Tell us about your role and journey into technology. What made you start Tunity (formerly AudioStreamTV)?
I was working as a consultant — spending a lot of time in airport lounges and hotels and saw the inferior viewership experience as well as the low engagement with screens in prime locations. Looking at some research, I saw the market was very big (the industry refers to more than 10% of TV viewership occurring OOH, and I believe that is understated and could be as high as 20%) and unmeasured (Nielsen makes $3 bn from different TV viewership research and measurement — covering basically only in home). The idea behind Tunity was to create a personalized and superior experience for the consumer and at the same time provide measurement and data insights to the industry (that is now focused more and more on programmatic and accountability).
What are the core tenets of your business development model? How does Tunity add value to digital transformation journeys for audio businesses?
We provide a different value proposition to our different business partner sets. We provide data and insights to media businesses, technology and knowledge to network infrastructure companies, and cost savings and increased guest engagement to companies in the hospitality and fitness space.
Where do you see TV advertising and Audience Data technologies in 2020? How do you prepare for the disruptions in the ecosystem?
Companies are looking for holistic data solutions, which will drive integrated solutions between firms and/or joint ventures. We are building a unique solution that has both inherent value and also complements solutions that miss out on the unique data that only Tunity can provide.
How often do you measure the performance of your marketing analytics and sales reporting?
Our goal is to be able to get maximum insights with minimum effort from our performance measurement tools.
Tell us about your collaborations with ARF, NAB, and DPAA. What benefits do you extend to your customers?
We are serious about research and continuing to improve and evolve our methods. We want to be active participants in the discussions that impact the video industry. Our involvement with these groups is part of the way we are doing this.
What startups in the technology industry are you watching keenly right now?
We feel our solution is very unique, so while we’re watching different companies, we’re focused on our internal performance and less on the external competition.
What marketing and sales automation tools and technologies do you currently use?
We are still under a tight budget, so we mainly use Sendgrid and Hubspot for our Marketing and Sales operations.
Could you tell us about an outstanding digital campaign?
Honestly, we are still focused on organic traffic, and our marketing efforts are centered on business partnerships. We will be testing some digital campaigns soon, and we can let you know how it goes!
How do you prepare for an AI-centric world as a business leader?
Tunity’s technology is highly AI driven, and we work hard to stay ahead by constantly upgrading our system.
How do you inspire your people to work with technology?
Do people still need to get inspired for that? We are working on a really unique product with sophisticated technology that has interesting aspects for every role, developers, product, marketers, etc., so our team is really excited. Of course, I make sure all the good news gets shared internally with everyone to help people be inspired by the feedback and results.
One word that best describes how you work.
Efficiently. I focus on what matters
What apps/software/tools can’t you live without?
Slack — we use it extensively for dedicated conversations and for seeing important input for our business, such as user feedback. It makes it super convenient to stay on top of important input that drive insights.
What’s your smartest work-related shortcut or productivity hack?
Boomerang for Gmail — I use it to make sure every thread gets resolved.
What are you currently reading?
I highly recommend “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman to understand how people process information.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Don’t sell yourself short. I’ve learned that you will get to where you need to be if you know your worth and don’t compromise.
Something you do better than others — the secret of your success?
I guess I would say that I’m good at the 80/20 and making decisions with incomplete information — skills I developed as a management consultant.
Tag the one person (or more) in the industry whose answers to these questions you would love to read:
I’d actually love to see the responses of Paul Lindstrom, our Head of Research and Analytics. His experience and knowledge of the space is really astounding.
Thank you, Yaniv! That was fun and hope to see you back on MarTech Series soon.
Yaniv Davidson, founder of Tunity, studied Electrical Engineering at Tel-Aviv University before moving into the mobile space doing R&D for Intel and as CTO of a security startup. From there, after getting an MBA at Kellogg School of Management, he moved into the digital sphere, advising Fortune 500 CEOs at BCG and as Vice President in a WPP-funded start up where he saw how brands were spending money on media. His company, Tunity, uses mobile technology to stream audio to users in front of out-of-home screens where the audio might be muted such as airports, sports bars and gyms.
Tunity developed the first application of its kind which allows users to hear live audio from muted televisions directly on their mobile devices. Through a patented deep learning and computer vision technology, Tunity identifies a live video stream and its exact timing, syncing the audio with the user’s mobile device. Based in New York City, Tunity is on a mission to revolutionize the out-of-home TV experience and transform the way brands engage with consumers.
The MTS Martech Interview Series is a fun Q&A style chat which we really enjoy doing with martech leaders. With inspiration from Lifehacker’s How I work interviews, the MarTech Series Interviews follows a two part format On Marketing Technology, and This Is How I Work. The format was chosen because when we decided to start an interview series with the biggest and brightest minds in martech – we wanted to get insight into two areas … one – their ideas on marketing tech and two – insights into the philosophy and methods that make these leaders tick.
