Ep 156 – Zack Rosenberg, Qortex – What Your Audience Watches Reveals More Than What They Search

Featuring: Zack Rosenberg, Qortex In episode 156, I sit down with Zack Rosenberg, founder and CEO of Cortex, a video intelligence company decoding the connection between what people watch and what they actually buy. We get into how Zack discovered that buying intent shows up in the content people watch long before it ever reaches a search bar, why nearly 90% of video content is miscategorized, and why he's betting on "data-supported" creative over blind data-driven formulas. We also talk about what AI means for ad production costs, the future of agency workforces, and why smaller shops now have a real shot at business that used to belong exclusively to the hold-cos. If you've ever wondered whether your audience is telling you something your gut instincts haven't caught up to yet, this conversation will change how you think about targeting, creative, and where your next best client might already be looking. Key Bytes • Nike ads perform four times better in cooking content than in basketball content — proof that buying intent rarely follows the obvious audience. • Nearly 90% of video content is miscategorized, which means most "data-driven" targeting is built on garbage. • Buying intent starts long before the search bar — inspiration comes from the content people watch, not what they type into Google. • AI can be random, but it can't be creative — data should inform the work, not replace it. • The industry's obsession with "data-driven" thinking should give way to "data-supported" thinking, where human hunches still lead. • Cheaper AI-driven production doesn't shrink agency costs to zero — human costs are capped, but AI costs scale with every single use. • Smaller, nimble agencies now have a real shot at winning business that used to be locked up by the big hold-cos. • Relationships built through community outlast any single job or client. Chapters 00:00 Intro and welcome to Zack Rosenberg 01:46 The origin story of Cortex and the Nike-in-cooking-content discovery 03:46 Who Cortex actually serves: data teams, brands, and agencies 04:41 From small sports leagues to solving the mis-categorization problem 06:58 Why buying intent starts long before the search bar 08:41 Broad reach vs. micro-targeted creative, and AI-generated ad variations 10:52 Data-driven vs. data-supported, and why identical ads keep winning 16:20 What AI means for creative costs, agency workforce, and hold-cos 22:08 Building the Montclair Media Group community 27:08 Rapid-fire questions and closing thoughts Zack Rosenberg is the Founder & CEO of Qortex, an advanced video intelligence company helping brands identify intent based on what people watch. Qortex analyzes millions of videos to uncover real-time signals that connect content consumption to purchase behavior—powering smarter planning, activation, and performance across digital media. A lifelong entrepreneur from a family of founders, Zack is passionate about building enduring companies and shifting the advertising industry from audience assumptions to content intelligence. He also co-founded Montclair Media Group, a fast-growing community for marketers and founders in New Jersey. Contact Zack on LinkedIn or on their website.