Spotlight
It’s Autumn, and the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is now with us. What better time for a hot mug of cocoa and a relaxing read of Spotlight?
Missed our September newsletter? Don’t worry, you can read it on our blog here.
What we have for you today: The adtech ecosystem continues to figure out a future without tracking cookies, marketers get serious about data ethics and compliance, and telcos make a foray into Web 3.0.
Whatever happens when third-party cookies finally bite the dust (and Google has recently stressed once again that they will definitely be replaced at some point), it’s clear that the digital advertising ecosystem is in for major change.
One positive is that publishers are likely to gain significant control back from the major tech platforms that currently dominate online advertising – something we believe to be long overdue. The best way to do this is to offer the privacy-first audiences that the industry will require in the aftermath of third-party cookies.
The secret to success: publishers should not work in isolation. Advertisers need reach and scale. Publishers should therefore look to work in an environment where data can be normalised and made available across multiple publishers while keeping each first-party data supply sacrosanct.
With the end of third-party cookies, a new enabling technology will be required. Sixty-four percent of app publishers, for example, report being concerned about the effect Google’s removal of third-party cookies will have on user acquisition. For some commentators, in-app purchase behaviour targeting, which allows advertisers and agencies to engage with people based on what they have already bought, is therefore something of a no-brainer.
We believe that app publishers can actually get the best of both worlds, reaching audiences based on purchase behaviour and purchase intent. Our alternative, privacy-first ID infrastructure enables all app publishers to create 360-degree profiles of pseudonymised users inclusive of behaviour and intent, and provides the means through which they can be activated safely.
What’s clear is that all publishers – app or web – will increasingly need to rely on first-party data to enable personalised content for users. As Stephanie Liu, Privacy and Marketing Analyst at Forrester puts it: “Personalisation has turned into an amorphous catch-all, but when it comes to asking customers for data, brands need to think about what data they need, how they’ll use it to benefit the customer and how they’ll encourage customers to actually share that data.”
The industry is currently looking at ways in which first-party data can best be used, with Google trying out a range of approaches. Among its latest are new personalised ad targeting options for Display and Video 360 campaigns. The approach enables personalised ad targeting on websites, where consumers have given consent to both the advertising brand and the host site.
While any innovation is welcome, such approaches will only enable personalisation for authenticated web users. A different approach is required to reach unauthenticated users on the anonymous web if true scale is to be achieved. And it is here that solutions like Novatiq’s Fusion Platform will have a significant role to play.
At heart, the end of third-party cookies is about making digital advertising more ethical. It is an approach that marketers increasingly appreciate, even if they at times struggle to implement it. A new report from the WFA suggests that while 90% of CMOs say data ethics is a priority for their organisation, 50% lack a clear understanding of what this means when it comes to the processes and practices they need to apply internally and across their marketing supply chains.
It’s little wonder therefore, that many are struggling even to achieve basic compliance with privacy regulations. A report from Compliant shows the scale of this problem, showing that although 92% of European publishers operate a CMP (consent management platform) 81% of these publishers pass user data to third parties before consent is gained.
Clearly, while the digital advertising industry is on a course to a privacy-first future, there’s still much work to be done.
At Novatiq we believe that telco-verified IDs are part of the solution to the data safety and compliance challenge and will help ensure that tomorrow’s “Web 3.0” is privacy centric by design. Significantly, there is growing evidence that telcos are looking to play an active role in Web 3.0, such as Telefonica’s latest moves into crypto. By offering services for the next generation of the web, telcos can create new growth and value generation opportunities and make themselves more relevant than ever to the digital world.
As always, if you’re looking for more stories, thoughts, and comments on all things related to digital marketing then please drop by our blog. This month, we’re examining just what consumers think about data privacy in advertising. Take a look.
See you next month for more news and inspiration.
