Consumers are concerned about how their data is being used, and advertisers often do not know what they are buying, where, or whether their spending is impactful. This degraded consumer trust and lack of transparency has led to a search for control. Big technology platforms are responding by restricting cookies in their browsers, and governments around the world are passing laws and instituting new regulations to protect consumers.
This means the practices used for years in the industry are no longer sustainable, and data in advertising is breaking. Overall, advertisers have three categories of concern: consumers’ brand trust, campaign performance and measurement, and the transparency and efficiency of the buying process.
A survey conducted by Permutive and AdExchanger captured leading brands. The study found that 98% of advertisers are concerned about online privacy and identity changes negatively impacting customer and audience trust. This loss of trust is prompting consumers to opt out of tracking or use ad blockers. Nearly 40% of online users are browsing in cookie-less environments, and other research shows that 75% of consumers are not comfortable purchasing from brands with poor data ethics.
The focus is to build sustainable campaigns
Policy changes around online privacy, user identity, and the loss of third-party cookies are leaving too many advertisers without full transparency in segments of their digital ad buys, and their ability to measure online campaigns effectively is at risk.
In response, advertisers are building more direct relationships with customers and publishers and capturing more first-party data. They are focusing on accessing better data and analysis, combined with more effective messaging and content, all with an eye to controlling costs and boosting ROI. To counter data depreciation, 53% of advertisers are building more direct customer and publisher relationships, 49% are gathering and analyzing more first-party and contextual data, and 49% are revising their strategies and tactics. Related to these findings, 42% of advertisers noted that one of their approaches is more direct communication about data consent to their customers and audiences.
Actions taken on privacy, identity, and cookie loss
The main actions advertisers have taken center on collecting more first-party data (81%) and using others’ first-party data (64%). Advertisers have been reacting to industry changes with more internal actions, and are now transitioning to look outward to share and access information with peers and test potential solutions.
First-party data is still relatively new for many
While it seems like the industry has been discussing evolving privacy concerns for years, less than half of advertisers say they have been emphasizing gathering and analyzing first-party data for longer than six months. And 27% say their company only started to access more first-party data within the last six months, as of mid-2022.
These findings suggest that most advertisers have lagged another segment of the industry that took quicker action. Some of this lag may be partly due to Google moving its policy-change deadline while advertisers continued to use cookies. Yet the trend is clear: advertisers are emphasizing gathering and accessing more first-party data.
Building direct relationships starts with a first-party data foundation. Talk to our team about making the shift.