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.

The post Top 10 Reasons Why ID Solutions Help in Personalizing Content first appeared on Freestar.

To gain further insights and strategies for managing publisher traffic and maximizing revenue, watch our recorded webinar, The Truth About Publisher Traffic

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The post Top 10 Reasons How ID Graph Solutions Help in Increasing CPM Rates first appeared on Freestar.

Well, sort of.

In case you missed it, Google Chrome and the Privacy Sandbox team posted an update today (July 22nd), proposing a different approach to user choice “instead of deprecating third-party cookies”.

So that’s it folks. We can forget the Privacy Sandbox, turn off the alternative ID solutions, and shred those first-party data strategies… because the cookie lives on! 

The reality is something quite different. The outlook for the future isn’t changing, the path to get there just may be a little smoother without a drop-dead date for the cookie and the chaos that may have caused.

See, the problem all along has been about user choice and respecting privacy rights. That’s still in view here, as Chrome is going to be making it easier for users to make informed choices and opt out of cookie-based targeting – an approach some of us at Freestar have argued would have been a better starting point years ago. And there’s a reason Chrome isn’t ditching the Privacy Sandbox, as they still see the need for “privacy-preserving alternatives”.

The relative market coverage of third-party cookies will only continue to decline over time. Privacy regulations continue to come in focus across the globe, where user choice can already prevent the use of third-party cookies. I haven’t seen any announcement about Safari bringing back cookies, have you? We’re also bringing up a generation that is more tech-savvy than ever and capable of ensuring their rights are respected in a technical arena. And that doesn’t even get into the shortcomings of the third-party cookie itself as it doesn’t solve for cross-device identity.

We’ve already posted about the huge opportunity that exists now in cookie-challenged environments, where publishers can recover significant revenue by improving the accessibility and addressability of this inventory for buyers.

So the industry MUST continue to progress on developing privacy-friendly advertising solutions that will operate in the absence of third-party cookies. Otherwise, advertisers will be competing with a shrinking subset of users in Chrome and missing out on the positive outcomes that premium audiences in cookieless environments and emerging channels can deliver.

Freestar will continue to invest in solutions that respect user privacy preferences and drive value for publishers and advertisers across all browsers – with or without cookies. We will still lead innovation across our strategic pillars: Supporting first-party data, testing alternative identity solutions, and advocating for publishers in industry working groups.

The post The Cookie Lives On… Sort Of 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.

Freestar’s partnerships with leaders like The Trade Desk, Liveramp, ID5, Audigent, and our latest, LiveIntent are a major part of our identity strategy. As the industry evolves, we continue to test and build strategic partnerships that underscore our commitment to addressability in a cookie-less world.

Freestar Integrated Identity Solutions:

• Amazon Publisher Audiences 
• Audigent Hadron ID
• Criteo 
• Google PAIR 
• ID5 
• IntentIQ
• LiveIntent
• LiveRamp ATS 
• Neustar Fabrick ID
• SharedID 
• TTD UID 2.0
• Yahoo Connect ID 
• 33across Lexicon ID

Why Is This Important?

Our data shows that leveraging 3rd party partnerships increases the value of unaddressable inventory and provides opportunities to harness the power of first-party data and sophisticated contextual targeting.

While results vary with each ID resolution, our initial testing reflects anywhere from a 5-15% uplift in revenue when IDs are present on unaddressable users. For the logged-in user, we see a 40-60% CPM increase vs. non-logged-in users.

How did we get here?

Why all the fuss about ‘a world without cookies’ and how bad is it really? Rest assured, the sky is NOT falling. Freestar sees this ’new world’ as a positive change for both users and publishers if we work together to adapt and pivot.

Third-party cookies have been used extensively for tracking users across websites, creating detailed profiles of individuals’ online behavior, and targeting them with personalized advertisements. However, this approach raises significant privacy issues and has led to growing concerns about user consent, data security, and the misuse of personal information. While many browsers like Safari and Firefox have already shifted away from third-party cookies, Chrome has just begun the process and will continue to deprecate cookies over the next year.

In response, the industry is creating new “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.

The shift also encourages innovation through the development of alternative technologies and approaches for digital advertising. This could lead to more innovative and ethical solutions that respect users’ privacy while still allowing advertisers to reach their target audiences effectively. It also shifts power to the publisher who has access to first-party data which is now more valuable than ever.

