Expansion provides industry with the most comprehensive OOH viewing measurement available

Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, announced that it will expand coverage of its National TV out-of-home (OOH) panel in 2024 in order to fully represent all U.S. TV households.

For nearly a decade, Nielsen has been capturing viewing that occurs outside of the home, including airports, hotels, bars and restaurants. Through proprietary Portable People Meter (PPM) Wearables technology, Nielsen has delivered metrics for out-of-home audiences to ensure clients can track viewer consumption regardless of the platform, screen or location. By adding additional homes to the PPM Wearables footprint, Nielsen's OOH coverage will expand from 65% to 100%.

Capturing this viewing audience is critical for genres of television that people tend to watch communally, particularly sporting events, which continue to grow as one the most important programming genres in live television. Nielsen data shows that in 2023, fans in the U.S. spent more than 1.7 trillion minutes watching games from the five most-watched sports leagues.

As people's consumption of streaming TV grows - to 36% of total television usage as of December 2023, according to Nielsen's The Gauge – the importance of measuring live sports and other "appointment" viewing on both linear and streaming also grows. With streaming services increasingly tapping into the live sports space, there is additional demand for measurement of this audience. Nielsen is the only measurement provider positioned to accurately meet the needs of increased demand and competition for scarce sports programming.

"Nielsen is highly focused on innovating in order to better serve our clients and ensure our measurement accounts for the full landscape of television consumption," said Deirdre Thomas, Chief Product Officer, Audience Measurement at Nielsen. "We understand how important it is for our clients to be able to have the most complete picture of the audience, especially for special events like the Super Bowl."

"We are appreciative of Nielsen's efforts to make out-of-home measurement more complete, providing a much clearer picture of the true audience for all television viewing and especially sports viewership," said Paul Ballew, chief data and analytics officer of the NFL. "For years we have been consistent in our belief that major sports events, like the upcoming Super Bowl LVIII, are often viewed with family and friends in large gatherings and this expanded out-of-home viewership will be crucial to measuring those events."

Nielsen plans to provide impact data in Q4 2024, in time for Super Bowl LIX.

Nexcess, the premium hosting provider optimized for WordPress, WooCommerce, and Magento, and Liquid Web, a leading provider of cloud hosting for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), today announced they have joined forces as one brand.

With over 50 years of combined hosting experience, the move supports Liquid Web's mission to broaden its array of offerings from SMB to enterprise solutions, deepen its technical expertise and support, and elevate the hosting market with a commitment to continued innovation.

Scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2024, the strategic move promises to unify the sister brands while also delivering unparalleled hosting experiences to customers.

As a part of the Liquid Web family of brands, this move marks a new chapter in Nexcess' two-decade long journey. Founded in 2000, Nexcess grew to offer industry-leading managed hosting optimized for top content and commerce platforms — WordPress, WooCommerce, and Magento — with an array of offerings spanning enterprise level to SMBs to starter markets.

Moving forward, Nexcess will continue to support eCommerce sites and stores around the world. The unified brand, however, will combine the deep eCommerce expertise of Nexcess with Liquid Web's robust, secure, and highly performant hosting platforms. This strategic move promises a wider range of services, leveraging the combined knowledge and expertise of both teams for superior customer support and service — along with a commitment to continuous innovation in hosting technologies and services.

"At both Liquid Web and Nexcess, our mission has always been to help businesses grow and make money online. We pride ourselves on helping organizations of all sizes start, manage, and expand their online businesses — something we've done for over 25 years," says Carrie Wheeler, President of Liquid Web.

"We're thrilled for this next chapter of Nexcess and Liquid Web. Bringing our brands together will help us continue our dedication to high-quality service and best-in-class hosting. Enabling and empowering our customers' digital success remains our top priority."

Services, plans, and contacts at Nexcess and Liquid Web will continue on as usual, but with the added benefit of enhanced resources and capabilities. Existing customers can expect a smooth transition, with no disruption to the exceptional service they rely on.

Signals and SXC transform Automotive Website Personalization by enhancing the user experience and increasing marketing efficiency and ROI for dealerships. 

