Advertising Digital Publishing
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Study: Many publishers still looking for solutions to cover the loss of third-party tracking

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Lotame, a global provider of data enrichment solutions for addressable advertising, has announced findings from its “Beyond the Cookie: The Future of Advertising for Marketers and Publishers” research.

The report’s main finding reveals that the vast majority (68%) of UK marketers believe the future of advertising in a cookieless ecosystem relies on multiple interoperable ID solutions. 

In tandem with the above finding, the report identified that, for both marketers and publishers, a “context alone” strategy is not enough:

Three-quarters (75%) of marketers surveyed believe that while contextual targeting is a useful tactic to ensure advertising relevance without relying on third-party cookies, it alone cannot replace audience targeting – including one in eight (12%) having zero confidence. 

Similarly, although two-thirds (66%) of publishers are confident that contextual targeting can offer an effective cookie alternative, almost half (49%) are looking for a further solution to cover the potential loss of third-party tracking – with 15% using more contextual and intent data while they search for a longer-term solution. 

Despite the lean towards contextual targeting, an overwhelming 95% of publishers reported using supplemental data to enrich their first-party data assets. At present, publishers are tapping into a variety of information to accomplish this, including; survey and panel data (49%), marketer data (41%), third-party data from reputable vendors (24%), and second-party data from other publishers (20%). Additionally, almost a quarter (24%) say they are looking for help in finding quality data partners to augment their first-party data offering.

The report’s findings also indicate a strong interest in identity graphs solutions. Despite relatively modest current adoption rates — averaging at 19% across both marketers and publishers — over half (51%) are actively searching for an identity partner.

Moreover, those looking for a partner hope to find the right fit soon; with almost a third (28%) aiming to find one within the next six months and almost a quarter (23%) planning to use an identity solution in the next year.

Commenting on the results Chris Hogg, Managing Director EMEA at Lotame, says, “As the deadline to retire third-party cookies edges closer, marketers and publishers need to collaborate to enable advertising that is relevant, responsible, and resilient – (the industry) is in critical need of privacy tools and partnership solutions to engage audiences at scale.

“These findings also challenge the narrative that third-party data enrichment is dead and indicate second-party and third-party data still hold considerable clout, especially as first-party alone does not scale or capture the complete story of ever-changing consumer habits.”

Lotame has put faith in its Lotame Panorama ID solution which brings identity to open web traffic, stitching together web, mobile, CTV, and customer data rather than relying on email address log-in data – in essence, a ‘probabilistic solution’ that helps publishers collect identifiers and put them into cohorts. It has already been taken up by a number of data providers, SSPs and publishers including Eyeota, Sovrn, Magnite, and Advance Local, one of the U.S.’s largest media groups.

Disclaimer: WNIP is wholly owned by Sovrn Holdings Inc. who are mentioned in the article above.