Amazon Plots Its Own Identifier

The latest player to throw its hat into the ring is Amazon, which is reportedly planning to launch its own identifier to help marketers and publishers measure advertising activity within its walled garden. That could position Amazon to encroach further on the duopoly‘s market share.

“As advertisers look to navigate the future, they‘re going to continue to look to partners in the near term who can do 1-to-1, both targeting and measurement,” Lauren Fisher, EVP of business intelligence at the research firm Advertiser Perceptions, told Digiday. Also this week, Google moves to restrict the Android Advertising ID and the privacy tech vendor landscape expands to meet growing regulatory pressures.

It‘s been a busy week in developments that will impact the future of advertising. Let‘s dig in.

Amazon‘s post-cookie ambitions

Amazon is plotting to release its own identifier that would help marketers and publishers track and measure performance within its own advertising ecosystem, Digiday reports. Although the identifier wouldn‘t work outside its walls, it could shift momentum to its demand-side platform, which some see as well-positioned to capitalize from Google‘s move to sunset third-party cookies in Chrome.

Amazon‘s publisher division APS, which the company uses to maximize inventory outside of its platform, could also get a boost. The identifier would only be available to publishers that meet its requirements, but it‘s unclear what those requirements are. Amazon confirmed that it would release an identifier but didn‘t disclose a timeline.

Google to tighten access to Android Advertising ID

There has been much ado about Apple‘s move to require consent before apps can use its Identifier for Advertising (IDFA) for marketing purposes. Now Google will begin restricting the Android Advertising ID, though the company isn‘t moving as aggressively as Apple.

Google notified app developers this week that it would remove access to the ID when users opt out of tracking and personalized advertising. Currently, users who have opted out still get tagged with the ID for attribution, fraud detection and other non-advertising purposes. Google will release an Android Advertising ID alternative next month that can be used to support these functions for opted-out users.

The major difference between Google‘s and Apple‘s ID policies is that Google‘s move only applies to users who proactively opt out of tracking, whereas Apple prompts every user who has updated to iOS 14.5 to decide whether they want to be tracked when they open a third-party app for the first time.

Unfortunately for advertisers, early data suggests that most users choose not to.

Privacy tech: more than a cottage industry

There were some 44 privacy tech vendors on the scene in 2016. Five years later, the bench now tops 350, driven by regulations such as the California Consumer Privacy Act and Europe‘s General Data Protection Regulation, according to the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).

They provide a dizzying range of capabilities spanning data mapping, data discovery and consent management to website scanning, data subject request management and data de-identification.

“It‘s not always easy to tell what‘s good and what‘s not,” Jedidiah Bracy, editorial director of the IAPP, told AdExchanger. “By the same token, though, I suspect that anyone selling snake oil won‘t last long. There‘s too much on the line for companies. If something isn‘t working, they‘ll know relatively quickly.”

That‘s it for now. See you next week!