Delivering personalized content is key to capturing user attention and driving engagement. However, personalization is only as good as the data behind it. That’s where Identity (ID) Graph solutions come into play. By leveraging ID solutions, publishers can connect data points across devices and platforms, helping deliver the right content to the right audience at the right time.

What’s an ID Graph Solution?

An ID Graph solution connects a user’s interactions across multiple devices, platforms, and channels, creating a unified profile that informs how content is personalized. This holistic view, often referred to as an “Identity Graph,” provides publishers with the ability to deliver content experiences that are finely tuned to individual user behavior and preferences.

Here’s how an ID Graph makes content personalization a reality:

1. Comprehensive Audience Profiles

ID Graphs aggregate user data from multiple sources, creating rich audience profiles. These profiles allow publishers to deliver personalized content tailored to each user’s preferences, behaviors, and interests, and the usage of a device The result? More relevant content that leads to highly targeted content that boosts more engagement, and increased loyalty.

2. Smarter Content Recommendations

ID solutions enhance your ability to offer more accurate content recommendations by drawing on a user’s history across devices and channels. By serving personalized recommendations, publishers can guide users to consume more content, driving deeper engagement that increases the time spent on the site, and improve the click-through rates.

3. Cross-Device Content Consistency

With an ID Graph, users can receive personalized content no matter which device they’re using. This cross-device consistency is vital for maintaining engagement as users switch between mobile, desktop, and other devices thus ensuring the ads are being delivered seamlessly across devices.

4. Increased Relevance

Using an ID Graph allows you to deliver content based on highly specific user behaviors. Whether it’s adjusting headlines or recommending articles, the increased relevance makes users feel more connected to your site. This not only makes the website relevant but also can drastically reduce bounce rates and increase page views, achieving a higher level of personalization.

5. Detailed Audience Segmentation

ID solutions enable publishers to segment their audience with incredible detail. By understanding nuanced behavior patterns, publishers can tailor content for specific audience segments, delivering hyper-relevant material that improves engagement. The more tailored your content, the more time users spend on your site.

6. Boosted Engagement

Personalized content has been proven to generate higher engagement. With an ID Graph, publishers can present users with content that aligns perfectly with their interests, boosting click-through rates and interaction. This increase in engagement not only helps build loyalty but also contributes to higher ad revenues.

7. Optimized Ad Targeting

ID solutions don’t just enhance content personalization—they also improve ad personalization mapping a better user journey.. By using the same data to tailor both content and ads, publishers can ensure that users see ads that are relevant and engaging, leading to higher click-through rates and better monetization opportunities.

8. Data-driven decisions

 As ID solutions provide valuable insights into the various user behavior on the site, it helps publishers to make not only data-driven decisions but be data-informed as well at all times. This will in turn boost better content creation, superior ad placements, that will in turn impact the ad revenue. 

These help in creating long-lasting relationships with the audiences by ensuring that each interaction feels tailored and relevant. 

9. Be compliant

While privacy concerns are becoming highly notable across industries, ID solutions create “privacy-friendly” ways to target users. The shift away from third-party cookies encourages greater transparency and empowers users to have more control over their data, improving online security and reducing cyber threats.

10. Future-Proofing Personalization Efforts

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, reliance on first-party data becomes even more crucial. ID Graphs allow publishers to maintain personalized content delivery even as third-party cookies disappear, ensuring they remain competitive and continue providing a valuable, relevant user experience.

Don’t Miss Out: Elevate Your Content Strategy with ID Solutions

Personalized content is no longer optional—it’s essential. Implementing an ID Graph solution allows publishers to offer tailored content that captivates users, drives deeper engagement, and boosts revenue.

At Freestar, we help publishers unlock the full potential of their content by integrating powerful ID solutions. Contact us today to learn how we can help you personalize your content and enhance your monetization strategy.

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But what does this entail?

Continue reading to discover the most frequently asked questions from publishers about hashed emails. Be sure to scroll to the very end to explore Freestar’s monetization opportunities for this valuable data point.

The FAQs of Hashed Emails

What are hashed emails?

