Brian Kane

I'm generally supportive of the PET sub-sector, which is innovating not only to protect personal privacy, but to preserve the commercial model that underlies digital, and especially open-web programmatic advertising. It does, however, worry me when browser and device companies are in the privacy and data protection driver's seat. This approach is likely to mean more fragmentation, which makes it harder for brands and publishers to coordinate their audience addressability and measurement across media types, platforms and devices. It also creates an economic unevenness that has nothing to do with the actual value of an audience (see exhibit A: cookieless Safari CPMs). By way of example, let's take a look at Google Privacy Sandbox. Notwithstanding the multiple millions of dollars of investment required of most of us in adtech, Sandbox was designed to work initially with Chrome and eventually Android. That's nice, but totally unhelpful for brands and publishers that want to protect audiences using Safari, Firefox or any app in the iOS environment. And what about CTV? Mozilla is in a totally different category than Google, and as Allison reports, "... but as to whether Anonym will create any privacy-focused technology specifically for Firefox, Mozilla’s web browser, nothing’s been planned yet." Nonetheless, I think a degree of independence and cross-platform capabilities is key if we're going to succeed in preserving the value of trusted personal data relationships.

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ICYMI check out the in-depth review by PR publication Sword and the Script Media, LLC about why Propel PRM has become the top innovator and smart alternative to legacy (aka mediocre!) PR software In Frank Strong's words, "That said, while I strive to be agnostic, and fair, I don’t dish out praise lightly. Yet now and then a software product comes along and makes an impression. Recently Propel, an Israeli PR software startup, has done just that." https://lnkd.in/d9qPP5Bh #PR #PublicRelations #PRM #AI

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What role does contextual AI play in shaping the future of advertising? As end-users and technology companies increasingly prioritize privacy, contextual AI is poised to emerge as the primary tool for advertisers as it focuses on aligning the right messaging with the right context, making it essential for brands' future success. Kartal Goksel, CTO at Seedtag, believes that context reigns supreme when it comes to effective advertising. While the industry has typically depended on keywords and phrases to gauge context, he argues that a more nuanced, human understanding of context is crucial as this approach considers the broader meaning of words within the context of an article. Watch now: https://lnkd.in/e3aBPiYQ #ContextualAI #ConsumerPrivacy #ContextualAdvertising

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Feels like things are quickly escalating. ID bridging has been a problem for a long time with most folks having employed it not understanding what it actually did and who it impacted. If there was a revenue lift they were happy. As I've been saying for a while w.r.t a general need to shift towards more SaaS solutions, the fact these say business are literally incentivised to increase revenue creates a fine line between finding the most accurate match vs the most valuable one.. We need transparency and we need measurement across IDs. The new IAB spec is a great start. #idbridging #adtech

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To build successful web3 solutions for logistics, the key focus must be on incentivizing transparent data sharing and elevating industry-wide data quality standards, argues Todd Haselhorst. https://lnkd.in/gxK272Ui

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In April, House Representatives Jerry Nadler and Joaquin Castro wrote to Disney, Fox, and WBD about Venu Sports' business. Last week, they followed up, deeming Venu Sports' response "insufficient" on collusion, privacy, and pricing concerns. Despite acknowledging Venu Sports' quick reply and offer to meet, they still found the responses lacking. Here's what they are asking for details on: - "Overall, we still have not received answers about the firewalls your companies may implement to prevent collusion; the precautions you may take to ensure consumer privacy; or the methods you may use to determine pricing of the new service. Some of the vague assurances you have provided strike us as contradictory. For example, we find it difficult to understand how your companies can both promise not to share competitively sensitive information and also evaluate the success of the joint venture on a company-by-company basis. Your repeated assertion that the details of the joint venture have not yet been finalized is also hard to believe, given that the joint venture is projected to roll out in mere months." Full letter here: https://lnkd.in/esk4ZZ8Y -- #streamingmedia #sportsnews #SVOD #disney #venusports

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It's happening in 30 minutes where I'll be interviewing Fireworks AI and GoBots. Come join us to learn how companies are building successful #AI strategies with MongoDB.

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What does it take for a startup to succeed in music-tech? More than Product-Market fit -- you also need Industry Market fit and Investor Market fit. I wrote about these patterns https://lnkd.in/gF4wBSfX

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For everyone following along with the #USvGoogle adtech antitrust trial, check out this helpful explainer by Adam Heimlich, featuring Brian O'Kelley on the history of header bidding. According to the DOJ's complaint "publishers used header bidding to take back some degree of power over their own advertising transactions" - and Google saw that as an "existential threat" that needed to be neutralized. Here's why. Link: https://lnkd.in/e8kKnxRh #adtech #competition #bigtech

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Excited to be interviewed by Authority Magazine on the future of Adtech. Michael Sacca is the Chief Executive Officer of Leadpages, an innovative lead generation platform. With over two decades of experience in the tech industry, Michael has held leadership positions at several notable organizations, including Crew, the parent company of Unsplash, and Dribbble, a social networking platform for digital designers. He played a pivotal role in Dribbble Holdings Ltd.’s growth. Under Michael’s leadership, Leadpages continues to evolve, offering advanced conversion tools and simplifying lead generation for businesses of all sizes. Advertising technology is rapidly evolving, transforming the way brands connect with consumers. From programmatic advertising to data analytics, the adtech industry is driving innovation and efficiency in marketing. In this series, we would like to feature and interview industry leaders, innovators, and experts in adtech to share their insights on the future of this dynamic field. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gfs7YUMb

