Coronavirus Forces Companies to Embrace Adtech and Martech; Sector Booms - Seite 2

In order to stay in business, savvy brands recognized the need ditch traditional ad methods and transition to digital outreach. With fewer people traveling and out and about, billboards and in-store marketing were nearly moot points as spending habits changed. In a Bazaarvoice survey of more than 5,000 consumers across different countries, 49% of respondents reported that they shop more online now than pre-COVID, including 62% of Americans, 59% in Canada and 70% in Mexico. Companies are getting the point as evidenced in a Criteo study showing 70% of businesses surveyed concurring that marketing practices covering the complete customer journey became even more important since the outset of the coronavirus pandemic.

DGTL Holdings Inc. (TSX.V: DGTL) (OTCQB: DGTHF) is building a portfolio of B2B enterprise Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) in the digital media, martech, e-commerce and adtech sectors. Last year, the company put its growth strategy in motion with the acquisition of Hashoff, signaling management's commitment to get on the leading edge of influencer marketing, a practice where people with large social media followings or "experts" in certain niches are hired to endorse products to their audience. As noted in an Influencer Marketing Hub presentation, this emerging market is a top priority for brands, with nearly 8 out of 10 companies allocating a budget for influencer marketing in 2021.

DGTL's market entrance aligns with the nascent industry starting to hit its stride, climbing from just $1.7 billion in 2016 to $9.7 billion in 2020 with Statista forecasting influencer ad spending reaching $13.8 billion this year. Hashoff's proprietary technology is in the thick of this market, providing clients unfettered access to more than 150 million content creators of various scale in all-encompassing regions.

The Hashoff platform is turnkey, using machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to allow client companies to comprehensively search and identify freelance content creators that best reach the target demographic, albeit at worldwide or a highly refined group, a service called CaaS (content-as-a-service) in ad nomenclature. Clients have their choice of Hashoff's self-serve SaaS platform or leveraging the managed services offered by the company.