"AI and machine learning are enabling us to optimize our search capabilities. It was just text originally, then images, now we are able to search video images frame-by-frame," LinkedIn's Director of Engineering Liang Zhang, originally from China, told Xinhua.

For addressable sales in the legacy network television and cable arenas, Comcast Advertising's VP of Strategy, Claudio Marcus, quoted epic sci-fi writer, William Gibson's line, "The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed."

Marcus told Xinhua he feels that addressable advertising can provide a 55 percent incremental reach for a significantly lower price, but that the industry as a whole needs more scaled data and more collaboration across the entertainment ecosystem to maximize addressable ads impact.

For Laura Nelson, senior vice president of Advertising Solutions and Performance Marketing of Disney's Advertising Sale Division, addressable ads add real value to their marketing strategy.

"Disney is built on great content but doesn't have the great data that Comcast has ... You'll pay higher rate for targeted ads, but these investments are worth it," she asserted.