Clinch vs Smartly

Advertising Has Enough Technology. Now It Needs to Work Together.

In an executive insight published following Advertising Week New York, Clinch CEO Oz Etzioni addressed the inefficiencies caused by advertising technology fragmentation and manual workflows. Etzioni argued that human operators currently act as manual APIs bridging disconnected platforms, while creative data remains heavily underutilized. He emphasized that emerging AI agents and protocols like Model Context Protocol (MCP) will only succeed if underlying creative, media, and data infrastructures are fully integrated before deploying automated agents.

• Clinch CEO and Co-Founder Oz Etzioni authored the industry analysis published on October 15, 2026, following discussions at Advertising Week New York.
• The analysis highlights that human teams currently function as 'Human APIs' to manually transfer data and coordinate campaign updates across disconnected tech stacks.
• Etzioni points to Model Context Protocol (MCP) and AI agents as transformative technologies that risk adding operational complexity unless foundational integration between creative, media, data, and activation platforms is established first.

Clinch Named a Fortune Best Workplace in Advertising & Marketing™ 2026

Clinch has been named a Fortune Best Workplace in Advertising & Marketing™ 2026, as announced on September 30, 2026.

Clinch Expands London Presence with New Central Office and Appointment of Colin Cherry as VP of Growth, EMEA

Clinch announces expansion of its London presence with a new central office and the appointment of Colin Cherry as VP of Growth, EMEA.

Smartly Launches Intelligence Pro to Connect Campaign Planning, Performance and Incrementality

On November 2, 2026, Smartly announced the launch of Intelligence Pro, a premium platform offering designed to connect campaign planning, performance benchmarks, and incrementality signals. The solution integrates causal inference models into planning workflows through four key components: Reach Planner, Headroom Analysis, Benchmarks, and INCRMNTAL Connect. Intelligence Pro is immediately available to eligible Smartly customers.

• Smartly officially launched Intelligence Pro on November 2, 2026.
• The suite integrates four core capabilities: Reach Planner, Headroom Analysis, Benchmarks, and INCRMNTAL Connect.
• The offering leverages causal inference models to evaluate headroom for growth, cross-channel reach, and incremental media contribution.

UK's The Times Tests Macro Payments for Standalone Content

The Times of London is preparing to test 'macro payments,' a new model allowing readers to purchase specific high-value content packages, such as annual guides, without a full subscription. Director of subscriptions Abs Ahmed outlined the strategy at a Digiday event, emphasizing that this approach targets occasional readers who are not ready to commit to a subscription. The initiative is expected to launch in the next few months, initially in the UK. The Times has identified a significant audience interested in flexible access, with over three-quarters of occasional readers showing appeal. The publisher also reports success with AI tools, including synthetic audiences for research, AI decisioning for personalized messaging, and Smartly for performance marketing, which cut acquisition costs by over 55%. The move comes as the publisher faces declining social and search referrals and increasing bot traffic.

• The Times of London plans to test 'macro payments' for standalone content packages.
• Testing is due to start within the next few months, initially in the UK.
• Over three quarters of occasional readers found flexible access appealing.

Smartly Appoints Kelly Uphoff as Chief Technology Officer

Smartly has appointed Kelly Uphoff as Chief Technology Officer to lead its global engineering organization. Uphoff previously held technology and data science leadership roles at Tala and Netflix, specializing in AI, predictive modeling, and personalization. She succeeds Lauri Tarkkala as Smartly focuses on advancing continuous decision intelligence across creative and media.

• Kelly Uphoff has been appointed Chief Technology Officer of Smartly, effective October 8, 2026.
• Uphoff previously led Data Science and Engineering teams at Netflix and most recently led platform transformation at Tala.
• She succeeds Lauri Tarkkala, who led the integration of acquisitions including Ad-Lib.io, Viralspace.ai, and INCRMNTAL.