AWS launches RTB Fabric
Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced a new service called “RTB Fabric” for its ad tech customers aimed at making it easier to connect to digital advertising supply and demand partners as well as potentially reducing networks costs up to 80%.
From an AI perspective, running AI-enabled ad tech is getting faster and cheaper.
The AWS press release discussed RTB Fabric’s 4 key capabilities:
- “Simplified connectivity to AdTech partners”
- “Dedicated network for low-latency advertising transactions”
- “Pricing model aligned with RTB economics”
- “Built-in traffic management modules”
Read: “Introducing AWS RTB Fabric for real-time advertising technology workloads” – Amazon Web Services (October 23)
Creative sell-side platform TripleLift is already “migrating as much of its workflow to RTB Fabric as it can,” according to AdExchanger. (October 23)
TECH
Stephanie Layser on RTB Fabric
Stephanie Layser, Global Industry Specialist Leader, Monetization at AWS, discussed the RTB Fabric news with tipsheet.
TIPSHEET: What is the opportunity with AI that you’re enabling with RTB Fabric?
STEPHANIE LAYSER: We’re meeting our customers where they are today and how they operate their business.
RTB is a multi-billion dollar market. And so the idea is, ‘Can we help this market and make sure it’s easier to do that on the cloud so that our customers can reinvest in areas which are more AI-driven?’
The secondary aspect to this is [for companies such as] Chalice – they’ve integrated in the infrastructure of Index Exchange, for example. We’re seeing a vision with these third party modules where we can make those types of integrations easier and more seamless.
So, as we’re seeing companies that are popping up and adding AI into the value chain, we want to make sure that they can easily do that and easily build their applications on AWS.
We have a ton of ways in which people can utilize or build their own models using Sagemaker. But they can also use our managed service to build. Ultimately, it’s about AWS taking the manual stuff and making it easier on our customers so they can ‘meet the moment.’
TIPSHEET: There is a thread out there right now that real-time-bidded (RTB) auctions are not going to be as important in a future, agentic advertising world. How do you all think about that at AWS?
STEPHANIE LAYSER: At AWS, we typically work backwards from our customers and what they are asking us for. Since most of our customers use RTB today, we’re going to try to make that simpler.
We’re obviously watching new protocols as they come out. But we want to make sure that we’re helping our customers today.
Read more regarding RTB Fabric from Ms. Layser on LinkedIn. (October 23)
LLMS & CHATBOTS
Perplexity sued again
Perplexity has incurred the wrath of Reddit according to a new lawsuit that alleges the answer engine, and others, have been scraping Reddit content without permission.
The Associated Press reported that “the lawsuit filed Wednesday is different in the way that it confronts not just an AI company but the lesser-known services the AI industry relies on to acquire online writings needed to train AI chatbots.”
Read more in the AP. (October 22)
TheWrap wrote:
“The lawsuit accuses scrapers of using ‘shady circumvention tactics’ to bypass protocols to sell data to clients for training, and has made Reddit a prime target ‘because it’s one of the largest and most dynamic collections of human conversation ever created.’ Claims include copyright violations, unfair competition and unjust enrichment.”
Encyclopedia Britannica, Merriam-Webster and News Corp are among other companies with pending lawsuits alleging malfeasance by the answer engine company.
LLMs & CHATBOTS
Developments
- Expanding our use of Google Cloud TPUs and Service (October 23) – Anthropic
- “We’re shipping company knowledge for ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, and Edu: it brings all the context from your apps (Slack, Google Drive, GitHub, etc) together in ChatGPT so you can get answers that are specific to your business.” (October 23) – OpenAI CEO of Applications Fidji Simo on X
- OpenAI acquires Software Applications Incorporated, maker of Sky (October 23) – OpenAI
BRANDS
Spectrum Reach and AI ‘power’
SMBs are embracing video advertising according to Charter Communications’ ad business known as Spectrum Reach.
SMBs created over 15,000 AI-enabled campaigns using Waymark’s AI-enabled ad platform since the Spectrum Reach-Waymark partnership was announced in 2023.
Creative is, once again, the main lever when it comes to AI, according to the release: “Waymark’s AI-driven ad creation tool has introduced thousands of small business owners nationwide to not only the effectiveness but also the affordability of local TV advertising.”
More: Spectrum Reach and Waymark partnership powers over 15,000 campaigns and counting, driving success for local business. (October 23) – press release
See the case study: On Waymark’s website, a Spectrum Reach case study titled, “Bringing TV to the SMB Market” explained:
“Spectrum Reach used Waymark’s AI video generator to offer local businesses spec spots and a no-cost creative package from the first meeting. That way, their account executives could remove the creative barrier and help local businesses get excited and on air.”
From tipsheet: Three interwoven AI themes are visible in this partnership:
- Creative: AI’s ability to assist in easy generation of video ads.
- SMB marketing budget: SMB marketers can efficiently create impactful ads.
- Local – With the efficiency and effectiveness introduced by AI, “local” ad markets may see new life.
AGENCIES
WPP Open ads self-service
Agency holding company WPP is making its AI-enabled marketing platform self-serve.
