The triumphant return of March Madness is underway, a joyous occasion for diehard college basketball fans and casual observers wanting in on the bracket action. We eagerly print out the official NCAA brackets, agonize over our picks, and ask ourselves the same question: Who will win and who will be wiped out?
In much the same way, after Google’s recent announcement, the advertising industry started to place their bets on which identity solution will ultimately win out and replace the dynasty about to be forced into retirement, the third-party cookie.
Right now, with so many solutions making a play, it feels like anyone’s jump ball. In reality, the advertising industry has a golden opportunity to bust the bracket and fundamentally change the rules of the game. While the desire for a simple, one-to-one replacement is understandable, it won’t solve the issues that made an entire ecosystem dependent on cookies in the first place. And with so much at stake, none of us should be sitting on the sidelines watching this competition play out.
Fundamental tournament truths
First, past success is never a guarantee of future performance. Even though the cookie was the default for the last 25 years, it doesn’t mean we should choose an identifier that looks like the cookie, or even a single solution. Our needs have dramatically changed. Publishers deserve more control. Advertisers demand more choice. And third-party single sign-on or federated identity solutions don’t offer sufficient transparency to the consumer. Perhaps it’s a sign that we should embrace a different style of play.
Wild cards are what make competition exciting. It’s the Cinderella teams that upend office pools and thrill us with their inventive styles of play. To sustain an innovative ecosystem, the industry must ensure that underdogs continue to have access to the court. Small and medium-sized publishers must have the same opportunity to monetize their inventory as large publishers do, without having a tax put on their margins. Simply put, publishers should not trade one walled garden solution for another and allow themselves to be disintermediated yet again. To keep diversity flourishing, we need a system that allows these players to fully maximize yield and reinvest revenue in building customer intelligence and developing more premium content.
We are all reminded each year during the tournament of the equalizing power of the three-point shot. Three-point shooting can often decide a game, but even the best of the best are considered successful if they make one out of every three or four shots from beyond the line. The goal is to only make enough to keep the game competitive. Similarly, publishers don’t need to achieve 100% authentication rates to make a dramatic impact on their business. Even low levels of authenticated inventory, anywhere from 10% to 30%, can lead to an advantage. In short, publishers can already start generating far better yields by layering in authentication capabilities now.
When the game starts, the talk stops
There’s always a lot of big talk leading up to a big game, but in the end, only performance matters and great teams control their own destiny. Right now, a lot of identity providers are making hyperbolic claims and rebranding old tactics. Once you’re on the court, though, only performance reigns.
The quality of the referee is always a critical factor. While industry bodies and government regulators both have an important role to play, consumers are demanding more transparency and control, and rightly so. When they are given direct authority, when they decide right what’s fair and valuable and have a means to express it, markets become more equitable and competitive. Let’s stop talking about what they want and don’t want—and start helping consumers exercise their will with less friction.
Tip the ball to publishers
At some point, the jump ball will be grabbed. For everyone’s sake, we must tip the ball to the publishers. Google itself acknowledged the publisher is in the driver’s seat: Publishers control their relationship with the consumer and will support other IDs on their sell-side platforms. This is a chance for publishers to get control and come out on top. The game shouldn’t be concentrated on one particular solution, but rather on the larger opportunity the industry is facing with power being put back in the right hands.