DealerOn Inc. has unveiled its new Signals platform, a game-changer in automotive website personalization. This cutting-edge, open ecosystem harnesses a diverse range of a dealer's own data sources, including browsing behavior from Google Analytics (GA4) data, third-party customer data platforms, digital advertising, and email marketing interactions, to deliver unparalleled personalization for every visitor.

"DealerOn Signals embodies our commitment to innovation, bringing a level of personalization previously unseen in the automotive industry," said Ali Amirrezvani, CEO of DealerOn Inc. "It's about creating a familiar yet unique shopping environment for each consumer that mirrors the sophistication of today's e-commerce experiences."

For dealerships looking to turbocharge the solution, DealerOn presents Signals Experience Cloud (SXC) powered by fullthrottle.ai. The comprehensive solution provides an integrated audience activation platform and automates the consumer personalization experience. Shoppers receive a tailored experience from cookieless first-party data, enriched by Dealership Management System (DMS)-driven audience segmentation and identity resolution. Dealers can plan and activate media via the all-in-one audience and attribution platform with the use of Generative AI, seamlessly integrating with the DealerOn Signals platform for a truly individualized shopper experience.

Adding his vision, David Regn, CEO of fullthrottle.ai, stated, "2024 will be the year dealers are finally able to provide website shopper personalization in harmony with a first-party audience, activation and attribution strategy in the delivery of a modern retailing experience. Achieving this unified approach will set the stage for the next wave of market share shifts with the most forward-thinking dealers reaping the benefits of what is truly possible with audiences this year."

Amid growing concerns over digital misinformation and the rise of deepfakes, SWEAR unveiled its groundbreaking technology at CES 2024, garnering interest from global government agencies, technology giants, and mobile communication leaders. This technology provides an unbreakable proof of authenticity for digital media at the point of creation, directly addressing the critical need for trust and integrity in today's digital content. The launch marks a significant milestone in the battle against digital misinformation and the challenges posed by deepfakes.

SWEAR addresses a concern that has seized the global digital community: the unchecked spread of deepfakes. In a world where AI-generated synthetic media is both a marvel and a potential tool for misinformation, capable of distorting reality and swaying public opinion, SWEAR offers a much-needed solution. According to a recent study by Europol, by 2026, as much as 90% of online content might be synthetically generated, underscoring the urgent need for trustworthy verification methods.

The rapid proliferation of fake digital content poses serious threats, ranging from national security risks to undermining public trust in institutions. It has fueled conspiracy theories about vaccines and elections, and has deepened political divisions, endangering democracy. Notable recent instances include celebrity deepfakes, like the recent videos of Taylor Swift, political misinformation with a manipulated video of Ukrainian President Zelensky appearing to order his troops to surrender to Russia, and fake videos used to victimize children for sexploitation as reported by the FBI.

SWEAR's technology creates a secure, tamper-proof proof of authenticity for every pixel and sound byte, responding to the pressing question: In a world inundated with fakes, how do we establish what's real?

"Our technology isn't just about defending against the manipulation of digital media. It's about restoring faith in what we see online," states Jason Crawforth, CEO of SWEAR. "In a world where seeing is no longer believing, we provide the tools to trust digital content again."

SWEAR's technology is drawing global attention as a solution that provides a "record of reality" by locking in the authenticity of the media at the time of recording and offering a new layer of trust in digital interactions. The platform protects and authenticates content digital media from undetectable manipulation.

The SWEAR system maps all visual and audio elements of a recording cryptographically, sealing them with 'digital DNA fingerprints.' This pioneering approach not only safeguards the confidentiality of the original content, but also detects alterations, no matter how minor. "Our fight isn't just against deepfakes. It's a fight to redefine the standard for truth and digital media authenticity," Crawforth adds.

