarweb released its new Apps 100 official ranking today, showcasing 100 of the fastest-growing mobile apps in the US. 

The most successful digital businesses build engagement with consumers across all channels, but pay ever-increasing attention to the intimate and constant connections mobile apps make possible. Convincing the right consumers to download your app is a victory, but getting them to use it regularly is the ultimate goal. Similarweb’s Apps 100, a new companion to the Digital 100 ranking of websites, distinguishes itself from other app rankings by providing insight into user engagement.

Building on the Digital 100 methodology, Similarweb identified the apps with the most growth between 2022 and 2023. The ranking is based on estimates of average monthly active users (MAU) for iOS and Android combined within the US. Studying MAUs, rather than app downloads, shows how much apps are actually used – a metric far more significant than downloads for most businesses.

The winners in 10 categories

The full Apps 100 identifies 10 winners in 10 industry categories, with the 10 category winners listed below, ranked by those that showed the biggest percentage gain.

• Shopping: Temu: Shop Like a Billionaire, +4,173%, 107M average MAU for iOS and Android combined in 2023
• Health and Fitness: Hims: Telehealth for Men, +2,175% to 1.5M MAU
• Photography: Lisa AI: Cartoonify Avatar Art, +1,064% to 979.2K MAU
• Streaming and Media: The Chosen, +1,014% to 511.4K MAU
• Personal Finance: Fidelity Bloom: Save & Spend, +748.4% to 827.7K
• Business: Etsy Seller: Manage Your Shop, +451.2% to 1.3M
• Travel and Tourism: Airalo: eSIM Travel & Internet, +369% to 540.1K MAU
• Food and Drinks: Food Lion To Go, +143.5% to 441K MAU
• Education: Plantum - Plant Identifier, +106% to 847.2K MAU
• Home and Real Estate: Wansview Cloud, +55.3% to 429.5K

“The best digital businesses are not web-only or app-only, but understand how to meet their customers wherever they are and pay close attention to their needs,” Similarweb CEO Or Offer said. “Clearly, getting your app on a device people carry with them wherever they go is huge, but only if they actually open your app and use it on a regular basis. That’s what makes the Apps 100 winners so impressive.”

To qualify for inclusion, each app had to have averaged more than 300,000 monthly active users in 2023 and at least 30,000 in 2022. Discount shopping juggernaut Temu qualified even though it launched in the US in late 2022. Temu grew so fast that the engagement in those first few months averaged out to more than 2.5 million MAU in 2022. That growth continued into 2023, when Temu’s average monthly active users topped 107 million.

“While Temu also saw dramatic growth in web traffic, it always encourages app downloads and delivers many of its most powerful features through mobile apps, including enhanced gamification of the shopping experience,” said Inès Durand, Senior Market Insights Manager at Similarweb and one of the lead authors of the report. “Many of the other winners also take an app-first approach and rightfully so.”

“We saw another megatrend at play in the photography category, where the top 5 apps all used AI to enhance or modify images,” Durand said. “I suspect many of the other apps in other categories are employing AI behind the scenes.”

New AI-powered tiered categories allow for even more nuanced MFA content monitoring and protection, serving to boost campaign performance and optimize digital investments

DoubleVerify, a leading software platform for digital media measurement, data and analytics, today announced the launch of new tiered brand suitability categories to address “Made For Advertising” (MFA) measurement and protection in a more nuanced and brand-specific way. 

Unlike ad fraud, MFA inventory is not inherently invalid, and many advertisers may opt to run ads across MFA sites. Marketers need tools to help determine whether specific MFA sites align with their brand values and advertising goals. DV’s tiered MFA categories give brands enhanced granularity and control to determine the level of protection that best suits their requirements.

"DV’s AI-powered MFA brand suitability categories offer marketers a groundbreaking, nuanced approach to effectively tackle MFA challenges,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify. “With this launch, we offer the most expansive, scaled MFA solution in the market today. Our MFA controls enable brands to boost campaign performance and optimize media investments, by carefully balancing brand protection and campaign scale based on their specific requirements.”

DV’s tiered MFA brand suitability categories use a proprietary analysis process that leverages a unique blend of human and AI-based auditing to identify MFA sites at scale. MFA sites are identified by analyzing several factors across their ad monetization activities, ad traffic sources and approach to content creation. Based on the characteristics of an MFA site, it is then assigned to one of three DV brand suitability tiers:

• MFA High: Identifies sites exhibiting the most extreme MFA content or characteristics, including, but not limited to, significant ad density relative to page content, a predominant dependance on paid traffic sources with little to no organic traffic, and an average ad intensity – a measure of the viewable time duration of an ad – that is significantly lower than the DV benchmark.
• MFA Medium: Identifies sites with varying degrees of MFA behavior. For example, a site might employ high ad density relative to page content, but the average ad intensity might be near the DV benchmark.
• MFA Low: Covers sites or sections with a blend of MFA and non-MFA content – for example, sites where only a section or a subdomain exhibits MFA content or characteristics.

DV’s approach allows for the deepest and most nuanced level of analysis, preventing miscategorization and false positives. For example, a website may feature a significant number of ads, while still registering high rates of direct and search-enabled traffic. In this instance, the publisher would not meet DV’s definition of an MFA website.