Hashed emails are email addresses scrambled into a fixed-length string of characters using a cryptographic hash function. This process converts the original email address into a unique identifier, ensuring the user’s privacy is protected.

Why are they a part of the cookie deprecation discussion?

The deprecation of cookies is occurring because many consider the functionality of third-party cookies a violation of user privacy. As third-party cookies are phased out, companies are shifting their focus to first-party data—information collected directly from users. Email addresses play a critical role in this first-party data.

Email hashing provides a secure method for managing email addresses by transforming them into a non-reversible, anonymous format. This allows for practical uses such as targeting and tracking while enhancing data privacy and security. As a result, email hashing has become a valuable technique in various applications.

Can they still track users from site to site?

Yes. Similar to third-party cookies, hashed emails can be used to recognize users across different sites and devices. For example, if a user logs in with their email on multiple sites, the hashed version of their email acts as a consistent identifier without revealing the actual email address.

Is this a new thing?

No, it isn’t! Hashing data became popular in the late 2000s and early 2010s, driven by the growing emphasis on data security and privacy. A series of major data breaches exposed the personal information of millions, highlighting the critical need for robust data protection.

By the 2010s, hashing had become a standard practice for safeguarding email addresses and other sensitive information.

Is there industry standardization?

While there is emerging industry standardization around the use of hashed emails, driven by the need for privacy compliance, interoperability, and consistency across platforms, there is still room for improvement. Discrepancies exist in how different identity providers expect to see and receive encrypted emails.

Initiatives like UID 2.0 by The Trade Desk offer an open-source framework for using hashed emails as identifiers. UID 2.0 aims to create a standardized approach to email hashing and user identification that can be widely adopted across the industry.

Why does advertising value hashed emails?

Hashed emails provide advertisers with a powerful tool to accurately and securely identify, target, and track users in a privacy-compliant manner. They enable enhanced targeting, data integration, and performance measurement while reducing risks associated with data breaches and regulatory non-compliance. As the digital advertising landscape evolves, hashed emails offer a robust and future-proof method to achieve marketing objectives effectively.

What is Freestar doing to help publishers maximize monetization of email addresses?

Expanding deterministic user IDs presents a significant opportunity for publishers to boost ad inventory value, especially as third-party cookie coverage declines. Freestar’s hashed email (HEM) passthrough allows publishers to share a hashed version of a user’s email with vendors, such as Prebid User ID modules and bidders.

As publishers enhance their first-party data strategies and increase the number of collected emails, Freestar helps monetize these at premium CPMs with quality advertising deals. Publishers can pass their hashed emails to major identity providers for monetization.

This solution maximizes revenue by unlocking the full spending potential from advertisers, working with trusted providers like LiveRamp and The Trade Desk, whom buyers rely on to target users.

If you’re already partnering with Freestar, reach out to your support team for more information on our hashed email solution.

By adopting hashing techniques, organizations can build trust with their users, mitigate risks, and uphold their responsibility to protect sensitive information.

The post Hash It Out: All About Email Hashing and What it Means For Publishers first appeared on Freestar.

On Friday, April 26th, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) published its Q1 2024 report on the implementation of the Google Privacy Sandbox (“GPS”). This is the CMA’s eighth report on the GPS and its ability to replace cookie technology while not giving Google an unfair advantage as a key player in the ad industry.

This Q1 CMA report will be of particular interest to Google and the wider industry because it sets out quite clearly that Google still has a lot of work to do to demonstrate that the current design of the GPS isn’t anti-competitive. As if this wasn’t enough, the Q1 report is bolstered by a preliminary assessment by another UK regulator – The Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) which oversees Privacy & Data Protection compliance in the UK. The ICO has leaned heavily on its reports addressing real-time bidding and online advertising from 2019 and 2021 as they set out the expectations they have for a compliant approach for the GPS within the CMA report.

CMA Competition Concerns

The backbone of the CMA report remains familiar, and the CMA are adamant that Google should restrict the use of its first-party data so that it doesn’t swallow up ad spend.  However, Google appears to be further away now than they were in January from convincing the CMA that the GPS isn’t anti-competitive for the industry, and meets established Privacy standards.  There were 79 concerns outlined in this Q1 report versus 39 in the previous report in January.  

