On January 14, 2020, Google announced plans to phase out support for third-party cookies in Chrome within the next two years. This presents marketers and the adtech industry with the challenge of finding a new way to accurately identify and connect with customers on the open internet, as we move towards net neutrality. We see this not only as a challenge, but an enormous opportunity and the chance for the industry to re-establish trust with the consumer and build a far better ecosystem – more efficient, more sustainable, and better for privacy.
The current state of the open internet
The open internet enables a value exchange between publishers and consumers whereby the consumer can access the content of a publisher in exchange for access to the consumer’s identity to personalise advertising and drive publisher revenue. Content is not free. Whether it was TV, before the advent of the internet, or the digital age, advertising has been the backbone that has enabled consumers to access vast amounts of quality content for “free”. In order to accurately target those audiences with relevant content, it is necessary for advertisers to be able to identify and analyse behaviour across digital environments to better understand their customers and deliver more meaningful experiences.
The demise of third-party cookies will inhibit the ability for advertisers to reach an addressable audience and will present challenges for publishers and marketers to continue to deliver valuable and relevant customer experiences. However, if you look at this with a different lens, there is actually an opportunity for a more accurate and efficient way to identify and engage with consumers online.
As an industry, we have an opportunity to change the perception of advertising and lead the way in delivering a consumer-centric approach, with privacy and consent at its core. A dialogue must happen between publisher and consumer and the industry must do better to regain the trust of the consumer. A value exchange happens every day that a consumer browses free content, but we must explain this, and we must make it much easier for consumers to understand and control their data.
Delve deeper with IAB Australia’s recent podcast – Digital Marketing Identity Solutions.
A new way of identifying and reaching customers on the open internet
As we transition away from third-party cookie tracking, we are seeing industry adoption of people-based identifiers that provide solutions to build a new, safer, and more effective experience across the open web.
- The Authenticated Traffic Solution (ATS), which provides publishers with the capability to engage in a value exchange with their readers, who can access content in exchange for authentication
- Privacy tools that help publishers and brands offer individuals a way to manage their data with consent and preferences
- Infrastructure to use IdentityLink – advertising technology platforms are architecting their platforms to use people-based identity in addition to traditional device-based identity. The era of cookie frequency caps and measurement is coming to an end and a new era of people-based frequency capping, suppression, and measurement is emerging.
Benefits of addressability on IdentityLink
IdentityLink is embedded across the ecosystem enabling marketers to target one-to-one at scale and accurately attribute the effectiveness of media investments – without relying on third-party cookies.
- Enhanced Privacy & Security
Provides consumers with greater transparency and choice as well as more secure use of data across the ecosystem - Addressability at Scale
Preserves people-based addressability on Chrome and unlocks incremental reach on Safari and Firefox - Improved Attribution
Every impression bought on IdentityLink is measurable, enabling accurate and transparent attribution.
Supporting the open internet
At the end of the day, we want a level playing field for every platform, marketer, and publisher – with consumer privacy at the very centre. We need to work together as an industry to bring this vision into effect.
Delve deeper with IAB Australia’s recent podcast – Digital Marketing Identity Solutions.