DATA SHARING CHOICE - (DSC)
Data Sharing Choice (DSC) is about keeping the internet free and putting users in the driver’s seat of protecting their data privacy.
This can get very technical very quickly. To explain this effectively, pick your primary lens:
I’m an SSP or a DSP
Google and Apple are looking to create a world where targeting and attribution across apps and sites could not be tied to an individual identified by PII, whether that PII is in raw format or hashed.
With 3rd party cookie deprecation looming, some are touting a renewed focus on publisher 1st party data. In reality, outside of the walled gardens, no publisher has enough scale to deliver scalable target audience to most advertisers, as demonstrated by 50%-70% of publishers’ revenues originating from targeted ads using data other than the publishers' data.
Intent IQ’s opt-in-based 1st party ID sharing solution, dubbed Data Sharing Choice (‘DSC’), addresses third party cookie deprecation by (i) asking consumers to approve the sharing of the site’s cookie ID, IP address, and user-agent, and; (ii) providing a privacy friendly universal ID across sites and devices, regardless of IP address and user-agent changes.
The consumer request will look like this:
Intent IQ’s solution covers 83% of ad inventory with an accuracy of 90%.
Google and Apple strong emphasis on anonymity highlights the key advantages of the Intent IQ solution:
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The only parameters used by Intent IQ’s solution, namely a device first party IDs, IP addresses, and user-agents, do not, by themselves, identify any individual, if not merged with PII or hashed PII. This is the same as with Google FLOC, which is anonymous for as long as Google does not merge the FLOC with the person's PII (A person PII is known to Google from the person's usage of Google services).
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Intent IQ's solution is even more privacy-friendly than FLOC - FLOC is opt-out based, whereas Intent IQ's industry proposal asks for opt-in
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Based on GDPR pop up consent opt-in rate of over 90% for cookies, we expect the same opt-in rate for sharing of first-party cookie ID in the Intent IQ proposed solution
Intent IQ's solution is an opt-in-based 1st party ID sharing solution augmenting log-in solutions (UID 2.0/LR’s ATS) for consumers hesitating to disclose their email address everywhere they go.
To avoid a meltdown, the industry should quickly adopt a scalable, opt-in solution.
I’m an online publisher
The challenge
Concerns about user data privacy have led Apple and Google to gradually remove 3rd party cookies from their browsers. As 3rd party cookies cover 56% of ad inventory and responsible for 50%-70% of publishers’ ad revenue, this puts publishers’ biggest revenue source at risk. This, in turn, threatens the commercial viability of publishers, and hence the rich, diverse, and free internet use experience of hundreds of millions of people in the US alone.
Limited scale solutions
Some industry players proposed user sign-in as a way to collect and provide user data, and make up for the loss of 3rd party cookies in this way.
Today only 1.5%-5% of web traffic is authenticated. Analysts estimate that, at best, no more than 20% of web traffic will be authenticated using the email sign-in option. Therefore, additional solutions are required to fill-in the +80% gap of non-authenticated web traffic.
Intent IQ’s Data Sharing Choice (‘DSC’) proposed solution
A simple, standardized invitation to opt-in to the sharing of the visited site cookie ID, IP address and user-agent, similar in nature to the increasingly prevalent opt-in to cookies, very familiar to European publishers (GDPR). Intent IQ’s solution provides a privacy friendly universal ID across sites and devices, regardless of IP address and user-agent changes.
While third-party cookies offer 56% coverage and log-in solutions offer coverage of less than 20% of ad inventory, Intent IQ’s solution covers over 80% of ad inventory, helping protect publishers’ ability to rely on advertising as their main revenue source in a third party cookieless world.
This solution will:
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Give users the choice to let the site they’re visiting share their site cookie ID, IP address and user-agent with advertisers, or to deny this permission
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Use short, clear, helpful language that users can make sense of across a large number of websites, similar to how it’s done today for cookies in Europe
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Give the user the choice to either click on an “Accept All” button or click to actively manage the data to be shared with third parties. The user is not asked to enter any information. The “C” in DSC stands for “Choice”. The user is in the driver’s seat, making informed choices
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Put publishers in control of their data and in a position to stop data leakage.
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Put users and regulators at ease that user data is not shared without consent
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Help the open internet thrive, instead of making Google and Apple even more powerful
Intent IQ is building a broad coalition to support this initiative.
I care about privacy and the future of the internet
The challenge
Concerns about user data privacy have led Apple and Google to gradually remove 3rd party cookies from their browsers. 3rd party cookies have been the bloodline of advertising on the open internet because they facilitate the creation of anonymous rich profiles of users. These rich profiles are relevant to advertisers, who often buy advertising space on websites based on the rich profile of the current, anonymous visitor. This practice has raised two primary concerns from internet users –
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The personal identity factor – for as long as those rich user profiles are anonymous, many people feel comfortable. Once these rich profiles get matched behind the scenes with people’s email addresses, and hence with their real-life identity, most people are alarmed about their privacy as they fail to understand the intricacies of hashed emails.
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The “creepy factor” - Internet users are unnerved when they receive personalized emails from websites they recently visited under the assumption of anonymity. The site visitors are even more concerned when receiving direct mail, despite never providing any personal information.