The power of SWEAR's technology also lies in its versatility. Designed to be used with any device that records video with a lens, its potential applications are vast — from mobile phone cameras to surveillance systems and police body cameras. In any scenario where the authenticity of video footage is crucial, the SWEAR framework offers a reliable solution. SWEAR's ultimate vision is to integrate its proof of authenticity technology into every lens worldwide, establishing a new standard in digital media where the authenticity of every video, regardless of its source, can be verified and trusted.

SWEAR is set to release its first commercial application — a mobile app currently in private release, with a public launch anticipated by the end of Q1 2024. This app represents a significant step in making SWEAR's authenticity technology accessible, providing users with the tools to create verifiable digital video recordings.

As the world grapples with the escalating challenges posed by deepfakes, SWEAR stands out as the only solution approaching the problem proactively at the time of creation versus playing a cat-and-mouse game of detection. With deepfake technology rapidly advancing, blurring the lines between truth and fiction, SWEAR's emergence is timely. With its innovative approach and a team of industry veterans at the helm, SWEAR is set to become a key player in the fight for digital truth in an age of digital deception.

Through its proprietary technology, Siprocal brought the power of targeted advertisements to sports viewers, increasing the penetration rates of digital ads.  

Siprocal, the leading cross-device growth and monetization platform working across the Americas, celebrates the success of its new content-targeting technology, now covering the sports industry. In a recent partnership with Causal IQ, a leading programmatic solutions provider, Siprocal's technology reached targeted consumers for a tailored advertising experience, ensuring a max of 3 impressions per user and a 99% view-through rate.

With the rise of digital advertising, contextual targeting is leading the next frontier for the MarTech industry. This innovative technology only shows consumers content that is aligned with their interests based on their digital footprint, increasing brands' power to connect with their target audience.

As part of this specific campaign, Causal IQ, with its client Circa Las Vegas, targeted sports viewers to promote its hotel and sportsbook. Their approach stretched across Football, Hockey, Basketball, and Baseball content specifically, along with a Live Sports general set of shows. However, their challenge was in locating numerous individual partners, negotiating a variety of deals, and then understanding exactly where their ads were showing.

By partnering with Siprocal, Causal IQ, and Circa live sports, including specific games and shoulder content, to give viewers a tailored advertising experience.

Furthermore, through the execution of this strategy, Siprocal generated title-level reporting, so parties knew exactly how many impressions were shown across each deal, genre, and game. This provided seamless intelligence across genre-oriented deal ids, providing high-quality, direct-to-publisher supply available via a singular partner.

"This partnership unlocked a new value for our client," explained Max Gideon, VP of Streaming at Siprocal. "Our technology allowed us to get so precise with our advertising that we followed consumers across their entire video consumption journey –stretching across CTV devices, something that had not yet reached the sports viewer. This is a formula with real potential for advertisers looking to expand into this niche."

Jennifer Laing, Sr. VP of Operations at Causal IQ, adds, "We've seen that sports-consuming viewers tend to spend and remain more brand loyal than the average viewer, which is why our clients are interested in reaching this audience. We've also struggled with premium CTV sports content lacking transparency, so we were thrilled to partner with Siprocal to reach the sports content (and audience) with the additional layer of insight needed to craft a more informed and data-driven strategy."

Implementing this type of innovative technology opens more opportunities for digital advertisers to connect with and monetize their target audience across industries.

Led by General Catalyst, Latest Financing Unites The Collective Ingenuity of Customers and Hackers to Stand Against Cyber Threats 

Bugcrowd has secured $102 million in strategic growth financing to scale its AI-powered crowdsourced security platform offerings globally. Led by General Catalyst, with participation from longtime existing investors Rally Ventures and Costanoa Ventures, this funding round underscores investor confidence in the company's leadership position in the crowdsourced security market. The additional capital enables Bugcrowd to accelerate growth across EMEA, APAC, and the United States, fund continued innovation into the Bugcrowd Platform, and leverage opportunities for strategic M&A, providing added value to clients, partners, and the hacker community.

As a part of this investment, Mark Crane, Partner at General Catalyst and Paul Sagan, Senior Advisor at General Catalyst, will join the Bugcrowd Board of Directors. Sagan will also step into the Board Chair role. Jeff Simon, Chief Security Officer at T-Mobile and Prabhath Karanth, Vice President and Global Head of Security and Trust at Navan, join the advisory board to serve alongside David Fairman, CIO & CSO - APAC at Netskope.

