AdTech and Privacy - will it ever work?
Hi,
On a recent podcast I was asked the following:
"What do you think is the future of AdTech considering all the privacy regulations?"
The first thought that popped into my mind was that it's not ALL bad.
Usually we hear "AdTech" and we always assume the worst - it's all just scam and most of it is bot traffic anyway.....
But not really. AdTech is not always bad.
AdTech is an umbrella term that includes all software and platforms that help brands and agencies to target and deliver (also analyse) their digital ad efforts.
That's it - that's adtech.
Google Analytics ads platform = ad tech
Facebook ads = ad tech
Taboola = ad tech
TikTok ads = ad tech
I know I’m explaining the obvious to all of you but it’s worth repeating.
So what is all the fuss about then?
Why is this a question I get over and over?
Because the adtech space is coming up (or better yet, it’s half way though) a major hiccup.
As companies were targeting users everywhere based on location, behaviours, and demographic data consumers started pushing back.
They have had enough and demanded greater transparency.
In the meantime policymakers in the EU, US, Australia, Brazil, and more have started to respond with regulations. Everything from the GDPR to the newest privacy laws in the US. They all address it.
And not just that, they’ve been passing out the fines and warnings as well. Just recently the FTC issued a warning to Meta about making money off of children’s data and there are an endless list of fines being issued from Google to Amazon.
But advertising is not going away. It’s essential to business growth.
So adtech companies have been busy creating and finding any privacy-friendly solution they can.
Some have come and gone, others are looking like they might be here to stay.
Starting next week (yes, next week! - I’m ready to go, no waiting anymore) I will break down a few of the options and how they could, or could not, work when it comes to privacy.
Some of the ones we will break down are:
Data Clean Rooms - a platform where brands can access ad data and use it for targeting, measurement, and analysis. The ad performance data provided in a clean room is aggregated.
Synthetic Data - data that is artificially generated. It's created algorithmically.
Contextual Targeting - the old-school way, based on what content the user is consuming.
Google Topics - being assigned topics by Google based on previous browsing history.
Cookie-like ID solutions that are designed to work cross-channel.
Reads:
What are you actually agreeing to when accepting a Privacy Policy?
Will Meta be around in the EU. On May 12th Meta might need to halt data transfers and get hit by a penalty.
Another article on the FTC wanting to push for a ban on Meta making money off of children's data.
Closing thought:
I've crawled back out of my rabbit hole and the more I've dwelled on the solutions available to us the more I realise that there will be nothing more important that zero and first party data. There is nothing more important that working with the data you have to market to your customers especially as most solutions are inaccessible to anything other than large scale operations.
Until next week,
Siobhan