"The introduction of our MFA brand suitability categories is a critical development for the advertising industry,” said Jack Smith, Chief Innovation Officer at DoubleVerify. “Our goal is to equip marketers with tools for nuanced measurement and management of MFA content, significantly enhancing precise brand protection. This innovation ensures that marketing efforts are strategically aligned with brand goals and values, fostering deeper consumer engagement and trust, while also optimizing investments and performance."

With this launch, DV now offers one of the most robust and granular toolkits in the industry for MFA classification, measurement, and protection. DV's tiered MFA categories will soon be integrated into DV Authentic Brand Suitability (ABS) for pre-bid avoidance. In the interim, DV can provide a curated MFA exclusion list for programmatic buyers.

DV’s tiered MFA categories seamlessly integrate into an advertiser's brand safety and suitability profile for post-bid measurement and monitoring through DV Pinnacle^®. The new offering bolsters DV's controls in response to the surge in online MFA content, building on its September 2023 beta release.

Zefr, the global leader in brand safety and suitability technology, proudly announces the promotion of Jon Morra as its new Chief AI Officer. With an extensive background in Machine Learning, Data Science, and Artificial Intelligence, Dr. Jon Morra is positioned to leverage advanced ML and AI techniques to meet the core needs of Zefr's customers. In this pivotal role, Morra will spearhead the integration of emerging AI technologies, including Large Language Models, advanced computer vision techniques, and video analysis into Zefr's technology stack, aiming to refine the brand experience by providing even deeper insights to Fortune 100 advertisers worldwide.

Morra has been with Zefr since 2016, yet his journey in AI and machine learning began at Johns Hopkins University, where he earned a BSE in Biomedical Engineering, followed by a MSE (2007) and a Ph.D. from UCLA (2009) in the same field. His unique blend of academic excellence and professional experience, including pivotal roles at eHarmony as Director of Data Science and a venture in radiation oncology leveraging machine learning, equips him with the necessary expertise to innovate in the brand safety domain.

"I am thrilled to leverage the vast and diverse dataset of social media to deliver unparalleled value to our customers," Morra stated, emphasizing his commitment towards using AI to enhance the effectiveness of brand advertising on social media platforms.

Morra's strategic vision for AI and Machine Learning across Zefr's operations, along with the development of core ML technologies, underscores a significant stride forward in Zefr's mission to strengthen responsible marketing environments for brands. Morra spearheading the role of Chief AI Officer is a testament to Zefr's dedication to maintain its leadership in AI-driven products for social media, ensuring brands can navigate the complexities of digital advertising with both confidence and precision.

Richard Raddon, Co-CEO and co-founder of Zefr, said, "We are thrilled to have Jon Morra lead our AI and ML efforts. His extensive expertise in AI and machine learning is crucial for us as we navigate the complexities of the digital advertising landscape. Jon's leadership in AI will drive our efforts to deliver safer and more suitable advertising environments for brands, across the world's largest social platforms."

Programmatic Solution Partners with AI-Powered Audio Intelligence Platform to Enhance Podcast Listening Experience

• The Traackr platform now integrates with the Snapchat Creator API to support data-driven creator partnerships on Snapchat

• The companies reveal co-hosted industry events in NYC and Paris to spotlight best practices in creator relations

Marketers are still testing where and how to reach desirable Gen Z audiences, and Snapchat has ranked as a top platform for both posting and consuming content among this social-savvy generation. Traackr, a leading performance-driven influencer marketing platform that is trusted by some of the world's largest brands, today announced a new partnership with Snap Inc. to empower brands to form more meaningful influencer relationships and reach next-gen audiences through technology and knowledge sharing.

Through a new Snapchat integration and marquee industry events, Traackr and Snap's partnership makes it easier for brands to tap into the vast creator community on Snapchat and build successful influencer relationships.

"Snapchat has emerged as a preferred platform among young consumers who demand authenticity and real connections," said Pierre-Loïc Assayag, CEO and co-founder, Traackr. "By integrating with the Snapchat Creator API and adding Snap's expertise to our popular Impact Live events, we're equipping our customers with the best data and tried-and-true methods to engage these audiences effectively."

Traackr and Snap deliver streamlined creator audience and performance insights

Powered by the Snapchat Creator API, Traackr's platform will now offer brands deeper creator insights to manage campaigns more efficiently on Snapchat. Traackr now provides even more benefits for brands looking to harness the power of influencer marketing on Snapchat. With access through Traackr's unified dashboard, marketers can:

• Invite Snapchat creators to participate in campaigns directly via the Traackr platform
• Activate organic and paid campaigns on Snapchat
• Monitor creator content performance on Snapchat
• Discover new creators and analyze their performance and brand fit

"As influencer marketing gains a greater share of the marketing mix, it's important to us to have access to influencer insights that will help brands and creators form authentic partnerships," said Ali Rana, Global Head of Revenue Partnerships, Snap. "Snap and Traackr are making it easier for brands to partner with the Snapchat creator community, gaining access to unparalleled data before engaging them in brand collaborations – no guesswork involved."

