New York, January 6, 2026, 12:25 PM EST — Regular session
- Zeta Global shares rose about 8% after it announced a strategic collaboration with OpenAI at CES 2026.
- The company said it expanded beta access for its Athena marketing “agent” and targets a broader rollout by end-Q1 2026.
- Investors are watching for evidence the new tools drive paid adoption and revenue, with the next earnings update expected in late February.
Shares of Zeta Global Holdings Corp jumped on Tuesday after the marketing software firm said it struck a partnership with OpenAI to power new AI capabilities in its Athena product. The stock was up 7.7% at $23.34 by midday in New York, after touching $24.28 earlier, while the S&P 500 was up about 0.3%.
The move matters because marketing-tech companies are in a race to embed generative AI into tools that help brands target customers and tune ad spending in real time. Investors have been quick to re-rate smaller software names that can show a clear path from AI features to paying demand.
Zeta said the OpenAI collaboration will power the “conversational intelligence” and so-called “agentic” functions behind Athena — AI software designed to answer questions and take steps inside a workflow, such as recommending actions. The company said it plans to launch Athena to all customers by the end of the first quarter of 2026. 1
Zeta said it expanded access to Athena’s beta, a test release offered ahead of a full rollout, and put two initial applications into beta: “Insights,” a chat-style analytics tool, and “Advisor,” which scans campaigns and recommends — or can automatically execute — changes tied to goals such as revenue growth and retention. It pointed to early access feedback from TKO Group Holdings, owner of UFC and WWE, and quoted data-intelligence vice president Deborah Cook calling rapid segment reporting “a game-changer.” 2
OpenAI Chief Commercial Officer Giancarlo “GC” Lionetti said the tie-up helps bring advanced AI “beyond insight and into action” for marketers. Zeta CEO David Steinberg said Athena aims to let customers move faster by turning the firm’s marketing platform into a system that can “listen, reason, and act” on their behalf. 3
KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Jackson Ader wrote that the OpenAI partnership could help Zeta stand out in a crowded marketing software field where many vendors tout similar AI features. Ader said he believes OpenAI’s GPT model will be “the main model underlying the Athena engine,” and he flagged pressure from larger marketing-cloud rivals such as Salesforce and Adobe. 4
Still, investors will want proof the beta tools translate into paid usage and durable revenue, not just headlines. If uptake is slower than expected, or if AI-related costs rise faster than monetisation, the stock’s gains could unwind quickly.
