Artificial Intelligence

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Brands relying exclusively on first-party data miss cross-brand consumer behavior patterns, creating blind spots that limit audience understanding beyond single-retailer interactions. “Yes, that first party data is that liquid gold for a brand. A brand gets that from you because you want to then have your Kroger’s card or your […]

Industry leaders risk falling into the trap of leveraging artificial intelligence to automate existing complexity rather than using it to simplify and extract clearer signals from increasingly noisy media landscapes. “One thing I’m hoping is that we don’t fall in the trap of leveraging AI in a way to automate the complexity,” Nicolas Bidon, CEO […]

LAS VEGAS — While artificial intelligence is supposed to simplify all kinds of processes, the relative newness of agencies’ AI embrace is still complicating enterprise partnership negotiations, particularly when it comes to structuring contracts around new AI dynamics, pricing models, and technical integration requirements. “There’s certainly more time spent on contracts and on the principles […]

Brands routinely block entire news or music categories despite content variation within those genres, missing advertising opportunities that artificial intelligence can identify through granular scene-level analysis rather than broad categorical exclusions. “Many brands just block the entire news category. Is every news bad for your brands? I don’t think so,” Yan Liu, CEO and co-founder […]

LAS VEGAS — Artificial intelligence provides speed and efficiency but lacks taste and aesthetic judgment, making human oversight essential to prevent automation that eliminates human input entirely. “What we’re missing is this notion of taste and judgment,” Paul Woolmington, CEO of Canvas Worldwide, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at CES. “Taste is very aesthetic and […]

LAS VEGAS — Media planning for 2026 must acknowledge advertising’s evolution from broadcast-focused 30-second spots and “eyeballs” by instead relying on precision targeting to meet the demands of the “agentic and algorithmic era.” “We’re in a new era of advertising — the third era,” Will Swayne, global practice president for Media and Integrated Solutions at […]

PALM SPRINGS, CALIF. — Excessive artificial intelligence disclosure labeling could be too much of a well-intentioned thing. Aside from stoking  consumer burnout on one hand, the impact could potentially harm advertisers by highlighting AI usage that splits audience perceptions between creativity and inauthenticity. “The risk of transparency is if you over label everything, consumers will […]

Connected TV isn’t often considered a primary channel by B2B marketers to target their desired audiences. But Lenovo is not only making the case for CTV as a valuable venue for B2B, it’s also touting the channel’s use for eliminating ad waste. Specifically,  the electronics company boasts achieving over 90% reach against specific enterprise audiences […]

Artificial intelligence discussions are shifting from theoretical to practical deliverables as the industry recognizes strong data foundations prove critical for realizing AI’s full potential. “We’ve all been talking a ton about AI, but it’s not just the technology, it’s about what we’re actually delivering now. It’s moving into an outcomes era,” Julie Clark, SVP, Diversified […]

PALM SPRINGS, CALIF. — Marketers and agencies are still just scratching the surface when it comes to understanding how generative artificial intelligence tools like large language models are changing the way brands develop their content strategies. For example, brands are now rethinking the role their own websites play in informing AI programs that consumers increasingly […]

PALM SPRINGS, CALIF. — Ad success in using artificial intelligence depends on strong first-party data signals combined with consumer permission to operate reputably as the world shifts from recognition-based to permission-based systems. “How do you feel about a nameless, faceless algorithm making decisions about what offer you get, what credit score you have, even what […]

PALM SPRINGS, CALIF. — Buy-side decisions are moving closer to publishers. The shift, enabled by the IAB’s artificial intelligence maintenance “containerization project,” brings greater focus to where ad impressions actually originate rather than sending requests to distant infrastructure and waiting for responses. “Historically, the sell side operated at great lengths to the buy side. We […]

LAS VEGAS — Targeting ads to specific scenes within TV content sounds like the ultimate precision play. The challenge is that precision without scale doesn’t spend budgets, and most scene types don’t appear frequently enough to matter. “Someone’s in a shower scene, going to sell them soap. How many shower scenes are there? There’s not […]

LAS VEGAS — Amazon’s nearly total reach — 90% of U.S. customers across authenticated devices — means that advertisers can tell personalized stories that follow consumers throughout their day, from users’ Fire TV’s in their living room to bedtime Alexa smart speaker podcasts. “If you think about it as an advertiser, [there are] so many […]

LAS VEGAS — Artificial intelligence can reshape advertising from disruptive interruption to emotional complement by matching ad tone to surrounding content, preventing jarring transitions that produce negative attention as opposed to the good kind. “Let’s say someone was watching Good Will Hunting. It’s the iconic scene where Ben Affleck’s in the bar in Boston; it’s […]

LAS VEGAS — Artificial intelligence models trained on low-quality data risk generating meaningless insights that then degrade further as models train on their own flawed outputs, creating a destructive cycle that obscures actual campaign performance. “One thing that I fear, especially with all the excitement around AI, is that the quality of the training data […]

LONDON — Retail media is evolving from a transaction-focused performance channel toward brand building as companies leverage data and signals to shape customer connections across multiple touchpoints. “Companies can actually use the data in two ways. One is obviously the transaction that will always be there, will remain strong, but also brand building,” Luis Martinez, […]

LONDON — The ad industry is far past the “experimental stage” of artificial intelligence use cases, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the messy complexity associated with the transition is over. “You have to wallow in the mud, which is there’s so much change happening and it’s such transformative change,” Ramsey McGrory, President of Mediaocean’s omnichannel […]

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CALIF. — Best Buy can tie almost all its transactions back to individual customers, an ability the company considers market leading that’s based on precise measurement and attribution across the complex consumer electronics purchase path. “We have a 93% revenue identification rate. So what that means is 93% of our transactions we […]

In-store retail media is maturing beyond pilot programs toward enterprise-wide networks as national brands commit repeat investments and standardized measurement becomes urgent rather than aspirational. “We’re seeing that national brands are shifting real media dollars [from online] to in-store with repeat investments. That demand for standardized KPIs has really become urgent, and that’s causing a […]