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Business and advertising groups are demanding “significant changes” to a landmark federal #DataPrivacy bill slated for a markup this week. Last week a discussion draft of the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA) circulated around Congress. The bill would allow individuals to opt out of targeted advertising, empower them to take civil action when their privacy rights are violated and replace the patchwork system of state-level data privacy legislation, among other provisions. The current version of the bill “would eviscerate the modern advertising industry” and “mandate an extreme anti-consumer, anti-advertising, and anti-data privacy regime,” said Association of National Advertisers CEO Bob Liodice and 4A's CEO Marla Kaplowitz. Learn about the changes they want to see in the bill here: https://lnkd.in/e99P9z9J

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Great to participate at the #SEOMeetUp Conference in NYC last Thursday and Friday. Packed with insights and remarkable experts. Aleyda Solís Ross Kernez Kevin Indig Matthew Ryan Hill Jeremy Schwartz Ryan Jones Idrees Khan Frank Olivo Tim Suolo and lots more. 10 Key Takeaways 📣 -   1. Rich visual serp in google with Merchant Listings in retail SERP is increasingly becoming like Amazon. That's what we are seeing. 2. How do you forecast traffic with SGE? No one can answer, but we believe you must look at trurank. We use this technique at GrowByData. 3. How do you support SGE? Everyone is on the same boat unable to answer exactly as all are saying it depends on how it will be rolled out. GrowByData SGE technology offers directional insight. 4. What are best practices on using Tiktok in B2C? What are successful models of using Tiktok in B2B? 5. AI generated content and spam is a hot topic. AI is helpful but take caution when using on content as Google could massively downgrade you. 6. The growth focus of tool providers is towards enterprises. Important to continue to enhance the product and do relationship marketing to convert. 7. Brand executives want cross-channel insights outside of Google also to drive holistic performance and build a differentiated strategy. 8. Continue to improve the product to add value. A price increase will not create major churn afterwards if the product offers the value. 9. Google patents and working papers offer directions on the why and how of the change. 10. Search insights are directional. It is not perfect, but the directional insight of a brand's relative performance vs competition should stay the same. Thank you 🙏 to the organizing committee for putting the conference together. #seomeetup #growbydata #searchmeets #googleserp

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Nandini and I were live today talking about why Integral Ad Science & DoubleVerify have business models that are even more broken than their "Scapegoat-as-a-Service" brand safety tech. If you want to hear our thoughts on how these companies use fear, extortion, and opacity to mislead marketers, hold publishers hostage, and provide air-cover to big tech companies as they monetize garbage, here's the replay: https://lnkd.in/e4F66Vjg #adtech #programmatic #transparency

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This week, we have seen OpenAI cutting splashy content license deals with publishers… isn’t OpenAI just paying for what Google currently gets for free? Is that sustainable? Isn’t that just a band-aid for the fact that the chatGPT product lacks an inherent exchange of value back to publishers the way there is with Google search? The one advantage Google has over ChatGPT (it’s not tech, or smarter execs/PM’s) is balance of constituents. Every website on earth, including the biggest publishers, allow Google to scrape their content, for free, in exchange for high quality SEO traffic. Indeed, we have even seen more publishers having to invest in SEM because organic results have become a smaller proportion of overall SERP clicks. So Google in many cases even gets paid for the privilege to scrape and re-serve premier publishers traffic If this becomes the prevailing model, then do publishers and their brands disappear into the background of an AI training model? Do publishers operate a B2B arm that writes whatever OpenAI agents need training on most? Lots of questions, and I may be quaint or short sighted,but this doesn’t feel like a solid or scalable foundation to more effectively balance constituents than google search

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The first episode of Orbis Labs new podcast INTO THE DATAVERSE is LIVE. Michael Sena cofounder of Ceramic Network talks about a future built on verifiable open data, AI in the metaverse, when F̶a̶c̶e̶b̶o̶o̶k̶ Meta missed the point and "NonFi." Is offchain the new onchain? Listen to #IntoTheDataverse & find out!

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This is so great to see! As we head into the Upfronts and Newfronts, brands need to know they can reach a massive audience, using video, that doesn't get skipped or ignored and is 4x more efficient on a cost per second viewed metric. Efficiency AND Impact from In-Scene Media #uninterrupted #advertising with #AI

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Today marks Carl Franzen's, Executive Editor at VentureBeat, one year work anniversary. Carl's #thoughtleadership around transformative tech, especially at the intersection of #media, #entertainment, and #tech has provided critical insights around the impact of #AI and what it means for the industry, so we can make better, more informed decisions. His piece here on the future of media, through the lens of a #journalist, is why we need #news sources that offer different point of views, straight from the source, and why #journalism can't be replaced. Check out his latest beat on how AI is impacting the #publishing industry:

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💡 At this year's World Out-Of-Home Annual Congress, the spotlight was on the incredible growth in #OOH and #RetailMedia. As the only advertising format that can engage all five senses— 🧠 visual, audio, smell, taste, and touch—OOH is redefining customer interaction and delivering unmatched sensory experiences. 📱 With the deprecation of cookies, retail media is stepping up, offering brands unprecedented access to customer data. This evolution not only enhances customer engagement but also transforms traditionally low-margin retail operations into profit centres, capturing up to 80% margins from retail advertising offerings. ⚡ The key takeaway? OOH and retail media are about smart management of space, audience, and time, all powered by data. For brands and marketers, the future of advertising is sensory and data-centric, and the opportunities are boundless. #OOH #RetailMedia #WOOHK2024 #AdvertisingTrends #CustomerEngagement #DataDrivenMarketing

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Anthropic released its latest model, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, today. And just like that, it's added and supported in elvex! If you want the details on this model and others, sign up for our webinar next week where we'll go deep on the pros and cons of the most popular and capable models from OpenAI, Anthropic and more! Click here to register: https://lnkd.in/gyzkB3FC #ai #genai #llms

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