MarTech360 Interview With Stas Tushinskiy, CEO And Co-founder At Instreamatic

“Personalization should be relevant and respectful, not intrusive. Use AI to target listener interests and context, not personal information. There’s a fine line, and building trust is key.”

What motivated you to transition from the audio ad agency side to co-founding an adtech/martech company, Instreamatic? How has that background shaped the development and vision of Instreamatic?

My transition from audio ad agency to co-founding Instreamatic was motivated by the emergence of digital audio advertising as an untapped frontier with significant growth potential. Recognizing that major ad tech players had yet to leverage audio effectively, we saw an opportunity to lead in this space. My background in audio advertising shaped Instreamatic’s vision to innovate and optimize ad performance, creating highly engaging campaigns that outperform traditional ads and meet the evolving needs of the market.

How has Instreamatic evolved since it launched in 2015?

Our solution began as a programmatic audio ad platform but has since evolved to focus on enhancing personalization and contextualization for all ad formats. Last year, we launched our contextual video and audio ad platform (powered by AI and patented technology), followed by our contextual CTV ad platform, which together enable brands and agencies to create unlimited ad variations, reducing costs and time. One throughline is that the strategic use of AI (while ensuring end-user privacy is ensured) has always been part of our solution evolution.

In a couple sentences, how does Instreamatic differentiate in the market?

Instreamatic stands out in the market by focusing on scalable and rapid A/B testing alongside advanced ad personalization. We enable brands to transform a single ad into a multitude of tailored variants, significantly enhancing campaign effectiveness and engagement through precise audience targeting.

The global ad agency dentsu recently ran an AI-generated audio ad campaign for Intel, using Instreamatic’s technology. What were the strategic objectives of this campaign?

The primary goal of dentsu’s audio ad campaign for Intel^® Evo^™ laptops was to see what effect variations of AI-generated audio ads would have on key brand metrics across the target audience. The results showed that personalized AI-generated audio increased brand favorability by 18-22 percentage points and purchase intent by 15-18 percentage points. Both are significant uplifts.

More broadly, this campaign aligns with brands’ marketing strategies to connect with consumers on a deeper level. We all know that generic advertising can get lost in the noise, and this campaign showed ways that AI—used responsibly and strategically—can help. By leveraging AI to personalize messages based on listener context, agencies and brands can deliver ads that are more relevant and engaging. This, as the results demonstrate, leads to a more positive perception of the Intel Evo brand and a greater likelihood of consumers considering their products. Personalized audio ad campaigns align very well with what modern marketers’ are already hoping to achieve.

What were the biggest technical challenges faced during this campaign, and how were they overcome? Were there any unexpected hurdles?

One of the biggest technical challenges one faces when managing a campaign with a large number of ad versions is the risk of human error during the setup process, as each creative must be precisely targeted. Instreamatic’s platform addresses this by automating ad creative production, campaign setup, and ad serving—thereby eliminating these risks. This automation allows marketers to use a single VAST tag that can be activated in any DSP. This simplifies the process. However, we ran into an unexpected obstacle when we discovered that not all publishers were compatible with the latest versions of VAST, so we had to split the campaign into multiple sub-campaigns to ensure a timely delivery of all impressions.

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Can you please tell us how do you ensure the personalization is relevant and not intrusive?

Instreamatic ensures that personalization strikes the perfect balance between relevance and respecting the user’s privacy. By focusing on broader user contexts—such as the publisher through which the ad is heard—our approach tailors content that is pertinent to a wide audience without delving into personal data. This method enhances user engagement without feeling intrusive. In addition, we employ strategies such as incorporating countdowns to major shopping events (e.g., Black Friday) and mentioning the target retailer at the end of the ad to create a sense of urgency and set appropriate expectations, further optimizing conversion rates without compromising the user experience.

What key metrics does Instreamatic prioritize for assessing audio ad campaign effectiveness, and why?

To evaluate the effectiveness of our AI-generated advertising campaigns, we focus on key metrics that reflect the impact of the ads on the audience’s engagement with the brand. These metrics include brand favorability, purchase intent, and brand awareness. For example, in the Intel campaign, we noticed a significant increase in brand favorability. Generic AI-generated ads increased favorability by 9%, while personalized ads increased it by as much as 22%. Purchase intent increased 15-18% and brand awareness increased 6-12% among those exposed to personalized ads. These metrics demonstrate the tangible benefits of our advertising efforts and illustrate the significant impact our ads have on improving brand perception and driving consumer action.

What advice would you give to other companies considering the use of personalized AI-generated content in their marketing strategies?

Brands considering personalized AI-generated content for their marketing strategies can confidently move forward with those plans, but do so strategically. Here’s a breakdown of some key takeaways based on the Intel Evo campaign:

It works. The data is clear: personalized AI ads outperform generic AI ones, with significant lifts in brand favorability, purchase intent, and awareness. Consumers respond well to the tailored approach.

It’s efficient. Instreamatic’s voice AI technology enabled personalized campaigns to be created and deployed in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods. This is a game-changer, allowing for faster campaign turnaround and budget optimization—two very critical variables.

Focus on value, without overstepping. Personalization should be relevant and respectful, not intrusive. Use AI to target listener interests and context, not personal information. There’s a fine line, and building trust is key.

Start small, test, and iterate. Don’t jump into a massive campaign. Start with a pilot program, measure results, and refine your approach. Use the data to understand what resonates with your audience.

How do you see AI and personalization evolving in audio-based campaigns?

Beyond just the performance benefits, AI can enable new efficiency and scale for personalized audio creative production. Going from a process that traditionally takes months, to generating thousands of personalized ads in just hours, makes AI capabilities practically mandatory for brands wanting to personalize and contextualize audio campaigns at a mass level.

As results like this Intel campaign continue to come in, I think that we’ll see AI voice technologies like Instreamatic more rapidly embraced across the audio advertising ecosystems. Brands, agencies, publishers—the whole industry stands to benefit. The production cost and time savings, combined with the attention/engagement benefits of personalization, create strong incentives to deploy AI-powered audio ad workflows.

That said, getting personalization right through AI will be critical. Audiences are clear that they favor respectful, intelligent personalization tailored to their actual contexts and needs. Pushing personalized creative too far into gimmicky or intrusive territory could backfire. But tools that personalize thoughtfully should continue to see growing adoption.

Ultimately, this Intel campaign demonstrates that when audio ads tap into AI’s audio personalization superpowers responsibly, it can cultivate much more meaningful, impactful relationships between brands and audiences. As AI voice technologies continue advancing, I anticipate we’ll see personalized audio ads become the norm rather than the exception across streaming, podcasting, and other audio environments.

What is the biggest problem your team is solving this year?

This year, the biggest challenge our team at Instreamatic is tackling is the contextualization and production of new video ad concepts using existing approved video footage, enhanced with AI-generated video segments that match the style of the original ads. Our goal is to seamlessly integrate new scenes into ads for specific contextual relevance—such as incorporating imagery of NYC in ads targeted at New York City viewers. This approach allows for highly personalized and localized advertising that resonates more deeply with each audience segment.

Thanks, Stas!