A look at Digiday’s most popular WTF explainers in 2024

By Digiday Editors • December 27, 2024 •

Ivy Liu

As a Digiday+ member, you were able to access this article early through the Digiday+ Story Preview email. See other exclusives or manage your account.This article was provided as an exclusive preview for Digiday+ members, who were able to access it early. Check out the other features included with Digiday+ to help you stay ahead

It’s been a long year. And there’s a lot to keep straight — what do industry acronyms stand for? How does that affect strategies? With our WTF series, we aim to breakdown what these complex topics mean, so the industry can walk into their meetings prepared for whatever’s next. Catch up below on some of our most popular WTF explainers this year.

(Here’s what resonated in 2023).

WTF is principal media?

The concept of principal media — in which agencies invest in media at non-disclosed prices to resell to clients — was on the rise this year. It became widespread enough that the ANA published a report on it for marketers. Read our explainer here.

WTF is the Attribution Reporting API in Google’s Privacy Sandbox?

So, as we know now — Google will keep cookies in its Chrome browsers, leaving it up to users to opt in (or out). There are many questions as to how this will work next year. But in this explainer, we break down how Google developed an alternate solution to track ad sales and conversions.

WTF is the difference between ID bridging and ID spoofing?

Here’s a breakdown of the difference between ID bridging and ID spoofing when it comes to programmatic advertising.

WTF is the American Privacy Rights Act

We explored what it would be like to have a federal privacy law in place by breaking down the closest the U.S. has ever come to it in the American Privacy Rights Act.

WTF are data collaborations?

In light of the latest cookie news, publishers have become more interested than ever in data collaborations with brands. Read here more about what that has looked like.