XACTV Launches Artii: A Machine Learning-Powered Platform Delivering Smarter, Cross-Channel Video Advertising

Artii’s innovation lies in its integration of new technology with multiple high-quality data sources, including Nielsen, VideoAmp, and TransUnion. “Nielsen gives us a currency for demo-based campaigns, VideoAmp also helps us uncover new audiences, and TransUnion serves as our core data spine,” said Moschetti. “Bringing these together, along with our own research, lets us understand and reach audiences in powerful new ways.”

Traditionally, linear media buying focused on broad demographics like age and gender, but Artii allows advertisers to go deeper, unlocking data-enriched audience targeting more commonly associated with digital. “For years, you've been able to buy data on women 25-54 who just had a baby, like me, for example, and you can always find that person from a consumer standpoint through digital,” said Moschetti. “Now, by using these advanced data sources, we’re able to bring the same precision to linear.”

Machine Learning Drives Smarter, Faster Media Buying

Artii builds on XACTV’s long-standing use of machine learning, now extending it beyond demo-based estimates to sophisticated audience-level projections. “We've been using machine learning since the start of XACTV,” said Moschetti. “Program ratings and impressions are just viewership trends. They're predictable patterns… like the stock market. With less volatility.

Previously, research analysts had to manually assign ratings to each program, a time-consuming process. “We started there by taking machine learning and piping it through our proprietary technology to create really smart estimates off of patterns and trends.”

By incorporating variables like seasonality, regionality, content preferences, even which NFL teams are playing, Artii’s AI models deliver predictive audience projections with impressive accuracy. “We’ve delivered 104% [on average] … because we have those machine learning algorithms making the projections, as well as a whole tracking system that reports on our projections and what we actually delivered,” she added. This evolution supports both planning and real-time optimization for more effective and accountable campaigns.

Redefining Upfronts with Flexibility and Real-Time Insight

As media becomes more fragmented, the Upfronts -- once a rigid annual negotiation -- are shifting toward flexibility and adaptability. “The Upfront was built off of a supply and demand marketplace… where cable and broadcast were the only supply and demand in the game,” said Moschetti. “You wanted to be in and be early so you could get the best price.”

But since the rise in streaming platforms, things have changed: “Now, because you can get insight into your sales, CRMs and data, the media needs to catch up to that,” she explained. Moschetti emphasized that while Upfronts are evolving, they’re not disappearing. “Everybody talks about it like the Upfront is over, which I don’t see happening just yet,” she said. “There’s still billions of dollars that get transacted in the Upfront every year.”

What’s changed, she said, is the need to pivot quickly based on campaign results. “If we connect on that, can we also potentially add to it? Can we also potentially shift it from one media type to another, out of linear, into streaming, out of streaming, into broadcast to try to make it all work together? This is the idea behind Artii to be able to do this quickly, efficiently, and accurately.”

Artii’s Future: More Channels, Unified Measurement

Looking forward, Artii is positioned to be the connective tissue across all video investment strategies. Bob O’Neill, President, XACTV, noted, “Artii allows advertisers to look at all the different channels, whether it's broadcast, cable, digital or CTV, and find the right mix to maximize their reach on an increasingly fragmented audience.”

Moschetti echoed this, adding, “If we can look at audience as a whole versus just age and gender, audience can have consistency across platforms and content types -- linear, streaming, sports, Hispanic, all of those different areas - it gives us an entirely new set of data to look at. This additional and new data stream allows Artii to be something that's really useful and meets a real need in today’s media marketplace.”

Efficiency vs. Effectiveness: Artii Offers Both

While efficiency has long been a driving force in media buying, Moschetti noted a shift in priorities. “Some advertisers are now saying, ‘Don’t just talk to me about what's efficient. Talk to me about what's effective.’” Artii enables marketers to key in on their specific KPIs, whether they’re CPM-based or tied to deeper audience behaviors and instantly see how different strategies measure up.

She emphasized that effectiveness often requires looking beyond surface-level demos. “Maybe women 25-54 who just had babies are watching a lot of sports… I watch a lot of Bravo and a lot of reality TV, but my husband watches a lot of sports. So, I watch a lot of sports too,” she noted. “So that’s the right place to find me!”

Artii lets marketers input different KPIs and view plans dynamically. “That’s the ability to create options and different views at the click of a button -- not having somebody have to schedule and create new plans or new metrics.”

Built for Expansion: From Living Room to Social Video

While Artii is currently focused on big-screen viewing -- across linear, cable, and streaming -- the platform is designed to scale into future video environments. “The idea is, you could be within channel or across channel, and in the future, will be potentially even more,” Moschetti said. “Do we then go into social video and look at how that all impacts together?”

Moschetti concluded by highlighting the importance of live engagement. “We've obviously seen dollars flow through sports and news. The key is finding those areas that people are watching live because it's not just about having it on. It's about having engagement.” To support that, XACTV has developed specific inventory for those high-engagement environments, ensuring Artii can help brands meet audiences in the moments that matter most.

Artii represents a major step forward in video advertising -- bringing together machine learning, real-time audience insights, and cross-channel planning into one intelligent, adaptable platform. By unifying age, gender, and audience-level data across broadcast, cable, and streaming, Artii empowers advertisers to move beyond traditional metrics and make faster, smarter, and more effective media investments in an increasingly fragmented landscape.

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The opinions expressed here are the author's views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.org/MyersBizNet.