Is Google finally listening to the ad tech industry?
The introduction of the Dovekey spec last week – which embraced one of the key concepts laid out in Criteo’s SPARROW proposal – indicates that maybe, finally, the W3C’s Improving Web Advertising Business Group is making some headway.
But, as always, we need to take these developments with a grain of salt (or a shaker’s worth).
This week on The Big Story, we’ll break down the Dovekey proposal and the extent to which it signifies a move forward. Or as Magnite CTO Tom Kershaw told AdExchanger Senior Editor Allison Schiff, “The fact that Google commented on a proposal from the ad tech community without rolling its eyes in disdain can certainly be construed as progress.”
There’s also the question of whether, in working out the details of the Privacy Sandbox, the ad industry is missing the forest for the trees. Is this the right time, for instance, to be haggling over technical changes in Chrome, when identity-related issues extend well beyond?
And, speaking of privacy concerns, enforcement of the CCPA in California is off to a start … that we can’t qualify as roaring, although the attorney general’s office is serving notices to companies in violation.
Right now, none of the company names are public; there’s been no punitive action yet, just notices to comply. And, as Allison points out, when punitive action does happen, it’s likely that the state AG will want to make a splash with companies that have household cachet.
But although ad tech might be flying under the radar for the time being, it’s certainly not in the free and clear. We’ll dig into what the AG’s early actions around CCPA say about its long-term enforcement strategy.
And finally, TrueX has been bouncing around like pinball, moving from Fox to Disney (post acquisition) and, finally, to location data company Gimbal.
We’ll discuss why Gimbal wants TrueX – and why Disney didn’t.
