Jackbox Games pilots AdRoll's new AI-powered video solution

Dive Brief:

Video game developer Jackbox Games is piloting a new video ad tool by AdRoll for the promotion of its newly released "The Jackbox Party Pack 5," according to a news release.
AdRoll Video Ads help advertisers target consumers with video ads across desktop, tablet and mobile. The format is powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and leverages machine learning to determine the optimal bid price for each impression to more accurately serve the right ads to the right audiences.
In separate news, AI-powered search marketing company Adthena announced that it has raised $14 million in Series A funding from Updata Partners, per a press release. Adthena plans to strengthen its paid search AI platform and scale its AI capabilities and launch new channels.

Dive Insight:

The AdRoll and Adthena news together underscore marketers' growing interest in AI to offer more automation features that optimize and better target digital marketing campaigns. Just 15% of surveyed companies are currently using AI as part of their marketing strategies, but 31% plan to implement it in 2019, according to Adobe data cited by Adthena.

The new AdRoll Video Ads tool aims to help marketers better engage consumers with video content at key moments. This year, 80% of all internet traffic is expected to be video content, and more than half of consumers are more willing to stay on a brand's channel if video is included, according to AdRoll. Jackbox Games is tapping into AdRoll's new tool to expand its reach outside of static placements.

Marketers view AI as helping them boost their marketing’s effectiveness in driving revenue and helping them identify prospective consumers and market trends. Personalization and customization are other areas that have attracted marketers to AI.

However, only 9% of marketers have developed a hyper-personalization strategy, which refers to personalized marketing leveraging AI and real-time data, according to Ascend2 research. Most marketers list improved customer experience and using data insights for decision-making as their priorities for hyper-personalization.