by Marty Swant * 18 November 2024 *
Ivy Liu.
Two topics that are hot in the advertising industry have led to yet another deal. Generative AI and ad curating.
Cognitiv and Index Exchange partnered last week to develop a new way to use large language models and deep learning algorithms for programmatic media. The deal allows Cognitiv’s ContextGPT to integrate with Index Exchange’s Marketplaces platform. This platform helps publishers use curation features across demand-side platforms (DSPs), data activation platforms (DAPs) and commerce media networks. Cognitiv’s platform analyzes millions of websites every day using its deep learning and OpenAI LLMs, rather than relying solely on traditional audience segments and keyword targeting. This helps advertisers target audiences without the use of cookies. Cognitiv analyzes impressions in real-time to determine which ads are likely to convert. It then sends the impression back with a deal ID. Index sends the impressions to the advertiser’s demand-side platform, before placing a bidding.
Cognitiv CEO Jeremy Fain said to Digiday that advertising is about sending the right message at the right time and place to the right person. “The context is another of these things, and the audience is one.” When they’re not combined — especially with the time and then perhaps with the message — it is suboptimal. You may be showing the right person the wrong ad or the wrong ad at the right place.
ContextGPT allows advertisers to create custom audiences by entering their product, target audiences, and the type of content that they would like to buy ads on. The platform then uses LLMs in order to create template prompts that are used to generate audience segments based upon a buyer’s brief. The platform then generates a list of possible URLs, which buyers can filter through and decide whether they want more or less along with other filters such as brand safety content sentiment. The dashboard also displays inventory metrics such as relevancy, daily estimations and unique URLs.
While contextual targeting and curation are becoming more popular, Cognitiv has the ability to scrape new URLs and categorize them every 15 minutes. This allows for a more real-time media buying database. Fain said that speed helps advertisers target relevant ads, avoid unwanted placements, and publishers increase potential revenue per impression.
Index Exchange CEO Andrew Casale said that AI-powered curation can help attract differentiating demand from new advertisers, and a broader range of ad spending. Cognitiv’s AI curation could help supply-side platform like Index Exchange move away from a commoditized architecture and drive innovation, he said. Casale said that speed is crucial when it comes to contextual and user data. Cognitiv, he noted, can send signals back in just 5 milliseconds as opposed to the 150 milliseconds DSPs usually get.
Casale believes that as AI curation becomes more tightly integrated with SSPs it will help to drive faster adoption across the adtech ecosystem, since Index Exchange is connected to about 100 different DSPs.
Casale said, “We are there from the beginning to the end.” “This means that if we enrich the request with a signal like this, then it is immediately available to any DSP.” This is a powerful use case that unlocks innovation.
It’s not Index Exchange’s very first integration with an AI-powered curation company. It has also worked with Chalice AI which is one of the companies that provides SSPs ways to use LLMs as contextual targeting. Google’s curation tool was announced earlier this month in Google Ad Manager. This could bring more competition and validation to the space.
Generative AI is also an area of investment for CTV. NBCUniversal and YouTube, as well as adtech vendors, announced earlier this year new ways to create AI-generated audiences segments based upon contextual understanding of content onscreen.
Although curation is not new, the novel aspects are “the promise and promise of competence,” said Simon Poulton. He is the evp for innovation at Tinuiti. He believes AI curation can give advertisers and publishers greater control, which is especially important in this era of black box automation. He said that the possibility of AI bias, and possibly giving up some control, remain challenging. Poulton said that we are now in a mature space, beyond the mad scientist days of ‘Hey, wouldn’t it cool if we could’. This is now a real thing. “There’s still this big thing that I do think about, the chasm crossing moment of the level of control we are going to relinquish in these environments.” The company also worked internally with diverse groups to examine how content and audience types were defined based on gender and age. Cognitiv’s platform also analyzes the sentiment of brand mentions in articles so that advertisers can avoid pages on which they are negatively mentioned.
When you are targeting an ethnic minority, it is important to avoid content that stereotyping or negatively referring to them. Mukul Yadav is the head of product for Cognitiv.
According to Forrester analyst Mo Allibhai, curating tools are a key differentiator for publishers. He also noted that Index Exchange already had stringent standards in place for publishers, which helps reduce the risk of AI-induced hallucinations among LLMs. Allibhai stated that “curating inventory usually involves three elements.” “Deep qualitative knowledge of the inventory available, meaningfully segmented audience that buyers would want to activate, and connecting tissue to these buyers.” Index Exchange appears to be leveraging AI in order to scale its efforts on all three fronts.
According Messer Media founder Scott Messer, integrating AI-enabled curation across SSPs can help level the playing fields of adtech. He also warned publishers to be cautious of companies that steal their data using AI under the guise contextual targeting and brand protection.
Messer said that DSPs had too much power, because they were cookie monsters who never needed to speak to a buyer or publisher before. “Anything that weakens a DSP’s grasp in my opinion, is generally beneficial for a Publisher in reclaiming their ability to generate sales by themselves.”
Prompts & Products – AI news and announcements.
- Jasper has debuted new ways to allow marketers to have more control over AI created content.
- The enterprise-focused generative AI company Writer AI with its own LLMs raised another $200 million, including from venture funds managed by Salesforce, Adobe, and IBM. Haul, Amazon’s new Temu rival, features product images that appear to be AI-generated.
- Google released a dedicated Gemini iPhone app, which allows users to text and talk to the chatbot, generate AI-generated images, and access other Google applications. OpenAI has also added new features to its ChatGPT application on Apple and Windows devices.
- 7-Eleven has partnered with AI startup Qsic in order to create localized audio advertisements across 5,000 stores. This will allow them to reach their audiences at key times. TikTok has expanded the availability of Symphony Creative Studio, which allows advertisers to create AI-generated video.
- Factiva is a Dow Jones-owned research tool that offers AI-generated summaries based on Google’s Gemini models.
- Coca-Cola launched an AI-generated holiday advertisement to replace its “Holidays Are Coming” ad. The new commercial will air across UK TV screens this holiday season.
- Estee Lauder announced an expanded partnership with OpenAI, which includes a GPT Lab that has already created 240 custom GPTs for employees to analyze consumer surveys, create new products, and market current categories.
AI research and statistics
- Lexicon Branding released new research on how companies should brand AI products.
- Google has added new Google Search support to AI-generated images which meet C2PA standards.
https://digiday.com/?p=560801