By Tejinder Gill
In the 1800s, the world marvelled at the traditional landline telephone, a symbol of innovation for its time. For generations, these landline phones connected people across India. However, the 21st century ushered in a transformative era with the widespread adoption of mobile phones. They offered greater mobility and convenience, enabling access to services beyond their reach.
Fast forward to 2023, and we find ourselves in a comparable juncture in digital advertising. This time, it’s about the next generation of digital identity.
Originally, cookies weren’t made for advertising, but marketers started using them to deliver personalised campaigns in the early days , when digital advertising happened on websites. Today, the landscape extends well beyond the confines of browsers. It now encompasses diverse channels on the open internet such as over-the-top, connected TV, music streaming, online gaming etc., all of which do not rely on cookies. The limitations of cookies in addressing the challenges underscores the need for alternative solutions.
In the last few years, the ad-tech industry has proactively created new and better identity solutions that work across channels.
This transformation begins with a simple yet powerful concept – ‘logging in’. Nearly all apps, websites, and platforms now require user logins. Even services that don’t compel users to log in are actively encouraging them to do so, in pursuit of offering personalised content. This shift is poised to gain momentum as publishers and advertisers redefine the role of identity in a post-cookie, omnichannel context.
‘Logging in’ is the premise on which new ‘alternative’ identity frameworks like Unified ID 2.0, ID5 and LiveRamp’s Authenticated Traffic Solution have been created. With alternative IDs, advertisers can meet their need to measure and manage campaigns across all channels — even those that never used cookies in the first place. Advertisers can see, for example, if a certain audience group has seen a particular ad on a streaming platform, and then manage the frequency of that ad for the viewer across all channels. Advertisers know bombarding is not good for their brand.
The benefits also extend to consumers. They can now log in using their email addresses, which are then hashed and encrypted by the alt ID system, ensuring that no personally identifiable information is accessible to advertisers. While walled gardens prioritise privacy within their walls, the open internet provides marketers a viable environment to reach more engaged users, who are spending more time outside of these walls.
The advertising industry is moving away from cookies and this transition is inevitable because, once you’ve experienced the efficiency of mobile phones, you realise just how outdated it is to rely on landline phone.
The author is general manager, The Trade Desk
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