"We saw an opportunity to make a strategic investment in the crowdsourced security market, with the goal of fostering collaboration between customers and hackers to collectively tackle real threats and vulnerabilities," said Mark Crane, Partner at General Catalyst. "In our view, the validation from customers, hackers, industry analysts, and the broader cybersecurity community well positions Bugcrowd to be a category-leading company. We look forward to partnering with Dave and team in setting new standards in crowdsourced security."

"We are excited to add General Catalyst as a partner, as well as these key visionaries to our Board of Directors, to support the next phase of Bugcrowd's growth," said Dave Gerry, CEO, Bugcrowd. "Over the past year, more than 200 new clients have joined the Bugcrowd Platform to leverage the collective ingenuity of the hacker community. With continued support from our current investors, including participation in this round from Rally Ventures and Costanoa Ventures, Bugcrowd is hyper-focused on a mission to redefine crowdsourced security and this strategic investment is a testament to the unwavering dedication of our team, our hacker community and the trust customers placed in Bugcrowd's innovative approach to proactive security. This latest investment gives us the resources we need to continue to be the leading force in the crowdsourced security market."

Organizations' attack surfaces are multiplying, and threat actors are leveraging cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to exploit their defenses. Bugcrowd's proactive approach to cybersecurity involves leveraging a crowdsourced AI-powered platform to identify and remediate security vulnerabilities before bad actors can exploit them. Bugcrowd is the only multi-solution, crowdsourced security provider that unites the collective ingenuity and expertise of its customers and hackers to stay ahead of threat actors. *In 2023 alone, customers found almost 23,000 high-impact vulnerabilities using the Bugcrowd Platform, helping to prevent potential breach-related costs of up to $100 billion.

"Protecting customers, partners and employees is a top priority at T-Mobile, and one of the ways we're doing that is by making hackers our allies as we find additional ways to protect information," said Jeff Simon, SVP & Chief Security Officer at T-Mobile. "We relaunched our bug bounty program with Bugcrowd for their best-in-class triage team and direct access to elite hackers, which have helped us strengthen our overall security."

Over the past twelve months, Bugcrowd has added more than 200 clients to its roster, including OpenAI, T-Mobile, Rapyd, and ExpressVPN, bringing the total number of clients to nearly 1,000. The company has also added over 100 new people to its staff, grown the overall business more than 40% and the Pentest as a Service (PTaaS) business nearly 100% year-over-year. Bugcrowd has a track record of success with a diverse and growing customer base, including leading organizations across industries, who have experienced tangible results and improvements in their security posture through Bugcrowd's PTaaS, Bug Bounty, vulnerability disclosure program (VDP) and attack surface management offerings. Together with their customers, partners and hackers, the company continues to push boundaries, drive innovation, and lead the change needed for keeping the Internet safe from cyber threats.

Grocery Doppio's January 2024 Digital Grocery Performance Scorecard reveals grocer and shopper sentiment on retail media deployment, alongside the latest insights from grocery industry sales data.

Incisiv, a next-generation industry insights firm that helps retailers and brands navigate digital disruption, and Wynshop, the leading provider of digital commerce and fulfillment solutions for grocers and other local store-based retailers, today revealed the findings from the State of Digital Grocery Performance Scorecard for January 2024.

This month, Grocery Doppio asked grocers and shoppers for their opinions about retail media networks. The results delivered a clear message that shoppers are willing to click on ads, but only if they are relevant:

• Grocers are optimistic about retail media networks: They predict an average 13% rise in revenue in 2024.

• Shoppers welcome ads, if they are relevant: 93% say that relevancy of offers influences their purchase decision; 73% report having clicked on an ad when they thought it was relevant; 84% responded to limited-time-only deals; But 91% said they already see too many ads online.

