Audigent Powers First Cookieless Identity-Based Header Bidding Solution

Audigent powers first cookieless identity-based header bidding solution with UPROXX, MediaMath, Freestar, and The MediaGrid. This is the first successful deployment of a header bidding solution using cookieless identity, which represents a major milestone toward the cookieless web. The solution dramatically improved performance when compared to cookie-dependent solutions.

With Apple’s current cookie restrictions and the long-awaited elimination of third-party cookies in Google’s Chrome browser, marketers, publishers and technology partners have been working to develop cookieless, data-rich solutions that will meet advertiser and publisher needs. Today, Audigent announced with its partners UPROXX – the youth culture and music destination, part of Warner Music’s WMX – MediaMath, Freestar, and The MediaGrid that it has successfully deployed a scalable end-to-end cookieless header bidding solution across its advertising using its Hadron ID and Prebid’s header bidder.

This story was covered today by AdExchanger.

“The successful deployment of the first identity and contextual-based cookieless header bidder with our dynamic Hadron ID solution is our equivalent of the moon landing and it’s a big moment for our industry,” said Drew Stein, Founder, and CEO of Audigent. “UPROXX, MediaMath, Freestar and The MediaGrid have all been incredible, forward-thinking partners who share our drive for a privacy-first advertising ecosystem and PreBid’s leadership around the virtuous use of real time data has paved the path for a new generation of consumer-safe technology solutions that deliver results for brands and media agencies.  We built Audigent for the cookieless future, and this novel use of Hadron ID shows everyone can win – publishers, advertisers and consumers. With this first major milestone achieved, we are looking forward to getting to expanding our partnerships and scaling cookieless header bidding.”

This milestone paves the way for solutions in which buyers can transact on publisher-defined audience characteristics in real time without depending on the third-party cookies. One of many publishers seeking solutions for a cookieless future, this latest achievement for UPROXX and others is the result of a focused effort and partnership with Audigent to provide a seamless identity solution to drive performance for brands, incrementally for publishers and positive experiences for consumers.

The core technology that makes cookieless header bidding possible is Audigent’s innovative Hadron ID solution, the first solution combining both audience-driven and contextual identity built for the entire supply chain, from publisher to SSP to DSP to marketer. Deployed as a real-time, on-page solution via Prebid, Audigent’s dynamic solution can be applied and scaled across many publisher and buyer platforms, and includes the ability to use multiple cookieless identifiers, providing an interoperable identity system that allows clients to extend addressability beyond any single source solution.  Known as a virtuous, privacy-first identification technology, Hadron ID when combined with Prebid’s header bidder is designed to be turnkey for all parties – creating cross-channel addressability that provides the ecosystem continuity around targeting and scale without compromising data privacy.

For Publishers 
The data shows that publishers are 2.3x more likely to monetize the impression versus traditional cookie solutions. And when cookies are gone that number will grow significantly.

For Marketers 
Audigent’s identity-based cookieless header bidding solution delivered an addressable impression rate of eighty-one percent (81%). That is compared to the control rate, based on logged-in users only, which is approximately fifteen percent (15%).

To ensure future scaled interoperability across all partners, Audigent used IAB Tech Lab standards to establish a common taxonomy framework. That framework is one of the foundations of the cookieless header bidding deployment and allows for real-time transactions against seller-defined audiences without the use of cookies.

“Across our digital properties we are focused on delivering the best experience for our readers and our brand partners,” said Paul Josephsen, Chief Strategy Officer of WMX. “As we move further into a cookieless world, this breakthrough initiative using Audigent’s Hadron ID ensures that UPROXX will continue to have a great user and advertiser experience while futureproofing our relationships with our brand and media agency partners. So many technology and third-party players have been talking about cookieless solutions for more than a year now, so we’re especially excited that Audigent and partners were able to deliver at scale.”

“Our industry is grappling with the demise of third-party cookies, and MediaMath is thrilled to support the development of new, cookieless solutions,” Laurent Cordier, Chief Partnerships Officer at MediaMath, told AdExchanger. “Our work with Audigent and the IAB Tech Lab has enabled us to develop the requirements for transacting on seller-defined audiences. This advancement greatly expands addressability through the deployment of cookieless header bidding and represents a significant milestone in creating targeted ad experiences, while remaining privacy-first.”

About UPROXX
UPROXX is the leading entertainment and culture brand for the new generation. Acquired by Warner Music Group in 2018, UPROXX reaches over 60 million people every month through compelling journalism, award-winning video and in-depth conversation around music, TV, film and culture. For more information, see www.uproxx.com.

About MediaMath
MediaMath is the demand-side platform that offers the most powerful off-the-shelf and custom capabilities for brands to reach and influence customers and prospects on any screen, making it possible for the world’s leading advertisers and their agency partners to deliver personalized digital advertising across all connected touchpoints. Over 9,500 marketers in 42 countries use our enterprise software every day to launch, analyze, and optimize their digital advertising campaigns across display, native, mobile, video, audio, digital out of home, and advanced TV formats. Founded in 2007 as a pioneer in “programmatic” advertising, MediaMath has won Best Account Support by a Technology Company for two years in a row in the AdExchanger Awards. MediaMath is leading an industry-wide effort to create a 100% accountable, addressable and aligned supply chain through SOURCE ecosystem. SOURCE by MediaMath is a technical and commercial framework for agencies, brands, tech companies, and content owners designed to provide long-term sustainable solutions for a clean digital media supply chain with brand-safe, viewable inventory. To learn more about how MediaMath helps innovative marketers delight their customers and drive real business outcomes, follow us at @mediamath or visit www.mediamath.com.

About Freestar
In an ever-changing industry full of buzzwords and empty promises, Freestar was founded to simplify the challenges of monetizing websites and apps. Leveraging the ideal mix of programmatic header bidding, private marketplace deals, and a unified analytics platform, Freestar’s team of monetization experts helps publishers, e-commerce sites and apps unleash their true revenue potential. Freestar’s ever-expanding family of publisher and app developer partners reach over 70% of all U.S. internet users each month and provide unique opportunities for advertisers to reach their target audiences efficiently at scale. For more information, visit www.freestar.com.

About MediaGrid
We built The MediaGrid to address the challenges of a maturing supply chain. Our platform empowers all sides of the ecosystem with monetization and curation tools to deliver more control, efficiency, and transparency. For more information, please visit www.themediagrid.com.

About Audigent
Audigent is the leading data activation, curation and identity platform. Audigent’s pioneering data platform unlocks the power of privacy-safe, first party data to maximize addressability and monetization of media at scale without using cookies. As one of the industry’s first data curation
platforms powered by its unique identity suite (Hadron ID™), Audigent is transforming the programmatic landscape with its innovative SmartPMP™ and ContextualPMP™ products, which use artificial intelligence and machine learning to package and optimize consumer-safe data with premium inventory supply at scale. Providing value and performance for the world’s largest brands and global media agencies across 100,000+ campaigns each month, Audigent's verified, opt-in data drives monetization for premium publisher and data partners that include: Condé Nast, TransUnion, Warner Music Group, Penske Media, a360 Media, Fandom and many others. For more information, please visit www.audigent.com.