The Promise Universal IDs Have for Digital Advertising

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Reaching the right user at the right time with the right message is the goal of digital advertising. Critical to that goal is the ability for ad tech companies to understand identity through the use of cookies. Unfortunately, it's not easy for these companies to work together without a universal ID for all to use. MediaVillage spoke with Garrett McGrath (pictured below), Vice President of Product Management,Data Services at Rubicon Project about why they are involved with the Advertising ID Consortium and the issues the consortium hopes to address.

Rob Beeler:  How are cookies used by digital marketers?

Garrett McGrath:  Cookies can be used as a representation or record of a person visiting a website, at a particular time, using a particular browser, etc.  Based on the site that a person visits, cookies can loosely become a proxy for intent, desire or interest. 

Beeler:  Where do cookies fall short?

McGrath:  Cookies are by definition domain based.  A cookie from one domain means nothing to another cookie set in a different domain.  So in order to transfer the concept of identity from one web-based entity to another, we engage in what is called a cookie sync.  In order for a supply-side platform (SSP) and the various connected demand-side platforms (DSPs) to have a common understanding of a cookie set on a particular publisher's domain, they have to synchronize or share the representation of this "identity">

Rob Beeler

Rob Beeler is lead contributing writer for AdTechVillage, a new community on MediaVillage focused on all things digital ad technology. Widely known as the Content Czar of AdMonsters for the past 8 years, Rob now plays the role of The Chairman, emceeing … read more