• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, September 20, 2023

ID5 announced a collaboration with Microsoft Advertising as the "advertising world gets ready to pivot on its access in just a few months," Caitlin Borgman, ID5 chief commercial officer, told Media Daily News.

The partnership relies on support from Microsoft Monetize, the supply-side platform (SSP) that comes from Microsoft’s acquisition of Xandr.

Microsoft Monetize, one of the largest SSPs, will become critical in the effort to connect buyers with publishers, Borgman said.

ID5's partnership with Microsoft Monetize and other SSPs is critical because part of the agreement relies on publishers determining whether consumers have provided consented data.

Certain signals allow ID5 to deliver the publisher an encrypted ID without relying on hashed emails or authenticated audiences. Advertisers purchase the use of device IDs to reach consumers associated with targeting segments.

“It means publishers can monetize the inventory at a higher CPM because it’s more addressable,” Borgman said.

ID5’s collaboration with Microsoft aims to support publishers as they navigate the challenges of the cookieless era while improving the ability to effectively monetize audiences.

The identity solutions specialist also works with other major SSPs such as PubMatic, Magnite, OpenX, Adform, GumGum, and Equativ.

"The bedrock of internet advertising is addressability," Borgman said. “Without cookies, we will still have the ability to target, measure, and do everything that happens in between.”

With the forthcoming phaseout of third-party cookies and the growing emphasis on user privacy, publishers face the critical task of finding innovative ways to deliver personalized ads without compromising consumer trust.

In response to this challenge, Universal IDs have emerged as a key alternative to empower publishers to navigate cookieless environments effectively.

SSPs support media owners in the effort to generate demand for cookieless traffic and distributing Universal IDs to advertisers. 

Earlier this year, Google announced plans to deprecate third-party cookies for 1% of Chrome users in the first quarter of 2024. The goal is to support developers conducting real-world experiments and assess the readiness of a world without third-party cookies.

Google also said that in the fourth quarter of 2023 it plans to introduce the ability for developers to simulate Chrome third-party cookie deprecation for a configurable percentage of users. The goal is to completely deprecate third-party cookies in the second half of 2024.

Borgman said the estimated 30% of web traffic running on Apple Safari is “quite valuable,” but the difference now is that ad campaigns running in that environment are mostly contextual. If someone is on a travel site using the Safari browser, a travel ad may serve up to the consumer, but there is nothing that tells the site about the consumer’s travel habits.

“You’re left using traditional contextual targeting,” she said. “If you can layer on audience-based data, it will be more relevant and perform better. It’s like going back to the early days of advertising and using behavioral targeting. Suddenly you’re able to see A/B testing to make it that much more relevant.”