When it comes to the hype around emerging marketing tech such as blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI), over two-thirds of marketers in the US are yet to truly adopt the technology into their marketing stack.
Research by PointSource on 679 senior-level decision makers, reported by eMarketer, found marketers were either still in the discovery phase or just considering the possibilities of technology such as blockchain and AI, as well as facial recognition and voice-activation.
With just a third of marketers claimed they had actually selected or replaced a vendor within these categories, meanwhile, the upshot is that marketers are just not ready for them, with eMarketer citing research from SEO company Conductor that over a third (34%) felt unprepared to deal with the coming of AI technology this year.
In performance
Within the performance marketing industry specifically, where the benefits of AI have been widely touted, PerformanceIN recently shed light on whether there was substance behind claims of its use, finding that the technology in question more accurately fell under ‘machine learning’.
While there does appear to be an applicable case for the technology, and new ground being made, barriers to adoption included the size of the company, with only “really big” affiliates able to source enough data to analyse and optimise their own offers with the technology.
When it comes to blockchain, on the other hand, the technology’s potential application to improve transparency in media buying is also frequently raised; global media agency TRUTH recently launched with this concept as its unique selling point.
For now, the US study suggests the application is yet to live up to the hype, but this may change as more companies enter and begin to demonstrably show the benefits of integration.