This document summarizes a report on content personalization trends in 2013, identifying four "disruption vectors" including the interest graph, social graph, demise of patience, and recommendation goldmine. It analyzes several companies providing personalization solutions and notes that personalized digital experiences will continue accelerating in coming years, though over-reliance on recommendations poses risks. Overall, Gravity and Demandbase are highlighted as two of the strongest emerging personalization vendors.

1. GigaOM Research
Sector RoadMapTM highlights
Content Personaliation
in 2013
by GigaOM Research analyst Mark Mulligan

2. Executive Summary
• Content owners – whether they are publishers, retailers, or marketers – are
always looking for new ways to deliver unique experiences to their customers.
• Website customization and promoting the most popular or contextually relevant
items are tried and true practices. Retailers like Amazon have long been using
collaborative filtering, anticipating interest by comparing purchases across
different buyers.
• But now, cost-effective big data analysis allows content owners to study
behavioral and social media data to create more targeted, personalized
content. As a result, new personalization pioneers are emerging.

3. Disruption vectors
This report examines four competitive areas — what we call disruption vectors
— in which vendors will strive to gain an advantage in the content
personalization marketplace in the next 18-24 months, including:
– The interest graph
– The social graph
– The demise of patience
– The recommendation goldmine
– The tyranny of choice
– Post-programming curation

4. accommodate what we call the tyranny of choice and avoid too much temptation from the
Sector RoadMap recommendation gold rush. Impatient audiences will be a disruption, but it will take tech vendors some
time to properly exploit users’ social and interest graphs.
• Number indicates company’s relative strength across all vectors
• Size of ball indicates company’s relative strength along individual vector
Source: GigaOM Research, April 2013

5. Companies mentioned
• Gravity
• Demandbase
• TruCentric
• Rovi
• Outbrain
• Taboola
• BloomReach

6. Key highlights and outlook
• Digital content experiences are becoming increasingly personalized and this trend
will accelerate over the coming years.
• Personalization vendors provide a diverse-enough range of methodologies to meet
the needs of companies across all verticals.
• Social data volumes and quality will both increase markedly but should be
considered as one input among many.
• There is a risk that the gold rush being driven by recommendation-widget ad
revenue will damage the reputations of personalization vendors and publishers alike.
• Gravity and Demandbase are two of the strongest vendors in the emerging
personalization marketplace, each with distinct methodologies and target customer
bases.

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at http://pro.gigaom.com/.