Meet Nick Pinks, CEO of Advertising Software Provider: Covatic

What is Covatic?

 
Covatic was born out of a firm belief that a private-by-design approach is the only way to ensure that media and advertising become more innovative and ethical as industries.

Data is key for brands to better understand consumers’ needs and form a mutually beneficial relationship. However, current public opinion and tightening privacy regulations mean personal data cannot be taken for granted or traded as a free asset.

Covatic’s proprietary software is integrated with a host app and builds a user profile based on activities, behaviours, and preferences. We can create new audience segments, enabling effective and compelling adtech solutions that have a real and GDPR-compliant impact.

Through on-device machine learning, brands can serve tailored, contextualised, and most importantly relevant content based on dynamic segments derived from aggregated real-world user actions. Put simply, we have a real-world context engine that runs on users’ devices.
 

 

What do you think makes this company unique?

 
I previously worked at the BBC, so my background is in broadcast television. Within the service broadcasting/media sector, there was no big emphasis on advertising, but there was still awareness of how relevant data is to understanding consumer needs.

Big tech companies have access to vast amounts of user data. In an era where it’s no longer acceptable to track users through cookies or user IDs, the only way for broadcasters to compete is to approach the matter differently. So I became fascinated with the technical challenge of leveraging data to deliver a truly personalised stream of content and wanted to turn technology into the answer, rather than see it as the problem.

Covatic is unique because our product can combine website or app activity with other devices and sensor data to generate real-time, granular insights without the use of IDs, cookies, or even DMPs.
 

How has the company evolved over the last couple of years?

 
Covatic began in the University of Oxford’s Data Science department as a prototype built for the BBC. After the pandemic, the Comcast LIFT Labs accelerator programme helped us define and develop our product from a mobile-based programme to one that is able to work across all devices.

Since then, we have defined Covatic as a company that builds audiences, delivering private-by-design, addressable advertising to the media industry.

As a B corporation, we put ethics front and centre, from recruitment to technology. We set up our headquarters in Birmingham and aim to prioritise both community and sustainability, by stimulating national and international investment in the region.
 

What can we hope to see from Covatic in the future?

 
Online privacy is the most important issue facing the media ecosystem. By disrupting the industry and creating a solution with privacy built at its core, we’re empowering media companies to deliver better content and advertising experiences while protecting their commercial futures.

We plan to make our privacy-by-design product the advertising standard, rather than the outlier. We want to see a future where a brand’s app can preload content based on consumer lifestyles and plan to expand and strengthen our team to scale the reach of our offering.