Earlier this year, at a Signal Shift event in NYC, the IAB Tech Lab officially announced a new open-source initiative designed to shift more digital advertising operations server-side, “providing publishers on the open web with privacy-first control over their monetization that is independent of browser APIs and signal loss.”
The unveiling of Trusted Server, an early proof of concept that the IAB Tech Lab opened up for industry collaboration, was met with varied reactions and some skepticism.
Publishers and media owners expressed hope that this is an opportunity to wrestle back control from the large tech companies and walled gardens. Meanwhile, other entities, with business models heavily reliant on access to client-side data, shared concerns about the current capabilities of the proof of concept.
What is the future of Trusted Server? Can we expect that this initiative will really help restore publishers’ ownership of monetization?
1. It’s just a proof of concept
Anthony Katsur and the team at IAB Tech Lab haven’t released a finished specification or product. This initiative is in its infancy.
The proof of concept demonstrates potential and provides a road map for coexisting with browser functionality through phases of development. But for Trusted Server to become an adopted standard, there is a ton of work needed to support all essential pieces of web advertising.
Rich media executions, identity signals and verification solutions (ad fraud, brand safety, measurement) are among some of the key considerations that would take significant effort to shift away from client-side dependencies. The Tech Lab is also hopeful about receiving support from the dominant publisher ad server, Google Ad Manager, which is crucial for adoption.
The Tech Lab invited industry participation in a new task force for this initiative to help define the standards and next steps for Trusted Server, as investment from key players in the ecosystem will be required to get it off the ground.
2. New paths needed for trust and interoperability
Some reactions to the Trusted Server concept raised concerns that moving operations server-side could further erode trust in the OpenRTB ecosystem, pointing to ongoing issues with transparency around ID signals, video declarations, bid duplication and fraud. But these issues already exist today and are exacerbated by “rogue” vendors gaining access to the client or by intermediaries manipulating a publisher’s original configurations and signals upstream.
The current client-side model, with vendor code on publisher pages collecting user data, has contributed to data leakage, under-compensation for publishers and increased risk of privacy violations. The browser has become a chokepoint, with companies like Google and Apple limiting the broader market’s capabilities while reinforcing their own data advantages, all under the guise of privacy.
A shift to server-side processing offers a chance to reestablish trust and interoperability by reducing reliance on browser APIs and creating a cleaner, more controlled data environment for publishers. This initiative could drive real transparency, if it results in enforceable industry standards around accountability and signal verification throughout the supply chain, akin to IAB’s ‘schain’ or ‘ID provenance specs.’
While it may not yet be clear how auditing and verification will fit into the Trusted Server concept, one thing is certain: The current proliferation of tags, SDKs and pixels – paired with every vendor defining its version of “truth” – is not a sustainable foundation for the future of digital advertising.
3. The open web must improve on user experience
For publishers today, maximizing monetization through programmatic advertising typically means a lot of tech on page. Obtaining consent to comply with privacy regulations, recovering revenue from ad block users, identifying audiences through cookie syncs, sending out bid requests to multiple SSPs – all of this adds weight and latency to the client.
Add in video players, analytics or verification tags, and the exponential effect of a publisher’s direct partners incorporating multiple upstream vendors … the sheer amount of code and network requests originating from the client becomes unsustainable and leads to a terrible experience for users.
The open web will not survive without a shift to solutions that minimize the impact on the client and speed up the delivery of engaging content and advertising experiences.
Trusted Server or not, the direction is clear
The industry may continue to debate the finer points of Trusted Server and the future of publishers’ advertising operations, but the general concept of moving toward more server-side processing just makes sense.
Whether this IAB proposal evolves into something the industry adopts or not, giving publishers more control over how data is collected, shared and monetized on their properties is a step in the right direction.
“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media.
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