Infobip

Infobip Reports 169.3% Global RCS Growth; US +1298.8%

Infobip, a global AI-first cloud communications platform, reported 169.3% growth in Rich Communication Services (RCS) for Business traffic between H1 2025 and H1 2026. The United States led growth with a 1,298.8% year-on-year increase; Infobip customers sent more than 1.5 billion RCS messages in the US during the period. Infobip processed RCS registration requests for over 7.3k unique brands and delivered 14k successful RCS agent launches. Other notable country growth rates included Spain (+290%), the United Kingdom (+282%), India (+108%) and France (+48%). The company also announced Interactive Session billing is now live in the US, enabling two-way conversational pricing across live RCS markets. Dave Boddington, RCS Business Unit Head at Infobip, commented on the channel’s move from experimentation to mainstream deployment.

Ketch Launches Iris Cohort-Based Cookie Scanner

Ketch, an AI privacy company, launched Iris, a patent-pending, cohort-based scanning algorithm designed to replace legacy cookie-scanning approaches. Iris uses AI-driven cohorting and signature-based grouping to cluster pages by observed tracker behavior rather than URL structure, enabling automatic discovery and re-cohorting as new page types or tests appear. The algorithm offers intelligent representative sampling, confirm-and-discover cycles that compound coverage over time, and hop-distance classification to distinguish first-party tags from downstream vendor trackers. Ketch positions Iris as a more stable, defensible approach to scanning that reduces reliance on random sampling and costly exhaustive scans, aimed at privacy and engineering teams managing web trackers and disclosures.

Conversational AI Emerges as Retail Imperative

A Business Wire piece published on MarTech Series (July 20, 2026) reports that insights from Infobip and Retail Economics indicate retail engagement is shifting from one-way “broadcast” messaging to a conversational, AI-driven relationship model. The article cites high WhatsApp open rates (85–95%) versus email (32.7% in e-commerce), notes 24% of Gen Z prefer WhatsApp and SMS for deliveries/returns, and highlights a readiness gap: 88% of retailers are exploring conversational AI while 0% report full integration. Retail Economics CEO Richard Lim and Infobip retail specialist Kim Johal comment on personalization, channel preferences, and AI-driven automation that can handle routine queries and demonstrate ROI in as little as 60 days.