Gain insights from Dor Leitman, CTO of Connatix, on AI’s role in revolutionizing video technology and the future of advertising.
Hello Dor, we’re delighted to have you for this interview! Could you kindly provide an overview of your professional journey leading up to your current role as Chief Technology Officer at Connatix?
Hello, thank you for having me! My journey in the tech world began at Microsoft as a software engineer, where I gained a solid foundation in software development. Driven by an interest in the possibilities of AI, I later founded a startup focused on developing technology to analyze text and generate interactive, visual experiences. This was eventually acquired by Connatix, a video technology company for publishers and advertisers. I joined Connatix as VP of AI and Content Automation, and through a series of progressive leadership roles, I recently became the CTO here.
As the new CTO at Connatix, could you elaborate on the primary areas you’re prioritizing to drive technological innovation and growth within the organization?
In my role, the focus is on three key areas: refining our product vision and aligning it with both market and client needs, enhancing our technological capabilities to ensure we remain at the forefront of video technology, and fostering an innovative culture within our teams. We’re particularly keen on advancing our AI-driven solutions to keep our offerings competitive and relevant.
In your estimation, how do you anticipate advancements in GenAI will influence the landscape of video and advertising in the coming year?
GenAI is poised to dramatically transform the advertising and video industries by automating content personalization and optimization at scale. Over the next year, I anticipate these technologies will make significant strides in enhancing how content is created and delivered, making these processes more efficient and tailored to individual user preferences.
Among the developments in GenAI, which aspects are you particularly enthusiastic about, especially in relation to your responsibilities at Connatix?
The capability of GenAI to automate complex processes and personalize content at a granular level excites me the most. These advancements align perfectly with our goals at Connatix, where we aim to revolutionize how video content is served to users, ensuring it is both engaging and relevant.
We would greatly appreciate further insights into Deep Contextual technology: how would you delineate it from other offerings presently available in the market?
Connatix’s proprietary Deep Contextual™ solution provides highly detailed, privacy-focused targeting, which is a critical priority for us. Unlike traditional contextual solutions, Deep Contextual leverages a combination of AI-powered technologies to enable a smarter analysis of video and page content in real-time, allowing for more effective targeting – without reliance on cookies. This not only aligns with current privacy standards but also ensures that the advertising is relevant and effective.
Through AI-powered deep learning, advanced computer vision, and natural language processing, Deep Contextual can contextualize and classify outputs using a real-world understanding of media content, trends, and connections between topics. It recognizes brands, celebrities, sentiments, topics, and subcategories. Furthermore, we engineer advanced machine learning models to integrate Deep Contextual signals with audience data, thereby enhancing our ability to pinpoint intersections of interest. This enables advertisers to effectively target their desired audience while maintaining a commitment to user privacy
This level of precision ensures that ads are placed alongside the correct type of content, leading to better engagement rates and more effective campaigns. For instance, a viewer watching a car review video might see auto ads alongside the video, for the same or similar cars. This targeted approach benefits consumers by showing them relevant ads and strengthens brands by associating them with high-quality content.
Can you share your personal approach to nurturing innovation and maintaining a competitive edge in the swiftly evolving arena of technology and advertising?
At Connatix, our motto is ‘Innovate to survive’. In the fast-evolving landscape of our industry, continuous innovation and invention are imperative to stay ahead of the curve. We believe that our success hinges on our ability to move quickly, experiment, embrace failures, and maintain agility in testing new ideas with clients. We see every challenge as a chance to get better and prepare for future success, and we take these opportunities seriously. Additionally, we emphasize continuous learning, integrating business knowledge with our development teams, and fostering an environment where ideas and failures are encouraged—as long as we can swiftly recover
Drawing from your experience, what counsel would you extend to aspiring technologists seeking to make a meaningful impact in the advertising technology domain?
My main advice would focus on achieving Product-Market Fit. Often, great ideas may not initially appear significant to customers. It’s important to work in small, manageable steps to validate your assumptions. Identify the pains and gaps in the industry that can deliver tangible value to your customers. And also, always try to find partners in the space to create synergistic relationships.
Reflecting on your journey, what are some of the most significant challenges you’ve encountered in implementing technological solutions within the advertising sector, and how have you effectively addressed them?
Challenge number one is scale. Everything in this space operates on a huge scale, and every solution needs to be designed to handle it.
Another challenge, especially with any machine learning or AI project, is balancing investment versus the accuracy of results. ML models often need refinement, requiring many small steps to achieve a significant breakthrough. There is always a lot of trial and error involved. Additionally, during the training phase, data privacy is a major priority for us. We aim to be fully compliant with regulations, which limits the amount and type of data we can collect and use for training, posing another significant challenge.
In your estimation, how pivotal are collaborative ventures and strategic partnerships in propelling technological progress within the advertising industry, and how does Connatix approach such collaborative endeavors?
Collaboration is not only essential for innovation but in creating a more transparent ecosystem in advertising. At Connatix, we actively seek partnerships that allow us to integrate cutting-edge technology and broaden our capabilities, ensuring that we provide the best solutions to our clients. For instance, Connatix has forged direct integrations with DSPs like The Trade Desk and Google’s Display & Video 360, in order to help advertisers reach goals more efficiently while maximizing budgets.
Lastly, is there any additional insight or perspective you would like to share with our audience regarding the future trajectory of technology in advertising or any other pertinent considerations?
The future of advertising technology is incredibly bright and exciting, with AI leading the charge. As we move forward, the focus will be on creating more personalized, interactive, and engaging content that respects user privacy and enhances the overall user experience.
Dor Leitman
Chief Technology Officer at Connatix
Dor leads the product and R&D teams, overseeing product strategy and development at Connatix.
At Connatix, Dor is leading the product delivery organization, including the product and the R&D teams. Previously, Dor was the founder of Kamidoo, an AI-powered text-to-storytelling technology startup that was acquired by Connatix in 2019. After joining Connatix and prior to his current role, Dor served as VP of AI and Content Automation, leading the tech team behind the company’s content analysis and generation technologies.
Dor holds a B.Sc in Computer Software Engineering as well as an MBA.
