Observed Signal · Sep 22, 2026 · Awards · Source: Digiday · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Digiday Technology Awards 2026 Honor AI and AdTech Innovators
The 2026 Digiday Technology Awards recognized companies across various categories, including AI, personalization, and ad tech. Notable winners include PolyAI for Best AI Tool, with SafeRide Health deploying its AI agent 'Steven' to manage over 80% of inbound calls. Taboola's CEO Adam Singolda was named Technology Founder of the Year for launching DeeperDive, a conversational AI platform for publishers. Contentful and Docusign won Best Personalization & A/B Testing Platform, which enabled Docusign to personalize homepages for 20 audience segments. Other winners include Seedtag and Qatar Tourism for alternative ID, Viant for best buy-side platform, and Semrush (an Adobe company) for SEO. The awards highlight industry trends toward AI, agentic tools, privacy-first identity, and integrated measurement.
Highlights industry trends in AI and personalization, but is a roundup of multiple award winners, not a single event.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- PolyAI won Best AI Tool; SafeRide Health uses its AI agent 'Steven' to automate 80% of inbound calls.
- Adam Singolda, Taboola's CEO, named Technology Founder of the Year.
- Contentful and Docusign won Best Personalization & A/B Testing Platform, enabling Docusign to target 20 audience segments.
- Taboola's DeeperDive uses reader behavior to provide conversational AI answers on publisher sites.
- Seedtag and Qatar Tourism won Best Alternative Identification Technology.
- Semrush (an Adobe company) won Best SEO Platform.
Connected Companies & Entities
32 Entities mapped“Partnerships with Gannett, The Independent and other publishers drove adoption....”
“PolyAI — which serves hundreds of enterprises across 75 languages and 25 countries — is recognized as the winner in the Best AI Tool categor...”
“Partnerships with Gannett, The Independent and other publishers drove adoption....”
“Contentful and Docusign earned the win in Best Personalization & A/B Testing Platform....”
“Adam Singolda, founder and CEO of Taboola, was named Technology Founder of the Year....”
“Contentful helped Docusign replace its legacy CMS with a scalable platform for personalized digital experiences....”
“Seedtag and Qatar Tourism: Privacy-First Global Campaign....”
“Viant’s Ad Platform Redefines CTV as a Growth Engine....”
“Semrush One – Semrush, an Adobe company....”
“Semrush One – Semrush, an Adobe company....”
“Omnisend: Ecommerce Email & SMS Marketing Platform....”
“beehiiv ad network won Best Native Advertising Platform....”
“Cloudinary Video Platform....”
“DanAds & Tripadvisor – Eco-Rewards in Ad Express....”
“Adjust & Virgin Mobile UAE – Mobile Marketing....”
“Optable & Unity – Unlocking Brand Demand for 256M Gamers....”
“Influencity won Best Creator Marketing Platform....”
“Kaltura Agentic Avatar....”
“Vault Data Clean Room....”
“Seismic Enablement Cloud....”
“Transmit won Best Monetization Platform for Publishers....”
“Realtor.com achieves 300% ROI with Knotch....”
“Realtor.com achieves 300% ROI with Knotch....”
“Intent IQ’s Bid Enhancement for ID-less Monetization....”
“Rise won Best Data Team....”
“Cvent Event-Led Growth at Scale....”
“DanAds & Tripadvisor – Eco-Rewards in Ad Express....”
“Optable & Unity – Unlocking Brand Demand for 256M Gamers....”
“Mastercard Media Measurement....”
“Celtra won Best Content Marketing Platform....”
“Simpli.fi Turns Location Data Into Measurable Store Visits....”
“Rise won Best Data Team....”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
Related Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
Publishers Lobby Congress for 'Bad Bots' Bill
Over 300 news publishing executives, including leaders from Condé Nast, Hearst Magazines, USA Today Co., and The Seattle Times, traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby Congress for the Stealth Bot Prohibition Act. The bill would require AI stealth crawlers to identify themselves, preventing them from disguising traffic and bypassing publishers' scraping blocks. Organized by News/Media Alliance, the event follows a similar New York state law and aims to address the growing problem of AI bots scraping content without permission. Executives met with lawmakers to emphasize the need for transparency, control, and fair compensation when their content is used for AI training. The initiative highlights the increasing urgency as AI bot traffic has surged significantly, with TollBit detecting over 22 billion AI bot scrapes in the first half of 2026.
Why AI Treats Publisher Content As A Commodity; Playing Your Credit Cards Right
This AdExchanger roundup covers the commoditization of publisher content by AI, the rise of near-premium credit cards, and McDonald's launch of its own media network. Brian Morrissey argues AI treats publisher content as raw material, leading to commoditization. Jon Roberts notes the supply chain for information is underfunded compared to chips and power. USA Today considers blocking Google's AI scraper. In credit cards, near-premium cards are growing, subsidized by retail media programs. McDonald's is launching its McDonald's Media Network, spanning physical footprint, aiming for a billion-dollar ad business. Early advertisers likely include credit card companies, ride-share apps, and media companies like Netflix and Disney.
Palantir’s Quiet Takeover of Media’s Data Stack
Palantir is expanding from government work into media and marketing, striking deals with Fox News Digital, Zeta Global, Stagwell, and USA Today Co. These partnerships involve building internal platforms, analyzing audience data, and integrating AI. Despite employee concerns at USA Today, executives praise Palantir's speed and ontology-based approach. The company embeds forward-deployed engineers and offers interoperability with various AI models. For Zeta and Stagwell, Palantir also serves as a sales channel, taking a revenue share. The push reflects a broader industry shift toward leveraging data for monetization and efficiency.
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