As we focus on innovation and excellence in our industry, it’s critical for us to keep a pulse on all changes taking place to better understand how it impacts our customers and their work. We prioritize identifying emerging trends from the onset, so we can make the best products on the market with those trends in mind.
The recent Annual Leadership Meeting from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) reiterated two changes we have been watching for some time: The ways big tech companies are changing their targeting capabilities, and regulatory changes stemming from California’s Consumer Protection Act. The way these topics were infused into nearly every session at IAB ALM cemented the importance of being prepared.
The most important takeaway from hearing more about these two trends from digital leaders? We feel prepared for these changes and what it means for the advertising industry’s ability to target and track users on digital devices. Here’s a quick breakdown of what to expect and what it means for you.
Big Changes from Big Tech
The largest tech software and hardware providers are changing their stance on the permissions surrounding unique identifiers such as cookies on desktop and mobile web devices, and device IDs in application-based environments like iPhones and AppleTVs.
Specifically, the big tech companies are opting to remove the ability for third parties to read or write cookies on the web, or access the user’s device ID without the user explicitly giving permission to each application. These changes are already underway for massive companies like Apple and Google.
These identifiers (cookies and device IDs) are the primary technology used by advertisers for the purpose of targeting audiences across the open web. With permissions being restricted or removed, the old ways of targeting audiences will no longer be available to advertisers. New methods will need to be developed and implemented to continue effective ad targeting.
Regulatory Changes
Following California’s release of the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA), many other states have followed suit. This means new policies are being developed to require the permission and disclosure for usage of cookies or other technologies for the purposes of analytics or advertising. Advertisers will need to closely watch these policies in states they are advertising to ensure they are following the letter of the law.
What It Means for You
These two key changes will impact advertising potential of publishers outside of the walled garden enterprises of YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other sites and apps, which rely on massive logged-in user bases to capture and collect first-party data that can be used for targeting.
Without the same technology available to advertisers (cookies and device IDs) for the purposes of targeting specific users for their interests or browsing history, advertisers will need to adapt to uncover new ways to reach consumers with relevant content. With the industry working fast and furious, organizations like IAB have been at the forefront of these changes, with some of their new framework from the tech lab helping publishers get aligned on responses to industry changes.
How Does FUEL Help?
FUEL manages video content and handles advertising requests. Users categorize their videos and we translate all audio into text, which allows us to pass this information along to advertisers for the purposes of targeting contextually.
This type of targeting is gaining popularity as advertisers are still looking to align their message with the right audiences based on content consumed. FUEL makes this possible.
Make FUEL part of your digital media plans. Find out more about this industry-changing solution and schedule a demo here.
About Bitcentral, Inc.
Bitcentral is one of the video industry’s most trusted and innovative software solution providers. For more than 20 years, we have helped the biggest names in broadcasting create workflows that maximize the value of media. With our industry-changing solution FUEL™, we’re bringing our innovative approach to video to the digital world to create an innovative curation process—and an extraordinary viewing experience. In addition to FUEL, Bitcentral is part of everyday news operations with our Core News™ solution, the No. 1 news production platform in the U.S. reaching millions every day, and Central Control™, which provides a flexible toolset for master control operation with modules to execute all the processes that converge into playout. Bitcentral is based in Newport Beach, California, and its Latin America headquarters is in Mexico City. Schedule a demo today with a Bitcentral expert to bring new efficiencies to your media operations. Learn more at bitcentral.com.