Connekt launches TV advertising and commerce platform

Connekt Emerges from Stealth Mode to Launch Transformative TV Advertising and Commerce Platform

SAN FRANCISCO — Connekt is emerging from stealth mode to unveil its platform that enables brands, distributors and media companies to generate new revenue streams from TV advertising and commerce. Powered by the industry’s only in-content transactional advertising engine using artificial intelligence (AI), Connekt allows consumers to directly engage with TV ads and content in real time and provides them with an instant path to purchase.

Co-founded by industry pioneers with extensive experience in the TV industry, Connekt has already forged partnerships with organizations such as CBS, Gracenote, HBO, Hisense, LG, Showtime, Sony and Tivo, and its platform is currently powering monetization in more than 40 million connected devices across the country.

New Innovation Driving the TV Advertising Opportunity

eMarketer projects there will be 97.7 million connected TV households in the U.S. by 2020. As consumers view more internet-enabled content on connected devices, it’s opening the door to unprecedented innovation and engagement. Connekt’s platform capitalizes on this opportunity by enabling advertisers and content companies to participate in a two-way conversation with consumers that ultimately drives them to purchase.

“Imagine a world where advertisers can reach consumers through the largest and most watched screen in the home in a way that allows viewers to interact with ads and programming in real time, and even purchase a featured product,” said Mike Fitzsimmons, Connekt co-founder and CEO. “Now imagine if you knew enough about the viewer to reach them at just the right moment, and only with the brands and products they care about. This is the future of internet-enabled TV advertising, and we’re making it a reality.”

According to eMarketer, TV ad spending will reach $71.65 billion in 2017, and the amount spent on addressable TV ads, in particular, will more than double in the next two years.

“Video is the most important medium for us in the advertising community,” said Bre Rossetti, senior vice president of Innovation at Havas, a multinational ad agency. “Connekt makes ads more interactive and persuasive, and backs them with intelligence about TV viewers’ habits to help us make more informed decisions about where to spend. Connekt even goes a step further to offer a path from content to commerce. That’s a powerful proposition.”

The Connekt Platform, Powered by AI, Machine Learning and T-Commerce

Connekt’s advanced TV advertising platform is an end-to-end solution that enables marketers and content companies to unlock previously untapped revenue streams.

Core products include:

• CARL: Artificial Intelligence – The supercomputer behind the Connekt platform, CARL, uses artificial intelligence and deep learning to automatically process, transform and analyze billions of unstructured TV viewership, engagement and commerce data to provide reliable predictive targeting, ad delivery and measurement.
• FLX: Ad Tools – Connekt’s proprietary ad delivery platform facilitates the creation, optimization and management of in-moment campaigns from one centralized interface.
• Transakt™: T-Commerce – Connekt’s patented Transakt t-commerce technology enables viewers to engage directly with a TV ad or programming and seamlessly complete a transaction.
• Datascope: Reporting and Analytics – Connekt combines real-time viewership data with first-party engagement and transaction data to provide partners with the audience insights and behavioral research necessary to measure the ROI of their TV media investment.

“We have built a cognitive engine that introduces an unprecedented level of intelligence into the TV advertising formula,” said David Rudnick, Connekt co-founder and CTO. “I’ve spent years innovating in this industry and can say this technological leap is one that will truly change how consumers interact with content, and allow agencies and brands to bring the power of internet advertising to the big screen.”

Partnerships

Connekt launches with an already strong market foothold grounded in partnerships with distribution platforms such as Hisense, LG, and Tivo, media companies such as CBS and Showtime, and and media recognition and entertainment data company Gracenote.