The CMA is acutely aware of the fact that ad spend could move away from open display and into O&O inventory or walled gardens.  Additionally, there are inherent design aspects of the GPS which self preference the Google ecosystem.  Google Ad Manager (“GAM”) for example will not participate in Protected Audiences API (“PAAPI”) component auctions unless it is the top-level PAAPI seller. This means that publishers will have to use GAM in order to access AdX demand.  The CMA has rightly described this as a “high priority area” for their assessment and review.  

Google has said “We welcome the dialogue with the ICO and are already working to address its feedback on how Chrome can best communicate to users about Privacy Sandbox. We also affirm the ICO’s expressed desire for sites and ad tech companies calling the Privacy Sandbox APIs to communicate clearly with their users and offer appropriate controls.”  Some of the key privacy concerns are outlined below.

Privacy Assessment by CMA & ICO

Topics API

• There’s a reluctance from Google to accept the key role which governance and access controls play in maintaining compliance to applicable privacy legislation.  The Topics API makes cross-site insights available to API callers with no Google-imposed restrictions limiting the purpose of topics data to interest-based advertising only.  Google has said they view the overall risk to be “low” but the inability to police an abuse of the Topics API would make it next to impossible to classify it as privacy compliant.  W3C has voiced similar concerns following their testing of GPS but this feedback hasn’t produced any changes from Google as yet.  For those familiar with the basic requirements under Article 5 of the GDPR and the concept of purpose limitation, this is a red flag.

Protected Audience API

• Within PAAPI Google proposes to deploy PAAPI without key privacy enhancing technologies (“PETs”).  Some PETs will not even be operational until 2026.  Google has said they are working on privacy mitigations for known cross site tracking risks, but these may not be finalised at the point of deployment.  The ICO is concerned that the absence of key controls which are outlined in the current roadmap will leave significant privacy risks unresolved.  
• The CMA has outlined that it is possible to create interest groups (“IGs”) which are bespoke to individuals and this may lead to a situation where cross-site data and profiles from third-party sources can be leveraged in PAAPI.  As a result of this the ICO has voiced their concern “that combining first- and third-party data in PAAPI will not address a range of data privacy concerns potentially leading to non-compliance with Applicable Data Protection Legislation.”  
• It has been suggested by the CMA that Privacy hasn’t been a key focus for Google as they work on enhancements to the PAAPI within GPS.  Google has made a number of updates to the original PAAPI design which are focused on utility and adoption (e.g., removing k-anonymity controls for IGs).  This has led the CMA to state that “we are concerned that privacy is not appropriately considered by Google”. As a result, over time, there is a risk that PAAPI will evolve in a direction that leads to non-compliance with Applicable Data Protection Legislation.

Attribution Reporting API

• Even Google themselves have acknowledged that for event level reports and the signals returned for training models, that any measurement product that permits events to be connected to an individual will always present a cross-site tracking risk.  Google feels this risk is sufficiently mitigated, however there are limited preventative measures in place, and potential misuse by organizations creates a real risk that lawfulness and transparency requirements within applicable privacy laws are not met. 

Conclusion

The back and forth between Google and the CMA feels like a war of attrition, but with Google having given legally binding undertakings to the CMA in 2022, they might have to blink first on their third-party cookie replacement.  Some big questions also remain outstanding for the industry; does the GPS function, can it be tested rigorously, and how viable is it as a replacement for third-party cookies when some key components aren’t even built yet? 

The CMA is leveraging the support of the ICO for the Privacy analysis, and the ICO in turn has made it fairly clear what they expect from Google.  In their view, there must be a privacy-by-design approach that gives users clear choices and there must be accountability within Google for how personal data is processed end-to-end within the online advertising ecosystem.  The processing within that ecosystem must then have a clearly defined purpose and should address existing privacy risks.  This isn’t an easy balance to strike for Google while also maintaining parity for all participants in the market. 

The post Freestar Explains: CMA Q1 2024 Report Google Privacy Sandbox first appeared on Freestar.