Left to right: Hosts Charlamagne tha God and Jess Hilarious, Will Pearson, President, iHeartPodcasts and Conal Byrne, CEO, iHeartMedia Digital Group in New York. Image: Chris Wood. Podcasts are bouncing back from last year’s slowdown with digital audio publishers, tech partners and brands innovating to build deep relationships with listeners. At the IAB Podcast Upfront in New York this week, hit shows and successful brand placements were lauded. In addition to the excitement generated by stars like Jon Stewart and Charlamagne tha God, the numbers gauging the industry also showed promise. U.S ..read more

As businesses grapple with reducing their carbon footprint, optimizing digital marketing is an unexpected solution that can also drive better ROI — a true win-win scenario. The carbon cost of clicks In 2022, fifty-five published a study (registration required) showing that the average media campaign generates 70 tons of CO2 emissions, or the equivalent of seven people’s carbon outputs in an average year. Reducing carbon emissions can come at a hefty cost to businesses, but doing nothing is not an option. Therefore, it’s a balancing act of sustainability versus profit. The study broke down the ..read more

ChatGPT is expected to launch its search feature on Monday, according to Reuters, citing unnamed company sources. This new approach could be a game-changer for how people get information from the internet and a significant challenge for industry leader Google. Rumor has it. OpenAI is developing a ChatGPT feature that searches the web and cites sources in its results, Bloomberg reported (subscription required): “The feature would allow users to ask ChatGPT a question and receive answers that use details from the web with citations to sources such as Wikipedia entries and blog ..read more

Lead scoring is one of those things companies tend to spend far too much time on and often use improperly. This has led to the cynicism of sales and marketing teams when it comes to trusting the contacts for outreach-driven activities.  Rebrand ‘lead’ with ‘human’ Before we dive into the scoring model, let’s quickly agree on one core concept: leads are human beings. The traditional concept of a lead is broken due to many teams misusing the term. So can we just agree — unless you have a clear, documented definition your entire organization uses, you might as well just do everyone a favor ..read more

Ivan Ostojic is Chief Business Officer at Infobip, the omnichannel marketing platform focused on communications, conversations, chat and messaging. When we spoke, he was driving to an airport in Croatia, but he was still able to address the “trough of disillusionment” that might be just around the corner for some — not all — uses of generative AI. (Interview edited for length and clarity.) Q: It seems every manager has been given a mandate to bring genAI into their technology and processes. But I know you think they’re trying to implement some over-complicated solutions. Is that what is ..read more

This week saw the annual release of The Martech Landscape which has 14,106 “tools,” an increase of about 3,000 from last year.  Please read Kim Davis’ excellent analysis of what that does and doesn’t mean.  A closer look at the 3,000-ish new tools underlines that point. No fewer than 77% are genAI-based and more than half of those relate to content creation. I am going to stick my neck out and say that we are not seeing thousands of newly developed, independent large language models here. What we are seeing is a lot of specialist apps incorporating ChatGPT or something similar into ..read more

Understanding the “entry points” where your ideal customers first experience the acute pains your product or service can solve is critical for marketing success. An entry point is that pivotal moment when a prospective customer feels intense pain from a problem that your solution could instantly alleviate — if only they were aware it existed. Understanding ICP entry points The ideal customer profile (ICP) entry point occurs when your potential customer is experiencing a problem, not when engaging with your sales or marketing efforts. They’re not actively considering your product or seeking to ..read more

HubSpot’s earnings and revenue beat expectations for the ninth consecutive quarter amid more reports of a sale to Google’s parent company Alphabet. The Cambridge, Mass., digital marketing vendor reported earnings at $1.68 a share and revenue of $617.4 million for the first quarter of 2024. The earnings are up 40% from the same period last year and a 23% increase in revenue. Analysts had expected HubSpot earnings of $1.50 on sales of $598 million. Dig deeper: HubSpot launches new genAI-powered Content Hub The company’s stock price, which fell slightly following Wednesday’s earnings report, bou ..read more

AI will soon be able to handle up to 95% of the work currently done by marketing agencies, creative professionals and specialists, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Here’s how this shift could lead to the rise of the “marketing generalist” — a new type of marketer who uses AI tools to rapidly execute campaigns across various disciplines, such as content, digital, branding and more. Unpacking AI’s marketing impact In an interview earlier this year, Altman described what he says will be the impact of AI on marketing:  “Ninety-five percent of what marketers use agencies, strategists and ..read more

Today, Curb, a ride-hailing app for licensed taxis, announced Curb Journey Connect (CJC), which allows advertisers to execute cross-channel campaigns on mobile and in-cab screens. The new ad solution taps into Curb TaxiTV — original content shown on in-vehicle screens — and mobile ad units that run before, during and after rides. “Before CJC, advertisers lacked the capability to simultaneously run or synchronize mobile and TaxiTV ads,” Liz Tamam, Curb’s marketing and media director, told MarTech. “This innovative technology now enables brands to engage with their audiences through a two-way s ..read more