Today IPG Media Lab took a detour from the Las Vegas Convention Center to walk through the “Yahoo Experience” at the Cosmopolitan. Of particular note was Yahoo’s proprietary content recognition and delivery service for Smart TV. Otherwise known as ACR, the technology has been around for a bit, but it’s at the forefront of Yahoo’s content strategy for 2015. The company has a footprint of 4.4 million televisions, which gives it a sample size 50 times that of Nielsen. (And of course, if you have the Yahoo Sports mobile app open, you can get the same ad on both devices, and that user data will connect across all Yahoo properties — including Tumblr.) Yahoo is moving toward this strategy because it yields more eyeballs, better ad revenue, and more interesting data.
Next door to the Yahoo Experience, Pogue interviewed BlackBerry CEO John Chen about the future of the phone company. While not the mobile powerhouse it used to be, Chen insisted their phone business is still profitable, and intends to expand distribution in 2015. And despite the lower profile of BlackBerry’s phone, its QNX automotive system is used in 50 million in-car systems, and possesses a 50% market share. Over in the North Hall, QNX has featured a Maserati with its infotainment and telematics systems working in full throttle. As the car is a huge story at CES 2015, expect this sector of BlackBerry to keep growing.