Called WPP Open Pro, WPP CEO Cindy Rose said in a blog post, “… We’re adding WPP Open Pro to our offer, a powerful new edition that puts our AI advantage directly into the hands of a much wider array of brands and businesses.”
Read the blog post. (October 23)
Open Pro comes in three parts, according to the holding company:
“Plan with AI-powered strategy: Users can access WPP’s foundational data and insights to develop campaign strategies, better understand audiences and evaluate competitive landscapes quickly. This is powered by AI agents which draw on WPP’s deep proprietary, partner and industry data.“
“Create content at scale: Marketers can generate on-brand, channel-specific ads and content in seconds, automating production while maintaining brand integrity and driving performance.“
“Publish campaigns: WPP Media clients can seamlessly integrate with and hand off to WPP’s Open Media Studio for enhanced media execution. Alternatively, the platform allows brands to publish content directly to major ad platforms.“
Google Ads, beware?
Ms. Rose’s comments signal a broadening of WPP Open’s addressable market to SMBs and performance marketing. And yet, WPP Open’s Matt McNeany clarified with Adweek that WPP Open Pro allowed his company to extend deeper into existing clients.
Read more in Adweek. (October 23)
From tipsheet: The Pro version responds to marketer demand for reducing agency headcount costs.
The holding company “AI marketing platform” trend is very similar to the “agency trading desk” trend when it first emerged with programmatic in the early 2010s. Each of these platform strategies looks to “own” the marketer’s strategy and budget. Meanwhile, the agency holding company platform both competes with, and integrates, elements of, best-of-breed ad tech or martech platforms.
RESEARCH
McKinsey on answer engine strategy
“Even market leaders aren’t guaranteed visibility in AI-powered search. While SEO focuses on own-site content, in many cases, a brand’s own sites only comprise 5 to 10 percent of the sources that AI-search references; rather, AI-powered search pulls from a broad and diverse array of sources including affiliates and user-generated content.
These sources vary by large language model (LLM), location, category, and question type, and these sources will most likely evolve over time as LLMs evolve. That makes meeting consumers in the places where they make decisions more difficult. For example, the distribution of sources used for AI-powered searches differs significantly across categories…”
Read: “New front door to the internet: Winning in the age of AI search” (October 16) – McKinsey & Co.
Related: “For a new report, McKinsey & Company surveyed 233 senior global marketing. (…) There was a clear trend: Not one could clearly articulate how they were quantifying the return on investment of that spending.” (October 23) – Business Insider’s Lara O’Reilly on LinkedIn
TECH
Startup enables SMBs marketing ‘team’
An AI marketing startup called Omada is taking aim at SMBs by providing them an “AI marketing team” —and all for as little as $9 a day.
GeekWire reporter Taylor Soper covered the Seattle-based startup’s strategy:
“Instead of developing a single marketing ‘copilot’ or dashboard, Omada’s approach is a set of coordinated AI agents — a marketing assistant, social media manager, designer, video producer, and more — that collaborate like a virtual team. Users interact through a simple chat interface, and the system handles tasks such as posting content, running ads, responding to customers, and tracking performance.”
Hubspot Ventures is an investor.
Read more in GeekWire. (October 23)
Pete Christothoulou is the founder and CEO of Omada. Previously, he was co-founder and CEO of lead gen platform Marchex.
More: Omada[dot]ai Launches the World’s First AI Marketing Team for SMBs — a Growth Engine Built to Power Main Street – press release
From tipsheet: The “AI & SMB” trend, once again.
RESEARCH
Helping media teams with AI
Consultant Alessandro De Zanche and Rishabh Lohia, COO and co-founder of Bridged Media, have partnered on a new handbook called “Proof of Intelligence: Scaling AI in Media.”
Mr. De Zanche explained on LinkedIn that over 1,500 experiments and 50 organizations informed his study’s findings:
“This handbook distills those learnings into a practical 3P+ framework (Plan, Play, Prove) and a four-lens KPI model designed to help media teams move from pilots stuck in ‘demo land’ to AI that delivers real, measurable outcomes.
Our conclusion is simple: the future belongs to teams that plan smarter, play ambitiously, prove faster, and scale with focus and care. And, more importantly, that are aligned on their goals and incentives.”
Read more on LinkedIn. (October 23)
PII is required for the handbook’s download.
EVENTS
New event, new AI LUMAscape
“On November 17th, LUMA and Microsoft are hosting a most extraordinary event for the sharpest minds at the intersection of AI and Advertising. FUTUREscape is a half day event for an exclusive group of leaders charged with fashioning the future of our industry in this new AI paradigm. We have a ridiculous line-up of the most senior speakers and we will also debut the much-anticipated AI LUMAscape. As the tag line says, Rethink Everything!”
LUMA Partners founder Terence Kawaja on X. (October 23)
PEOPLE MOVES
Now hiring
Sean Reardon Named CEO of Epsilon (October 23) – Epsilon and Ad Age
MORE
- GM’s Marketing AI Is 80% Of The Way There (October 23) – MediaPost
- “Prebid posted an update attempting to clarify ongoing confusion about its TID change…” (October 23) – Kendra Barnett, Adweek on LinkedIn
- Op-ed: “AI won’t kill marketing. Marketers might” (October 21) – sponsored post by agency Rise in Ad Age