• AI is a key enabler of retail media success: 82% of grocers believe that AI can improve shopper targeting and 87% think it can improve pricing and inventory management, but less than 7% are currently utilizing AI for that purpose.

The monthly State of Digital Grocery Performance Scorecards are one of many resources available on the Grocery Doppio website. The latest report was built around aggregated data analysis of 2.4 million shopper orders and survey results from more than 42,000 shoppers and 4,000 U.S. grocery executives from January 2022 to the present.

More key findings from the January 2024 Performance Scorecard include:

• Overall grocer sales continued to grow, while digital remained flat.
  • There was $76.5 billion in grocery sales in January 2024, a 4.7% YOY increase from January 2023.
  • 13.8% of all January 2024 grocery sales were digital ($10.6B), down 1% from January 2023.

• Digital basket size and items/basket were both up dramatically.
  • Average digital grocery basket value in January 2024 was $176.1, an 11% increase over January 2023.
  • Items/basket also rose, with a January 2024 basket containing three items more than in January 2023.

• Third party sales and fulfillment preferences have settled in.
  • After falling from over 30% of digital grocery sales in January 2022 to a low of under 15% in December 2023, third-party share of digital grocery leveled out at 14.9% in January 2024.
  • Pickup and delivery methods of fulfillment continued to joust for parity, with delivery reclaiming a 51% share to pickup's 49% in January 2024, as compared to the reverse scenario in December 2023.

"Retail media should be a major focus for grocers in 2024," said Gaurav Pant, Chief Insights Officer of both Incisiv and Grocery Doppio. "Now that grocers have succeeded in staking out their own claims in the digital grocery frontier, they will double down on initiatives that help them maintain customer loyalty and improve profitability."

"AI is the real story here," added Charlie Kaplan, Chief Revenue Officer at Wynshop. "Shoppers respond positively to online grocery ads, but only if they are timely and personally relevant. Grocers' ability to finely target offers to the preferences of individual shoppers using AI will be the key to success in the retail media game this year."

Grocery Doppio is a free, independent source of grocery insights and data designed to help grocers jumpstart, accelerate, and sustain digital growth. Each month, Grocery Doppio brings together rich, research-driven grocery content, fact-based observations, inspiring perspectives, and deep performance benchmarks that identify improvement opportunities for grocery retailers. 

Wittman brings decades of experience growing enterprise technology brands to drive Object First’s next phase of growth amid increasing demand for ransomware-proof immutability

Object First, the provider of Ootbi (Out-of-the-Box-Immutability), the ransomware-proof backup storage appliance purpose-built for Veeam®, today announced the appointment of Andrew Wittman as its Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). A growth marketing expert with deep expertise in the enterprise technology industry, Wittman complements the expanding Object First organization and will help the leadership team propel the company to its next level of growth. 

"Selecting a CMO is not just about finding someone with marketing expertise; it's about identifying a visionary leader who can strategically elevate our brand, inspire creativity, and drive impactful connections with our customers and partners,” said David Bennett, CEO, Object First. “We are delighted to welcome Andrew to our leadership team as he embodies all of that and more. I’m confident his contributions will make a positive impact on the next phase of our company.”

Wittman brings 25 years of experience across the cybersecurity, backup and disaster recovery, and infrastructure management spaces. Throughout his career, he has created demand, accelerated growth, and built brand awareness at start-ups, Fortune 100 enterprises, and agencies. In particular, he has focused on building successful channel organizations that benefit customers and partners alike. Prior to joining Object First, Wittman served as CMO at Axcient, Webroot, Okta, and CA Technologies. He also held various leadership marketing roles with Wily Technology, Citigate Cunningham, ePropose, and FICO. He is a graduate of Columbia University.

“Object First delivers immediate value to partners and customers, ransomware-proofing backup storage with a solution that is secure, simple and powerful. As the risk of ransomware continues to rise and with backups being a primary target, the demand for a solution like Ootbi that offers real resiliency without requiring security expertise is huge,” said Wittman. “I look forward to working with the stellar Object First team and our rapidly growing network of partners to make every Veeam customer’s backup data more secure.”