• by Sara Guaglione , February 27, 2019

The content monetization platform Piano has introduced a new service for content providers. It uses artificial intelligence to offer personalized content recommendations in newsletters and email, helping to drive publishers' business.

Called Piano ESP, the tool uses machine learning to analyze user behavior across multiple devices and services, such as email, mobile and desktop, to determine what articles a user would likely read.

In beta, Piano ESP works by looking at a user’s content streams to gauge their interests. For example, it could find that a user prefers to check work email and reads political news from Bloomberg on mobile during a morning commute.

Piano ESP would track these trends to automatically curate and email out political news from Bloomberg to the user’s phone at 8 a.m.

"Our ultimate goal is to create value for our clients by getting the right content in front of the right people at the right time, driving subscriptions and shedding light on users' journey," stated Trevor Kaufman, Piano CEO. "Our objective is to provide a clear, all-in-one interface that delivers messages, manages effectiveness, tracks impact and generates revenue."

Piano believes this can drive business for content providers and publishers. Results in beta showed a 50% increase in revenue, according to the company.

Average reported results include a 150% increase in open rate, a 120% increase in page views and 80% longer visit durations.

Piano ESP has been in beta since the company acquired content marketing cloud Newzmate in November. Since then, the “company has seen strong customer growth and revenue around the product.”

Piano announced last month it raised $22 million in a Series B funding round, led by Updata Partners.

Piano offers a suite of tools for content providers, such as Piano VX, a subscription commerce engine; Piano Composer, a customer experience toolkit; and Piano ID, a user-management system.

Piano powers over 200,000 digital media subscriptions. Its clients include 1,300+ media brands, including Business Insider, Bloomberg, Oath, Gatehouse Media, The Economist, Hearst, Bonnier and Conde Nast.