AdExplainer

You’ve probably heard (dozens of times) by now that first-party data will be the key to post-third-party-cookie ad targeting. But what exactly is first-party data? How does it differ from second-party, third-party and zero-party data? And what makes first-party data more suited to a privacy-centric ad experience?

The word “cookieless” crops up in virtually every conversation about the future of online identity. But what exactly do people mean when they say “cookieless”? Although the definition seems simple enough – the absence of cookies – it lacks the nuance to encompass the true complexity of signal loss. It’s also a misnomer.

AVOD is the same thing as FAST … right? Not so fast. Despite dozens of streamers, programmers and publishers crowding the space, AVOD and FAST are the only two ways to watch ad-supported TV beyond the set-top box, and the core difference between them comes down to content distribution.

Retail media is the hottest thing in online advertising and one of the most important categories for the future of programmatic growth. And the most important thing about retail media 2.0, a catchall for retailers using first-party data to target and monetize their audiences, is that the real value doesn’t come from the inventory or even who’s making the buy. It’s all about the data.

The complexity and lack of transparency in the programmatic ad buying ecosystem makes it hard to understand who you’re buying from and how big of a bite they’re taking out of a buyer’s ad spend. Hence the need for supply path optimization (SPO). Simply put, SPO is about buyers identifying the most efficient connections and using them to transact with sellers. The goal is to stop buying through inefficient or expensive paths to supply.

With FLEDGE origin trials just begun – they finally kicked off on March 31 after multiple delays – publishers and advertisers need to get up to speed. But how is FLEDGE different from other targeting-focused proposals within the Chrome Privacy Sandbox, what use cases does it support and – most importantly – is FLEDGE a viable and privacy-safe alternative to third-party cookies?

Connected TV has been a buzzword for years, but its categorization distinct from other over-the-top (OTT) media was only made official last summer. In August, the Media Rating Council (MRC) revised its official definitions to draw the line between CTV and OTT based on critical differences in measurement, viewability and attribution.