The internet advertising market is undergoing a transformation
In early February, 2022, the world saw the largest one-day stock market drop in US history. Shares of Meta, previously known as Facebook, fell 26.4%, slashing the digital giant’s capitalization by $230 billion. Most analysts agree that Apple’s new privacy policy was the catalyst for the fall. Users can now refuse collecting and tracking personal data when using apps on their iPhones. After announcing that these changes would cost Meta $10 billion in revenue in 2022, the company’s stock began to drop, although its financial record over the past period was not bad overall.
What marketers have worried about for years is happening now in the digital advertising ecosystem: the end of the era of third-party cookies. As part of these changes, Google is phasing out the use of personal data for ad targeting. The transformation process accelerates because of the strict European rules and the more rigid the position of the regulator in matters of compliance with the law “On Personal Data”. Earlier this year, the French data privacy service CNIL fined Google Alphabet a record 150 million euros ($169 million). The corporation will have to pay because it was difficult for internet users to opt out of online trackers, known as cookies. Facebook, owned by Meta Platforms, was previously fined € 60 million for the same reason, CNIL reports. The department believes that online tracking was imposed on users. Although Google and Facebook provided a virtual button for accepting cookies, it wasn’t that easy to opt out of using them. “CNIL has discovered that websites facebook.com, google.fr and youtube.com do not allow you to refuse cookies as easily as to accept them” – the supervisory authority said in a statement, also referring to Google’s video streaming platform. The authorities have ordered companies to give French Internet users simpler tools to refuse the use of cookies in order to guarantee their consent. Google and Facebook have three months to comply with the order. Otherwise, they face additional penalties of €100,000 for each day.
IS THE MARKET READY FOR COOKIE REJECTION?
Experience of the OpenWeb company confirms that primary data obtained directly from readers when they interact with content is just as effective as third-party data when we’re talking about targeting. The OpenWeb platform is based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. It accounts for the behavioral, contextual, emotional and reputational factors of communication on the online publishers websites. OpenWeb creates an environment for the development of communities and vibrant, non-toxic discussions in it. The basis of a content strategy is to create conditions for readers to return more often, which, in turn, allows you to collect more quality data. More than 1,000 publishers, including Yahoo!, MSN, The Times, FoxNews, MarketWatch and other world-renowned marketplaces, have evaluated the OpenWeb solution and are using its technology to successfully compete for readership and ad revenue. A new era of digital advertising is dawning, the post-cookie era. And the Meta example encourages market participants to prepare for it in advance.