Limited scale solutions
Removing 3rd party cookies “just like that”, without any acceptable alternative in its place, creates a host of new problems for internet users:
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It puts the free internet at risk and would prompt content providers to raise paywalls and charge for their content. A typical publisher makes 50%-70% of their revenue from ads targeted to their visitors based on off-site data. Larger publishers also depend heavily on third-party cookies. Some of the most prestigious large publishers are estimated to have 80% of their revenue based on 3rd party cookie data.
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It risks users seeing the same ad again and again all over the place because ad delivery technologies will not be able to tell that it’s actually the same person on different sites.
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Most users are not expected to sign in everywhere due to privacy concerns.
Intent IQ’s Data Sharing Choice (‘DSC’) proposed solution.
A simple, standardized invitation to opt-in to the sharing of the visited site cookie ID, IP address and user-agent, which are anonymous if not matched with personal information. This is very similar in nature to the increasingly prevalent opt-in to data collection, mandated in Europe by GDPR.
It would look like this:
Intent IQ’s solution provides a privacy friendly universal ID across sites and devices that in turn enable the personalizing of ads using data collected on and offsite. Ads that fund consumers free access to content.
This solution will:
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Give users the choice to let the site they’re visiting share their site cookie ID, IP address and user-agent with advertisers, or to deny this permission.
-
Use short, clear, helpful language that users can make sense of across a large number of websites, similar to how it’s done today for cookies in Europe.
-
Give the user the choice to either click on an “Accept All” button or click to actively manage the data to be shared with third parties. The user is not asked to enter any information. The “C” in DSC stands for “Choice”. The user is in the driver’s seat, making informed choices
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Put users and regulators at ease that user data is not shared without consent.
-
Help the open internet thrive, instead of making Google and Apple even more powerful.
Overall, to the internet user, the proposed solution is only a minor change to user experience. In opt-out regimes such as the US and Canada, it’s the addition of a simple “opt-in or manage” overlay, that users increasingly are used to seeing as they browse today’s Europe compliant sites.
Intent IQ is building a broad coalition to support this initiative.
I’m an advertiser
The challenge
Concerns about user data privacy have led Apple and Google to gradually remove 3rd party cookies from their browsers. This creates a set of challenges for advertisers as 3rd party cookie facilitate access to 56% of ad inventory:
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Audience targeting – without the richness that advertisers get from associating profile data with 3rd party cookies across sites, anonymous, rich profiles will not be available for advertisers to build audiences around and target on. Imagine going back to a world whereby “contextual targeting” is the primary form of ad targeting on the open web.
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Further dependency on the walled gardens – primarily Google, Facebook, and Amazon. As if this publisher concentration isn’t already a challenge to advertisers, the removal of 3rd party cookies further weakens the open web and makes Google, Facebook and Amazon “the only game in town” for rich targeting.
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Frequency caps – without 3rd party cookies, a single user moving across multiple sites using the same browser will likely appear as a number of different users to the DSPs and ad servers. This means that the same ad might be delivered to that single user way above the frequency cap the advertiser desires (and is willing to pay for).
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Measurement –attribution is already a challenging form of “art and science”. The removal of 3rd party cookies will complicate things even more, making it more of an art, and less of a science. When the same user appears as multiple different users across sites, correct measurement and quality attribution will suffer.
Limited scale solutions
Some industry players proposed user sign-in as a way to collect and provide user data and make up for the loss of 3rd party cookies in this way.
Today only 1.5%-5% of web traffic is authenticated. Analysts estimate that, at best, no more than 20% of web traffic will be authenticated using the email sign-in option. Therefore, additional solutions are required to fill in the +80% gap.
Intent IQ’s Data Sharing Choices (‘DSC’) proposed solution
A simple, standardized invitation to opt-in to the sharing of the visited site cookie ID, IP address and user-agent, similar in nature to the increasingly prevalent opt-in to cookies, very familiar to European publishers (GDPR). Intent IQ’s solution provides a privacy-friendly universal ID across sites and devices, regardless of IP address and user-agent changes.
While third-party cookies offer 56% coverage and log-in solutions offer coverage of less than 20% of ad inventory, Intent IQ’s solution covers over 80% of ad inventory, fully addressing the 3rd party cookie demise challenges advertisers will otherwise face – by enabling targeting, frequency capping and attribution across +80% of ad inventory in a third party cookieless world. This solution will:
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Give users the choice to let the site they’re visiting share their site cookie ID, IP address, and user-agent with advertisers, or to deny this permission.
-
Use short, clear, helpful language that users can make sense of across a large number of websites, similar to how it’s done today for cookies in Europe.
-
Give the user the choice to either click on an “Accept All” button or click to actively manage the data to be shared with third parties. The user is not asked to enter any information. The “C” in DCS stands for “Choices”. The user is in the driver’s seat, making informed choices.
-
Put users and regulators at ease that user data is not shared without consent.
-
Help the open internet thrive, instead of making Google and Apple even more powerful.
Overall, to the internet user, the proposed solution is only a minor change to user experience. In opt-out regimes such as the US and Canada, it’s the addition of a simple “opt-in or manage” overlay, that users increasingly are used to seeing as they browse today’s Europe compliant sites.
Intent IQ is building a broad coalition to support this initiative