We are introducing a bi-weekly summary of the most exciting recent news in marketing technology and trends. If youre trying to keep up, consider this your one-stop shop.
Meltwater has announced it is opening up its AI platform, Fairhair.ai, to give developers and data scientists the tools to: connect and organize internal and external data by a knowledge graph; access pre-trained, configurable AI models; and create real-time insights to make forward-looking, data-driven decisions. According to Meltwater, Fairhair.ai makes it easier for businesses to gain a real-time pulse on everything from market research to risk management.
Equity investor Beringea sees a bright future for Popular Pays model of helping brands create content for social media. Beringea will invest US $5.5M investment in the Popular Plays platform that provides workflow management tools and integration with a community of content creators.
Consumers are snapping up smart speakers in the US faster than any other device since the smartphone, according to new research by eMarketer. Sales of smart speakers in the US are projected to increase by 47.9 percent between 2016 and 2020—from 16 million to 76.5 million units, eMarketer says.
Investors have ponied up US $20M in additional funds for Eyeview, the video technology company that personalizes video ads for TV, desktop, mobile and Facebook. Top brands using Eyeviews technology-driven platform for creating one-to-one videos include Lowes, Walgreens, Honda, BMW and Uber.
Owners of so-called “smart TVs” connected to the internet are eight percent more likely to view a view an ad to its finish (38 percent), compared to mobile users (30 percent), according to a new report by Extreme Reach. The report looked at billions of video ad impressions in the second quarter of this year across multiple devices. The Video Completion Rate for desktop, mobile (smartphones) and tablets, all increased.
Initial success has propelled Pandora to expand its programmatic ad-buying service on its music platform. The platform is powered by AdsWizz which Pandora acquired this year. According to DMNews, 92 percent of Pandoras audience is ad-supported, vs. 56 percent for Spotify.
A survey of 433 decision-makers in Europe and the US by Forrester Consulting showed that almost half plan to make major AI spends within the next year. eMarketer reports a YouAppi survey of 425 digital marketers globally found 36 percent reporting AI investments this year.
Mark A. Browne – Hot Topics, Advertising Technologies, Digital Advertising Campaigns ush, digital media, Influencer Marketing, New Research/Stats, US Tags: Beringea, DMNews, eMarketer, Extreme Reach, Eyeview, Meltwater, Pandora, popular pays, social media, social media content 
Mark A. Browne
Mark A. Browne is Portada's Marketing Innovation Editor. He is a bilingual (EnglishSpanish) writer, media relations manager, and content creation professional with an established record providing journalism, copywriting and analytical content services to major publishers, PR agencies and businesses in the United States, Latin America and Europe. His award-winning career as a reporter and editor includes daily and weekly newspaper experience and free-lance writing for major print and online publications.