Co-hosted events in New York and Paris spotlight the pioneers of the creator economy

To bring these influencer insights to life, Traackr and Snap are co-hosting half-day conferences in early 2024 in New York and Paris with beloved brands, creators and industry experts to discuss the keys to creator relationships – where to find creators, how to collaborate, best practices for measurement and more.

Movable Ink customers can now benefit from integrations across Salesforce Marketing, Commerce, and Data Clouds—Making it Easier Than Ever for Brands to Generate Real-Time Personalization at Scale 

Movable Ink, the leading AI-powered content personalization platform, today announced its new integrations with Salesforce Marketing, Data, and Commerce Clouds. Built exclusively for these Salesforce Clouds, the integrations enable joint Salesforce and Movable Ink customers to automatically generate and predict personalized content, creating one-to-one customer experiences and eliminating tedious marketing work.

Movable Ink is currently available on AppExchange here.

Movable Ink Studio allows marketers to effortlessly activate any Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Data Cloud, or Commerce Cloud data to generate dynamic, real-time content. With Movable Ink Da Vinci, the Salesforce Marketing Cloud integration enables marketers to create and distribute highly tailored emails for each customer by leveraging Movable Ink's advanced AI models.

Comments on the News

• "Our partnership with Salesforce sets a new standard for generative and predictive AI-driven personalization. Together, our joint solutions address key areas of opportunity in generating personalized content in real-time for every customer," said Bryan Wade, Chief Product Officer at Movable Ink. "This latest integration uses Predictive AI to ensure that every piece of content not only resonates but also dynamically adapts to meet the ever-evolving needs of today's consumers."
  
  
• "This collaboration strengthens the Salesforce ecosystem by integrating our comprehensive Data Cloud capabilities with Movable Ink's advanced personalization tools including individualized content. It offers a seamless, integrated solution for delivering personalized customer experiences at scale," said Steve Hammond, EVP and GM Marketing Cloud at Salesforce.

The all-in-one integration allows brands to:

• Automatically Activate Salesforce Data into Personalized Content: Clients can now seamlessly access and activate Salesforce Marketing, Commerce, or Data Cloud data in real-time when designing unique composite images (via Studio) and when curating creative for each individual's unique customer journey (via Da Vinci).
• Maximize the Potential of Salesforce Investments: Combine Salesforce's powerful customer data capabilities and email and mobile delivery with Movable Ink's scalable 1:1 personalization to deliver customized content at every touchpoint - without needing to rip and replace existing tech investments.
• Eliminate Monotonous Campaign and Creative Work: Leverage the Movable Ink and Salesforce integrations to eliminate the manual work associated with maintaining the campaign calendar, creating customized content variations, and curating personalized creative for different customers.

This news follows recent launches, including Universal Data Activation capabilities, allowing brands to fully harness their marketing stack by leveraging data from any source to dynamically personalize content for every customer across any touchpoint.

Salesforce, AppExchange and others are among the trademarks of salesforce.com, inc.

Bitly Connections Platform enables CPG companies and Retailers to create 2D Barcodes at scale to improve connected packaging efforts, create supply chain efficiency, and create deeper product experiences for consumers. 

Bitly Inc., the world's leading Connections Platform, introduced the industry's first automated API solution for two-dimensional barcodes (2D Barcodes). 2D Barcodes are a type of QR Code designed to replace the traditional barcode for CPG and Retail product labels and packaging. They help companies capture more product data while giving consumers the power to learn about the products they're buying and build deeper connections with the brands they purchase from. 2D Barcodes contain a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), a unique identifier for each product, which enables that product to be scanned at checkout. 2D Barcodes can also link to a website URL, so consumers can scan them with their smartphones and learn more about the products they are buying. Now, by using Bitly's public API, companies can assign GTINs to entire product lines to effortlessly generate countless tailored 2D Barcodes. This new offering empowers businesses to scale from hundreds to thousands of codes, ensuring seamless integration and efficiency across operations.

According to GS1 U.S., a member of the GS1 Global not-for-profit organization that develops and maintains global standards for barcodes, the CPG and Retail industries are undergoing a shift from the use of traditional barcodes to 2D Barcodes on product packaging. With barcodes being used by over two million manufacturers on more than four trillion product items per year, 2D Barcodes are expected to become the de facto solution for CPG companies and Retailers around the world by 2027. Bitly's new public API is accelerating this transformation through its globally recognized and trusted Connections Platform.

"With the shift to 2D Barcodes gaining momentum, as well as rising consumer expectations around sustainability, accessibility, and the desire for more engaging brand experiences, more CPG companies and Retailers are having to modernize their connected packaging strategy," said Kelsey Stevenson, Chief Product Officer at Bitly. "By leveraging Bitly's new public API, we're making it easy for companies to scale their 2D Barcode creation to improve product tracking and supply chain efficiency."

With the Bitly Connections Platform, users can manage and track all of their 2D Barcodes and Short Links in one place while getting robust insights into consumer behavior including where and when they are engaging, down to their geographic location, referral source, and time of scan. Bitly's API for 2D Barcodes is available to paid users as of January 30, 2024.