Epsilon Is Making Its Identity Platform Interoperable With Unified ID 2.0

On Thursday, Publicis-owned Epsilon became the latest company to support Unified ID 2.0.

UID 2.0 is an open-source industry initiative, originated by The Trade Desk, that aims to develop an alternative to third-party cookies by replacing them with hashed or encrypted email addresses.

Specifically, Publicis clients can activate Epsilon’s proprietary CORE ID (which stands for Conversant One-to-One Relationship Engine, if anyone asks) against The Trade Desk’s demand-side platform. The Trade Desk will become the exclusive DSP for Epsilon’s CORE ID offerings and other Epsilon-owned platforms.

The CORE ID represents more than 200 million people tied to pseudonymous data, most of which comes in the form of first-party consented transaction records from Epsilon’s clients and partners.

Expanding the availability of CORE ID beyond Epsilon’s own platforms “will further align the ad tech ecosystem around the individual,” said Joe Doran, Epsilon’s chief product officer.

“Third-party cookie deprecation and the IDFA has brands concerned about a fractured world where they have to take several steps backward,” Doran said. “[But] you don’t have to give up privacy for personalization – you can do both.”

However, some members of the ad industry worry that there is a cloud hanging over the UID 2.0 initiative. In early March, Google signaled that it would not support email-based IDs once third-party cookies are phased out in Chrome.

Although Epsilon shares Google’s “perspective” on the importance of consumer privacy and the opportunity related to first-party data, the way to get there doesn’t have to be through “limited sandboxes and walled gardens,” Doran said.

“While Google’s announcement about email-based identifiers has caused a stir, its update has little impact for the brands we work with,” he said.

By making CORE ID available to buyers through The Trade Desk’s platform, they’ll be able to get more reach and measure the results when third-party cookies are no more. The partnership will also allow publishers in the CORE Private Exchange, Epsilon’s ad exchange, to see increased demand on CORE ID which should translate into higher yield.

“Interoperability is essential for a healthy ecosystem between advertising clients and their customers,” Doran said. “This partnership unlocks choice for all advertisers in any activation scenario while also protecting consumer privacy.”

Epsilon joins a growing roster of companies that support Unified ID 2.0. Here’s an up-to-date list:

Xandr is integrating with UID 2.0 so that buyers and sellers can access the ID via Xandr’s programmatic buying platform and its ad exchange.
FuboTV is working with UID 2.0 partners to develop standards and solutions to support CTV advertising.
The Washington Post will enable transactions on its site using UID 2.0 and make it available to Zeus Performance publishers.
OpenX will support passing UID 2.0 in the bid stream.
Neustar will make UID 2.0 interoperable with its own Fabrick ID.
Mediavine integrated UID 2.0 into its audience engagement framework.
PubMatic will offer UID 2.0 as a default identifier.
Magnite will use UID 2.0 to facilitate RTB transactions.
Index Exchange will enrich bids across channels for publishers that use the ID.
Nielsen is helping The Trade Desk improve the measurement aspects of UID 2.0.
Criteo is building the single-sign on UI for consent and privacy management that will serve as UID 2.0’s consumer-facing component.
LiveRamp is embedding UID 2.0 into its infrastructure so that SSPs and DSPs can bid on it.
SpotX will use it to help media owners generate higher CPMs and take more control over their proprietary data.
And TripleLift tells AdExchanger that it’s actively working to implement Unified ID 2.0 in order to support targeting and measurement use cases for clients and partners.