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Episode: Stephen Yap on Perion One, AI Integration, and the Future of Cross-Channel Advertising

Host: Ari Paparo
Guest: Stephen Yap (CRO, Perion)
Date: October 20, 2025

Main Theme

This episode explores Perion's transformation into a unified advertising technology powerhouse, the launch of Perion One, and how AI is revolutionizing cross-channel marketing. Stephen Yap, CRO of Perion, joins Ari Paparo to discuss how consolidating technology and data can drive efficiency for marketers, the challenges and realities of implementing AI, and the evolving role of agencies, CMOs, and the open web in the age of automation.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Perion’s Transformation and Launch of Perion One

• Background: Perion, originally a holding company with various ad tech assets, has overhauled its strategy.
• Unification: Perion One represents the convergence of people, processes, and technology, transforming multiple offerings (e.g., Undertone, CodeFuel, Vidazoo, Hivestack, Green Bids) into a single unified platform.
  • “Instead of having multiple products and multiple sales teams and multiple contracts...we looked at it as a unification of people, process and technology.” – Stephen Yap [03:22]
• Benefit: One platform to plan and execute campaigns across all channels—CTV, display, digital out-of-home, search, and more.

2. Channel Capabilities & Acquisitions

• Integrated Assets: Perion One integrates high-impact creative (Undertone), search assets (CodeFuel), video (Vidazoo), and digital out-of-home (Hivestack), plus the Green Bids AI algorithm.
• Coverage & Efficiency: Facilitates seamless budget allocation and optimization across a wide array of channels.

3. The Role and Impact of AI

• AI in Practice: AI isn't just a buzzword—Perion leverages AI for real operational results, optimizing in real-time across channels.
  • Example: Weather-based budget shifts: “If it’s going to be negative 40 degrees in a snowstorm…pull my digital out of home budgets and put them into CTV, because no one's going to be walking the streets.” – Stephen Yap [12:09]
• Central AI Engine: All AI assets are now combined into the Perion Algo (formerly Green Bids and Carbon), working across Perion One and other major platforms like DV360 and Meta.
  • “We combined all of our AI assets into kind of Parion Algo, which is basically the center point of all of our algorithmic aspirations.” – Stephen Yap [13:13]
• AI as Connective Tissue: There's concern that each company is building siloed AI, repeating industry mistakes.
  • “Everyone's creating AI on top of their silos…great, we haven't solved any of the problems.” – Stephen Yap [11:03]
• CMO’s Evolving Role: AI turns CMOs into portfolio managers, focused on results rather than channels.
  • “The CMO…they're going to be looked at as almost a portfolio manager by the CFO.” – Stephen Yap [12:44]

4. Customer Benefits

• Maximized Budgets: AI-driven optimization makes marketing spend go further.
  • “Your ability to make a million dollar budget feel like it’s reaching $2 million is really telling for us.” – Stephen Yap [07:42]
• Flexible Engagement: Marketers can tap into any combination of channels and let Perion’s AI optimize for effectiveness and efficiency.

5. Industry Challenges & Shifts

• Brand Awareness: With the rebrand to Perion One, a major challenge is educating the market about their evolved capabilities.
• Competitive Environment: Tech giants push for closed ecosystems, but Perion aims for agnostic, customer-centric solutions.
• Question of AI Ownership: Will agencies, brands, or tech vendors control the future of AI-powered marketing? It’s still playing out.
  • “I think that has yet to play out, to be honest with you…No matter who you are in the marketplace…everyone’s got an AI story.” – Stephen Yap [14:44]

6. AI and the Open Web

• Web Traffic & Publisher Opportunities: AI could help smaller publishers surface more effectively, but concerns about the open web’s decline remain.
  • “I think it actually will offer some opportunity for some of the smaller publishers to actually…showcasing their value.” – Stephen Yap [18:30]
• Cleaning Up Bad Actors: AI may help filter out low-quality traffic and content farms, improving digital advertising’s ecosystem.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Ad Industry Change:
  “I think ad tech really needs to be more of an enabler, an underlying technology. So it’s like, look, I can fit in to at whatever point you’re at and whatever part of the journey you may be at versus you have to come into my workflow.” – Stephen Yap [13:54]
• On CMO and AI Reality:
  “CMOs out there, that is not true, that is not true.” (Regarding AI replacing CMOs) – Stephen Yap [10:54]
• On Old School Ad Tricks:
  “We’re old enough to remember the, like, what time is the super bowl content, right.” – Ari Paparo [19:49] “What time is the Super Bowl? Wow. Yes.” – Stephen Yap [19:50]
• On Perion as an Animal:
  “Ooh, the honey badger.” – Stephen Yap [22:03]
  “Paryon’s been through a lot in its history…The thing never gives up and it’s absolutely ferocious.” – Stephen Yap [22:11]

Important Timestamps

• [03:06] – Introduction to Perion’s strategy and birth of Perion One
• [05:29] – Breakdown of Perion’s assets and unified multi-channel capabilities
• [07:35] – AI-driven budget efficiency and customer outcomes
• [09:58] – Deep dive into how AI reallocates spend dynamically (weather, channel, etc.)
• [13:13] – Technical commentary on ‘Perion Algo’ and AI architecture
• [14:44] – Agencies vs. in-house AI; the evolving CMO approach
• [16:37] – How agency data strategies and privacy policy influence AI evolution
• [18:13] – AI’s potential impact on the open web, smaller publishers, and spam
• [21:18] – Lightning round: Perion’s competitive edge, market challenges, and spirit animal

Episode Tone & Style

The tone is fast-paced, lightly irreverent, and conversational, with Ari also reminiscing about old ad tech stories and the peculiarities of industry culture. Stephen is engaging, a mix of candid and insightful, often with wry observations about technological hype cycles and the practical realities beneath the buzzwords.

Summary

This episode delivers a masterclass in how a legacy digital ad holding company like Perion pivots into the future, leveraging AI not simply as hype, but as an operational difference-maker in cross-channel media planning. Stephen Yap provides an unvarnished look at both the promises and ongoing challenges of AI integration, the realities of market education, and the delicate dance between technology, agencies, marketers, and changing web content dynamics. For anyone interested in the intersection of technology, advertising, and AI-driven automation, this episode is a rich, quick, and rewarding listen.