The fundamental challenge posed by loss of existing third party data is creating large-scale advertising audiences. Content recommendation companies like Taboola and Outbrain already offer themselves as an alternative way to achieve scale. The two firms just announced a merger with Taboola as the survivor. So more of an acquisition, really.
Despite all the martech products available today, custom software is alive and well. About 60% of US and UK marketers told Mailjet they have built their own marketing technology and another 20% have a project under way. Home-grown systems are harder to use but the cost of switching keeps many companies locked in. Click here for a summary and here for tons of interesting detail on pros and cons of each option.
Adtech vendor MediaMath has pledged to deliver a “100 percent accountable and addressable supply chain by the end of 2020”, via a cooperative project called SOURCE. It’s a bit unclear what’s involved (at least to me), but the commitment to “righting the wrongs of a digital advertising industry” that has “gotten lost in fraud, waste, and irrelevance” taps into a mad-as-hell-and-we-won’t-take-it spirit within the advertising world and beyond.
Procrastinators of the world can throw a party whenever they get around to it: Google has once more pushed back complete third-party cookie deprecation. The new target is “early next year.” Reasons for the delay include concerns expressed by U.K. data regulator Information Commissioner’s Office, an ongoing inquiry by the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority, and widespread discontent in the advertising ecosystem.