PitchGround

Analysis: 89 Dead Lifetime Deals, 1 in 8 Revoked

An analysis of 89 confirmed failed 'lifetime deals' finds that 81% were outright shutdowns, about 12% had their lifetime licenses revoked or downgraded while the company continued operating, and only 2% were open-sourced for community continuation. The dataset — the LTD Mortality Report and a crowd-verified 'lifetime-deal graveyard' — is published by DealKeep and refreshed quarterly. The report observes 2024 as the deadliest year in the tracked failures and recommends buyers treat lifetime deals as 2–4 year investments, prefer exportable data paths, and track owned tools.

SunPower Lights Up Programmatic Video To Find (Qualified) Solar Panel Prospects

SunPower, a $1.5 billion solar energy company, partnered with DWA and VideoAmp to run a programmatic video campaign aimed at identifying qualified solar prospects. Using VideoAmp’s Screen Tensor, they pre-qualified audiences by income, home size (large or tiny/micro homes), education, eco-consciousness or EV ownership, tech professions, and regional ZIPs in California, New York, and New Jersey. They augmented first-party segments with third-party data from eXelate, BlueKai, and Datatonic to further refine the audience. The campaign was run on a managed basis with DWA leading early strategy. Results were strong: about 30% of viewers converted after seeing the video, more than 25% viewed solar package rates, and the average click-through rate in Q4 was 0.88%. SunPower aimed to reach homeowners with high income and eco-friendly signals, layering traits with geotargeting in selective markets. The effort illustrates how data-augmented programmatic video can move qualified prospects further down the funnel for residential solar.