Creating a data ecosystem built on consumer trust

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Creating a data ecosystem built on consumer trust Duncan is an award-winning editor with more than 20 years experience in journalism. Having launched his tech journalism career as editor of Arabian Computer News in Dubai, he has since edited an array of tech and digital marketing publications, including Computer Business Review, TechWeekEurope, Figaro Digital, Digit and Marketing Gazette.


It’s time to build an ecosystem that is rooted in consumer trust and puts the consumer first, says Tim Geenen, managing director, Addressability Europe at LiveRamp.

The increased scrutiny on third-party cookies, mobile device IDs, and IP addresses has made it increasingly difficult for advertisers to continue delivering meaningful experiences to consumers. As a result, publishers and advertisers alike have been finding ways to personalise the consumer journey without the need for unauthenticated device and browser IDs.

In the past, the advertising and marketing industries have not provided enough transparency nor explained how data is used to provide value to consumers. It was not made abundantly clear to consumers that content on news sites and elsewhere is kept free in exchange for targeted advertising, which is based on the data people share with publishers. The truth is that ads enable the free flow of information and entertainment across the internet, but this was poorly explained. Subsequently, trust has suffered.

The industry now has a chance to regain this trust and build an ecosystem that puts privacy first and provides consumers with more transparency and control, while promising stronger revenue models for publishers and better ROAS for advertisers.

Providing authentic value

The best way to put this new ecosystem into practice is by offering a clear and fair value exchange. When consumers authenticate, they share their identity in a transparent way in order to gain access to meaningful content. In return, they know that their identity is going to be used to create personalised ads. Users share their identity with trusted publishers to get access to content at no charge. By taking this approach, users are guaranteed transparency, control, and choice, while publishers are put back in the driving seat and able to more closely manage their relationships with both users and advertisers. 

Marketers want to buy inventory that is people-based and addressable – and publishers need to make doing this as straightforward as possible, so they can command higher CPMs and deliver better performance. 

Benefits for all

Publishers can identify their authenticated users in real-time to enable data-informed targeting, meaning they can unlock the true value of their inventory, open new revenue streams to make up for the loss of third-party cookies and other identifiers, and better compete with the walled gardens.

Solutions based on authentications enable addressability through the ecosystem, allowing marketers to minimise and/or eliminate their dependency on third-party cookies. Advertisers can connect their audiences to authenticated inventory the same way they do today – through the DSPs they currently transact with, or via private marketplace deals with SSPs, so there’s no need to overhaul existing processes. 

Beyond the benefits to users, publishers, and advertisers, there are also ways that tech platforms can reap the rewards of authentication solutions. Authenticated data is more stable than third party cookie data, has higher security standards and enables better privacy  audit trails.

Building for a better future

Authentication solutions are a positive for the whole ecosystem. They build consumer trust, put the consumer and the publisher in control, and create an environment where advertisers and publishers can more easily work together to deliver meaningful outcomes for brands.  For advertisers, in particular, there is huge potential to connect all of their first-party data to a people-based identity, and leverage it to personalise their consumer journey across the internet.

It’s time to rebuild the modern-day ecosystem to transact on people-based identity and to move away from the third-party cookie. It’s time to build an ecosystem that is rooted in consumer trust and puts the consumer first. And, in a trusted ecosystem, this trust is expressed through a privacy-focused, transparent authentication experience.

Interested in hearing leading global brands discuss subjects like this in person?

Find out more about Digital Marketing World Forum (#DMWF) Europe, London, North America, and Singapore.  

Author

  • Duncan MacRae

    Duncan is an award-winning editor with more than 20 years experience in journalism. Having launched his tech journalism career as editor of Arabian Computer News in Dubai, he has since edited an array of tech and digital marketing publications, including Computer Business Review, TechWeekEurope, Figaro Digital, Digit and Marketing Gazette.

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