Mumbai: Lotame, the leading global provider of data enrichment solutions to drive customer insights and turn personas into addressable advertising, today announced the findings of an in-depth survey on “Beyond the Cookie: The Future of Advertising for Marketers & Publishers.” The report examines how digital publishers and brands are addressing the post-cookie landscape. More than 200 senior decision-makers in digital media and marketing across India were polled during December 2020.
Key findings include:
More than half of marketers foresee the need for multiple interoperable identity solutions.
For marketers, 54% believe that multiple identity solutions will be needed in the future as long as they are interoperable, while almost a third (32%) anticipate that only one identity solution is necessary. On the publisher side, 51% do not have any identity solution currently but are looking for one, and 22% are using more contextual and intent data while they search for an identity solution.
The findings also show that over a third of marketer and publisher respondents (37%) have plans to use an identity graph solution within the next six months, and an additional 19% have expanded the time frame to use such a solution within the next year. Budget didn’t seem a deterrent to get such a solution in place.
“To succeed in the future of advertising, the industry is preparing, testing and transitioning to identity strategies that are not dependent on third-party cookies,” said Gaurav Seth, Managing Director – India at Lotame. “Although ecosystem players know they need an identity framework that works across many environments, our research highlights that the industry isn’t yet prepared for cookies to phase out. This is urgent. Without privacy-friendly and people-based identity solutions, marketers and publishers can’t communicate and transact effectively in a cookieless environment.”
People-based marketing and modelling are seen as key for investment in post-cookie world.
Marketers would like to see more time, money, and resources invested in people-based marketing/identity solutions (64%) and in data science and modeling (61%). Not surprisingly, more than half (57%) cite also needing help improving analysis.
Marketers are also looking for more from their publisher partners to meet the stressors of a post-cookie world. More than 60% are looking for confidence in consent management, and 3 out of 5 desire more accuracy across channels and greater transparency in measurement.
“Combine increasing privacy regulations with the threats to third-party tracking and marketers have a lot keeping them up at night,” added Seth. “Publishers who can act on these expressed needs will set themselves up for both short- and long-term success. As an industry, we have a real opportunity to communicate, collaborate, and build a future that creates growth and value while respecting consumers.”
First-party data strategy remains important but concerns persist.
As marketers struggle to get the most out of their first-party data, almost 39% said they don’t have enough to scale while 44% have expressed concerns over the accuracy of data profiles post-COVID. Over a half of marketers (53%) reported first-party data being hard to collect as they aren’t privy to the POS (point of sale). Data enrichment offers hope, however, as 55% of marketers rely on supplemental data to find new audiences.
Publishers, too, are using supplemental data to enrich their first-party data. 31% rely on survey and panel data, 21% use marketer data and 12% leverage reputable vendors’ third-party data. Additionally, 31% are looking for help in finding quality data partners in the India market.
“First-party data is a valuable asset,” continued Seth. “However, with the pandemic, marketers have realized that it isn’t enough to scale and accurately understand their customers. As sentiments and behaviours keep changing rapidly, marketers must enrich their data assets by combining them with high-quality data — and our study confirms that. An enriched identity solution such as Panorama ID offers tremendous upside for both marketers in search of consumers and publishers’ ability to monetize more of their valuable audiences.”
In October, Lotame launched Lotame Panorama ID, the only enriched global solution bringing identity to open web traffic. Instead of relying on email addresses from logged-in users, Panorama ID joins together web, mobile, CTV, and customer data. Panorama ID is earning support throughout the ecosystem.
To learn more about how Lotame Panorama ID builds a connected digital advertising ecosystem for all, please visit www.lotame.com/panorama/id
