Olga Zharuk
TeqBlaze / Chief Product Officer
In this series of blog posts, we will disclose the full-functional programmatic strategy for operating in a cookieless environment. Due to the latest news, this issue is no longer so critical, but it is still worth looking at alternatives. It’s a diversification of assets, and these technologies are increasing in usage and support by diverse market participants. We at TeqBlaze believe that ad tech businesses should obtain all the possible opportunities to strengthen their positions in the transforming industry.
We focused on creating a technical roadmap based on real-life experience to reach a broad, knowledgeable audience.
Technology alternatives to third-party cookies targeting
- [1/3] Identity solutions, SDA, and first-party data — these technologies allow ad targeting based on specific user data, using anonymized cross-platform user profiles with compliant zero-party and first-party data for precise identification.
- [2/3] Contextual and behavioral targeting — the scope of approaches for targeting advertising based on website content categories, topics, sentiment, key phrases, keywords, and user behavior patterns, rather than user data.
- [3/3] Google Privacy Sandbox — an alternative way to target a broad Chrome audience based on content topics that users consume and groups of users united by similar interests.
The common scheme for all three articles in this series of blog posts is to explore specific alternatives and emphasize the importance of combining different approaches to achieve better business results.
Identity solutions and Seller Defined Audiences (SDA)
Identity solutions are primarily divided into two categories: User identity graphs and Universal ID Solutions. SDA is an approach among UID solutions. They are based on zero-party and first-party data sharing, where:
- Zero-party data is information a person willingly shares, such as through surveys or account creation.
- First-party data is information collected from a consumer’s direct interactions with your business, like in-app behavior or purchases.
I. User identity graphs based on consent to anonymized zero-party data sharing, such as email, phone number, address, bank account number, and other personally identifiable information (PII), when visiting a website. This data is then used for cross-platform synchronization of anonymized user profiles.
User ID graphs offer significant benefits, including the ability to handle complex customer journeys and enable real-time ad personalization, significantly boosting conversion rates. They also provide access to compliant user profiles based on first-party data for advanced targeting and feature high scalability across multiple devices and channels, enabling precise cross-environment measurement and dynamic creatives.
However, User ID graphs can also pose privacy risks, including potential breaches due to improper anonymization of PII data. Additionally, they can be costly to implement, may suffer from transparency issues and data inaccuracies with third-party providers, and require collaboration among ad tech companies for accurate data matching and resolution.
Pay attention. Even when anonymized, User ID graphs may still use cookies to exchange some part of the data between advertising platforms.
User ID Graph examples:
- Tapad Graph — A cross-device identity resolution solution that connects user interactions across multiple devices and touchpoints, enabling seamless ad targeting and measurement.
- Next-Gen solutions by Verizon — Advanced identity solutions leveraging Verizon’s data and technology to provide accurate and privacy-safe user identification for enhanced ad targeting and personalization.
- LiveRamp ID — An identity resolution platform that uses deterministic and probabilistic matching to create a unified view of the consumer across different channels and devices, supporting precise targeting and measurement.
II. Universal ID solutions based on consent for first-party data sharing according to industry-standard specifications Project Rearc by IAB Tech Labs, including user-enabled identity tokens and seller-defined audiences (SDA) with cross-platform exchange of anonymized seller-defined contexts or audience attributes within OpenRTB.
Universal IDs offer privacy-safe alternatives to cookies for data exchanges in AdTech. They have low implementation barriers and high interoperability, supported by strong technical standards from IAB. However, they are limited to the domain the user visits, relying heavily on publishers’ adoption and email capture strategies, which may not initially match the scale of third-party cookies.
An identity solution that is gaining significant traction is Unified ID 2.0, an industry-supported solution which uses a user’s email address or phone number (with their consent); many key industry players such as Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming services, Walmart, The Washington Post and Buzzfeed have signed up. Around 75% of the third-party data ecosystem is leveraging Unified ID 2.0 on their platforms, according to The Trade Desk’s Jeff Green – continued uptake could make it the industry standard. — ECI.
Universal ID solutions examples:
- UID 2.0 by The Trade Desk — An open-source framework designed to replace third-party cookies with privacy-safe identifiers that allow advertisers to target and measure ads across the open internet.
- ID5.io — Enhances user identification accuracy and privacy compliance, helping publishers and advertisers improve ad targeting and measurement without relying on third-party cookies.
- User ID Module by Prebid.org — A collaborative identity solution integrated with the Prebid open-source auction framework, enabling publishers to manage multiple user ID solutions for more effective and privacy-safe ad targeting.
Implementing identity solutions
The transition from targeting based primarily on third-party cookies to targeting strategies rebuilt with an enriched technology portfolio takes time and resources, and issues are routinely encountered. To solve them, technical approaches such as data architecture, software solution development, and support management are necessary, as are marketing techniques designed to encourage users to consent to sharing a wide range of their personal information.
The alternatives to cookie targeting mentioned in this article have repeatedly proven their effectiveness in practice. However, the same can be said about other, less popular solutions that TeqBlaze developers have successfully used as Lotame and Intent IQ.
Other alternative solutions on the market are also actively being developed and improved. However, no solution is valuable in itself. The value is the interaction of advertising players with the help of matched technologies at a level that thoroughly covers the parties’ needs. The TeqBlaze team recommends that all market participants invest in deploying and adapting the identity solutions relevant to your business models and that partners have already integrated to comply with them.
In the long run, improving the framework with progressive standards such as the User ID Module by Prebid.org is imperative to encourage industry players to securely exchange different IDs for fast data synchronization and scaling. This leads to better transparency and fault tolerance within your programmatic advertising ecosystem.
Concluding strategy adjusting, in the perfect case, sustainable funds and attention must be invested in the research and development of the technology portfolio to grow business results. Cookieless targeting approaches should be balanced with cookie-based ones to enable flexible scaling in a market with a technology transition.