Testing and Measuring Identity Partners

We continuously evaluate third-party ID vendors using Freestar’s Identity Testing Framework which allows us to measure and adapt as solutions evolve.

What is the Identity Testing Framework?

Freestar’s split testing and reporting technology provides us the ability to measure each identity vendor’s revenue uplift. This data lead feature showcases the benefits of adopting identity integrations by providing a revenue comparison on your site when a provider is enabled or disabled.

The Identity Testing Framework gives us the ability to monitor the effectiveness of different ID solutions and adapt to changes over time. Effective solutions will yield long-term improvements in Cost Per Mille (CPMs) and increased overall revenue or Revenue Per Session (RPS).

Action Items For Publishers

Publishers must have a strategy for first-party data. If you’re not sure the right path forward for your business and want to talk to a team of experts, reach out to Freestar to take advantage of our identity solutions today!

The post Freestar-Supported Identity Solutions first appeared on Freestar.

LiveRamp’s Authenticated Traffic Solution (ATS) is the centerpiece of the connectivity LiveRamp enables, helping connect authenticated inventory to the ecosystem, including via Google Display & Video 360’s Publisher Advertiser Identity Reconciliation (PAIR), which is also founded on authenticated, consented identity. Through our partnership, publishers can leverage a single deployment of LiveRamp’s ATS, and access not just RampID, but also Google Display & Video 360 via PAIR.

As we move closer to the end of third party tracking cookies, we’ve been paying close attention to industry trends and evolving our own identity strategy over the last year. A plan for authenticated traffic is one part of that puzzle, and with this partnership we’ve been able to successfully create a process to get publishers running with this tech.

What Publishers Should Know About PAIR

With PAIR, publishers and marketers will be able to securely and privately reconcile their first-party data for marketing use cases, unlocking additional scale across inventory already impacted by third-party cookie changes. Advertisers and publishers will be able to activate encrypted first-party information unique to their sites, via aggregation.

Key aspects of PAIR include:

• Flexibility to work with an identity partner, like LiveRamp, on the PAIR integration. Implementers can benefit by picking the identity partner that provides the capabilities they need with their PAIR integration.
• PAIR is available to any of the brands using Display & Video 360 today. Beyond accessing advertiser demand via Display & Video 360, PAIR is open to any of the brands using it today.
• Easy deployment. As an add-on module to LiveRamp’s Authenticated Traffic Solution, publishers can quickly implement PAIR, including leveraging PAIR without needing new contracts with customers.

How To Implement Google PAIR

If you’re an enterprise publisher who is currently monetized by Freestar, we’ve made it seamless to get started with ATS and PAIR today. Just reach out to your customer success manager to get the process started. 

LiveRamp’s ATS product will need to be running in order for PAIR to work, so Freestar’s ad code must be present on the page where the authentication event occurs, such as a login page or newsletter signup page.

From there, Freestar supports the technical implementation of PAIR, without any additional dev resources required. The implementation is covered under existing contracts with Freestar. LiveRamp brings additional support, helping to finetune implementations and working with Google to steadily scale match rates. Additionally, the same Authenticated Traffic Solution implementation that enables PAIR also enables other leading identity solutions, enabling interoperability with one deployment and helping to maximize flexibility and inventory monetization.

Once integrations are fully up and running, publishers continue to benefit from the leading privacy approaches of both Freestar and LiveRamp. Furthermore, real-time analytics can show the benefits of not just PAIR implementations, but ATS deployments as a whole.

Benefits of Authenticated Traffic

The actual definition of authenticated traffic is a type of online identification that asks the user to provide personal information, most commonly email address. The two most obvious signs of authenticated traffic is when a website asks you to login or sign up in exchange for continued use of the site or a certain service. The other is a newsletter signup form.

Some of the benefits on this type user are —

• Security
• Trustworthiness
• Data integrity

With authenticated traffic, there is a certain level of assurance both to the publisher, who wants to know and target their readers effectively and for the advertiser, who wants to waste as little spend as possible on the wrong audience.

We’ve seen an increase in authenticated traffic to publishers in the last 6 months and over time we believe this trend will continue. This is where we expect our LiveRamp partnership to bring longterm value to our publishers via ATS and PAIR.

Freestar and LiveRamp Webinar Recording 

The post LiveRamp’s Authenticated Traffic Solution and Google PAIR first appeared on Freestar.