Join us Oct. 15-17 in Phoenix to connect with top media buyers
Digiday+ Research: Many publishers can’t reach most of their audience with alternate identifiers
This research is based on unique data collected from our proprietary audience of publisher, agency, brand and tech insiders. It’s available to Digiday+ members. More from the series →
When agencies and advertisers began casting about for replacements to the third-party cookie, many of them pounced on alternate identifiers.
And while publishers expect that those identifiers will play a key role in how they target and measure ads going forward, at the moment the identifiers are facing a scale issue that will have to get worked out, according to new Digiday+ research.
In November, Digiday asked 76 publisher professionals questions on a number of topics, including how they are preparing for returns to the office, how their employers are dealing with vaccination requirements and how they are adapting their businesses to the deprecation of third-party cookies. Of those 76, 54 respondents indicated they had at least direct knowledge of the company’s plans to replace third-party cookies; a majority of those 54 work directly on the plans.
A significant majority agreed that alternate identifiers will play a “key role” in their ad businesses after Google deprecates third-party cookies. Yet at the moment, the identifiers offer a limited picture of many publishers’ audiences. More than 40% said that they can reach less than half, or none of their audience using these emerging products. When subtracting the responses from panelists who said they did not know, that share rises above 60%.
This limitation is likely to get smoothed out as Google’s 2023 deadline draws closer. But it also helps explain why publishers, who have had their post-cookie game plans set for most of this year, remain worried about the effects that third-party cookie deprecation will have on their businesses.
More in Media
Media Briefing: From blocking to licensing, publishers inch toward leverage with AI
There are new levers for publishers to test in the AI era. While they’re still far from holding the upper hand, compared to a year ago, the outlook no longer looks quite so bleak.
Mitigating ‘Google risk’: The Independent maps four-pillar growth plan for the AI era
The Independent has built its growth strategy around the “blue links risk” and has stopped measuring its success by audience reach.
Advertising Week Briefing: Creators emerge as the industry’s new power brokers
Advertising Week has had creator-focused content tracks in past years, but the rising presence of content creators at this year’s event represents an evolution in how creators are engaging with advertisers, both at industry conferences like Advertising Week and in general.