Greenbids

Perion Shifts Focus: AI Beyond the Hype Cycle

Perion CEO Tal Jacobson criticized AI hype while describing how the company is rebuilding around AI-driven media trading. Perion is centering its strategy on Outmax, an AI media trading agent that allocates budgets across CTV, digital-out-of-home, retail media, YouTube, Meta and TikTok. The company last year paid $65 million to acquire Greenbids, an AI-powered media optimization tool, and cites outcomes-based optimization as the primary objective of its systems. Jacobson said Perion has applied machine learning for years and emphasized that manual ad-ops work is likely to decline as automation increases. The interview also touched on Perion’s company evolution (founded in 1999 as IncrediMail), a solid recent Q4 performance, and growing demand in digital out-of-home inventory.

Hot Spots in AI Advertising Startups

Marketecture surveys the AI-driven advertising startup landscape, arguing that AI-for-ads has evolved into several distinct approaches rather than a single universal solution. It highlights three flavors of AI-for-creatives (AI tools for designers like Flora; general ad-creation tools led by Celtra; and social-channel focus), notes Viant’s AI media-planning demo that generates a plan from a prompt, and discusses two key challenges in AI-enabled media planning: data access and agency reluctance to outsourcing. On the buy-side, the piece flags exits Scibids (acquired by DoubleVerify) and Greenbids (acquired by Perion), while naming independent players Cognitiv, Chalice, Swym, and Biddable Assets. It points to cross-channel optimization efforts from Mint.ai and Fluency (the latter’s $40M raise), and highlights sell-side activity around AdCP and AI-generated campaigns by PubMatic. Overall, the author remains cautiously optimistic about 2025–2026 for agentic, AI-powered advertising tools and ecosystems.

Ad Industry Must Move Beyond Carbon Measurement to Act

Michael Hanbury-Williams, recently appointed UK Managing Director at Greenbids, argues that the ad industry’s obsession with carbon-emission measurement has become a box-ticking exercise that tolerates inaction. He emphasizes that the root issue is how media is bought, with a broken programmatic supply chain driving emissions as campaigns scale, and that measurement must be paired with real action to reduce the total footprint while delivering outcomes. Hanbury-Williams envisions AI-optimised campaigns delivering better media quality, efficiency, and sustainability, and notes that mass adoption will follow when financial incentives align with carbon reduction. He reflects on the dissolution of GARM, praising the collaboration it fostered and signaling support for ongoing standards through Ad Net Zero and the IAB. Greenbids is expanding into the UK, a mature market with strong publishers and advertisers, where sustainability bodies like Ad Net Zero, the IPA, Conscious Advertising Network, and Purpose Disruptors play a growing role. The company positions itself as an AI-powered partner built to improve performance without compromising the planet.