How AI is revolutionizing the AdTech sector

In discussion with Arun Gupta, Franchise India highlights some key features of AI in the Adtech sector.

AI, today is getting increasingly significant in all areas of life and business - across sectors and verticals, purely because it's making the entire experience and transaction, more interactive, localized and relatable to the end customer/user, be it the increased use of chatbots, digital assistants -offerings such as Alexa etc. or wearable technology. If, we talk about today's buzzing and most discussed concepts, across tech and marketing platforms such as: Robot journalism, VR Video, Live Video platforms, Drones, Text to Video Creation and the list can go on, to reach out to the increasingly mobile audience, in the most personalized and customized way, it will be all about AI- ML, Data Analytics etc.

Undoubtedly, the digital (mobile) revolution has brought a 360-degree change in the way today an end user connects with a brand or for that matter the way, an Advertiser (demand side) and Publisher (supply side) interface with each other for driving ad campaigns for marketers and brands. AI role is surely going to increase and dominate the Ad Tech sector in the coming years, if we see how the current state of ad network mediation, ads positioning, and hyper-personalization of online contents is panning out -the DEMAND and NEED. 

The ever, increasing need of brands and marketers for personalized reach to the end user in today's time, wherein the online and social media platforms have taken precedence over traditional platforms for news, views and establishing connection with the end user ---via mobiles etc., the business or one should say the marketers, mantra to “know thy customer”, is becoming more and more KEY.

On the other hand, today's ‘digitally connected customer’ too, wants to be heard, understood and respected, and not bombarded with just all kinds of advertising and that's where the advent of automated programmatic advertising is today the foremost requirement of any media house and or digital head of a brand, reaching out to mobile marketing technology companies, for running advertising campaigns.

As per a Salesforce's Connected Consumer Report, 51 per cent of consumers expect that by 2020 companies will anticipate the end customer needs and make relevant suggestions before making contact. Important to mention, at this point that the recent GDPR policy is also aligned with this thought and direction, wherein consumers give their consent for access to their personal data shared on a particular online platform, having the confidence and trust that once they click yes and their information is with a platform -companies; it will be used diligently to feed only information - campaigns etc. which is relevant and of purpose to them and not be distrubed by mindless bombardment of adds; a big shift from the days of cold calling and mass messaging etc. which has been quiet irksome, without companies realizing the same, and unfortunately still continues to an extent.

The fact that today its all about ‘Data’, undoubtedly makes AI, seems to be the biggest game changer, not only for the Advertising Technology (AdTech) sector but across businesses and sectors, if one were to say so!

Artificial intelligence apps are also getting increasingly used in the field of marketing and advertising such as 'Elasticsearch', which is now relatively mainstream, allowing any small eCommerce stores to have a search that goes beyond simply matching keywords. The classic examples of programmatic advertising in SEM advertising on channels are Google AdWords, Facebook, and Twitter. Companies like PredictiveBid and Israel-based Albert have decided to put a significant amount of their focus on programmatic advertising, specifically. 

Then there are companies like Rapidminer, Birst and Sisense that aim to become industry standards for business intelligence and predictions. High volumes and quantifiable nature of marketing data (clicks, views, time-on-page, purchases, email responses, etc…), make AI models absolutely essential for the quick and accurate analysis of marketing data.

The advent of precise predictive analytics, consumer segmentation and focused campaigns backed by algorithms and ROI drove effective mapping for online behavioural advertising campaigns have made AI and Big Data, inevitable for the Ad Tech sector. 

Machine learning, Natural language processing, Image processing and Speech recognition seem to be the most growing AI segments.  AI applications impacting the Digital Market in the areas of Content Curation, Creating and Generating Content, Web Design, User Experience, Predictive Analysis, Email marketing, Digital advertising and Online Search with innovations like Amazon Echo, Google Home, Apple’s Siri etc. is undeniable and probably here to stay for some time.  

With Ad Tech innovation booming and brands increasingly looking for vendors to help them access the wealth of insightful data on consumer preferences etc. and thereby help them make their brands stand out in the current digital clutter, will undeniably have AI revolutionizing the advertising technology, like never before.

The Article is contributed by Arun Gupta, CEO and Founder, MoMAGIC Technologies.