• by Ray Schultz , September 16, 2021

With third-party data increasingly being cut off, 85% of publishers say first-party (IP) data — based on consumer actions — will be important to their future revenue, according to a new study by ad technology provider OpenX. 

However, they face challenges in using 1P data. For example, while 66% use 1P data to drive ad revenue, only 53% say it is now important to their ad sales. And only 21% feel it is “very important,” although 50% expect it to move into that category going forward. 

Part of the problem is a lack of current solutions for activating the data. The average score for 1P data tools, on a scale of 1 to 10, is 6.5. Only 7% of respondents are “very satisfied” with their existing tools. 

Larger publishers are slightly less likely to use 1P data, but are more likely to derive value from it. Of those polled, 63% of publishers with more than 500 million monthly requests are now using 1P data, versus 71% of publishers with less than 500 million. Yet the larger firms are 35% more likely to say that 1P data significantly affects their revenue. 

Smaller publications have one major problem that dwarfs everything else: 82% say finding interested advertisers is one of their top two hurdles. Only 49% of larger publishers say so.

PMPs are the preferred mechanism for using 1P data — 80% use them. But 48% also use open auction to monetize 1P data.  

"Legacy identifiers, such as third-party cookies and IDFA, are still on their way out,” states Tom Levesque, vice president, product at OpenX. “Publishers have smartly recognized that first party data will fill a large part of the gap.” 

But Levesque adds: “There's a clear need for ad tech vendors to support this transition with better first party solutions for publishers."

OpenX surveyed 123 respondents across direct publishers, networks and sales houses, in July 2021. Of those surveyed, 60% have over 500 million ad requests a month. The publishers cover desktop (94%), mobile apps (55%) and CTV (18%).