The Weather Company debuts interactive ad solution based on IBM Watson

IBM-owned The Weather Company is launching Watson Ads, a new ad tech solution that utilises machine learning to give consumers an ability to interact with digital advertising. In what the vendor claims is the first consumer use of its cognitive computing technology for advertising purposes, Watson Ads will allow advertisers to produce display ads that invite consumers to interact through voice and text with a product or service offering. The Weather Company has confirmed three brands - Campbell Soup Company, Unilever and GSK Consumer Healthcare – will be the first to take up the new ad solution when it launches later this year. As an example, the media company said a consumer could ask through natural voice recognition what they should make for dinner that night. Watson will then provide a data-driven response using a combination of machine learning and reasoning ability from datasets ingested by the system.