What Are Ad IDs? Understanding the Basics
Discover how advertising identifiers (Ad IDs) are transforming digital advertising. Learn what Ad IDs are and how marketers can use them for better targeting while respecting user privacy and tracking without cookies.
With privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA/CPRA, along with Google’s threat of deprecating third-party cookies and all of Apple’s privacy changes, an alternative to managing user information, respecting privacy, and allowing marketing success was needed.
As the proverb goes, “Necessity is the mother of Invention.”
Advertising identifiers date back to 2002 when 4A’s and ANA created a system to systemize the labeling of linear TV spots. Years later, with the privacy changes mentioned above, digital marketers began to see the value of adopting Ad IDs.
Unique identifiers are assigned to individual users by platform, device, or app to support targeted advertising. Third-party cookies track users across websites, while Ad IDs are connected to user accounts or, more often, devices.
Advertising identifiers recognize behavior and preferences without relying on cross-site tracking. They have become relatively standard for demand-side platforms (DSPs), software that allows a brand to purchase automated advertising.
Types of Advertising Identifiers
There are several advertising ID types; within those types, different companies use differently named ID styles. The primary five include Mobile, Universal, First-party, Dynamic, and ID5.
Mobile Advertising IDs, or MAIDs, are tied to mobile devices, including Google’s GAID and Apple’s IDFA.
First-party IDs, like Facebook’s and Amazon’s, are created specifically for their platforms.
Universal IDs, on the other hand, work across browsers and devices using encrypted phone numbers or emails. Ad tech companies most often create universal IDs. An example is The Trade Desk’s Unified ID, which is not really a Universal ID but a universal cookie aggregator tool created by TTD. Unified ID2.0 or UID2 standardizes IDs based on first-party data, managing privacy and consumer control.
Telcos create dynamic, unique, one-off IDs for ad requests.
Finally, ID5 is an encrypted first-party data ID that helps publishers identify users. This ID works in all digital advertising environments, ensures privacy compliance, and limits access to authorized users. Some ID5s are Probabilistic, combining IP addresses, page URLs, and timestamps. Others are Deterministic, uniting users across devices and domains and merging signals to administer algorithms that determine user identity.
The Marketing Benefits of Ad IDs for Targeting and Personalization
These identifiers help marketers deliver more relevant and personalized ads while preserving consumer privacy.
- Better media buying and targeting for marketers due to the ability for IDs to allow more accurately provided personalized ad campaigns. This targeting improves the relevance of the ads consumers see while still honoring their privacy.
- A long-term view is taken with Ad IDs connected to a device, app, or user accounts, which are less frequently changed. In contrast, third-party cookies are more likely to be blocked or deleted.
- Understanding the customer journey is a vital objective for marketers. Advertising identifiers offer cross-platform tracking, which helps marketers develop a clearer picture of their customer’s behaviors and journeys between apps and platforms to gather more relevant data.
- Measuring households is helpful because it’s closer to how Linear advertising is purchased. Measuring by HH is helpful because it’s closer to how Linear TV is bought. That enables combined online/offline reach forecasts, which helps brands understand the full market-level impact of their total media mix.
- Ad IDs offer enhanced digital identity tracking and ad relevance, which can improve campaign performance. Marketers can respect their customers’ privacy while benefiting from effective remarketing, progressive audience segmentation, and enriched collaboration using shared solutions like ID5 across publishers and ad tech.
Ad ID Challenges and Considerations
- Even with these marketing benefits, privacy can still be an issue. Marketers need to handle user data carefully, ensure compliance, and protect the personal identifying information that Ad IDs collect, such as location, email addresses, and phone numbers.
- While third-party cookies have standardized the tracking process, the alternative IDs still need to be standardized. This leaves some limitations on partnerships and data consolidation.
- Ad IDs are more overtly dependent on user consent than third-party cookies. Consumers can disable IDs and opt out of ads, which is easier now than in the past.
Addressing these challenges will require communication, collaboration, and agreed-upon processes across the industry rather than continuing with fragmented options.
3 Next Steps for Marketers' Advertising
- Nothing new here. Digital marketers should focus on collecting their own first-party data if they aren’t already. Direct interactions with prospects and customers using subscriptions, surveys, forms, loyalty programs, and accounts are the answer. This allows consent privacy controls that are highly reliable and unique to each organization based on collected data.
- Invest in a standard ID solution, whether starting with your first-party IDs assigned to your apps or IDs provided by your media buying agency or their DSP partners. UID2 would be an example that offers uniform privacy-responsive tracking.
- Adopting new measurement methods is key. Your internal marketing and data teams and any external partners should adopt systems for measuring and tracking company results. Third-party cookies may have been given a reprieve, but they will go away eventually.
Knowledge of Ad IDs and continually navigating the ever-changing marketing and advertising realms requires adapting to the new digital landscape.
You can reach your marketing goals while respecting user privacy and delivering personalized and effective advertising tactics through advertising identifiers.
Additional Sources:
Main Image - pexels-cottonbro-5473956
https://www.publift.com/blog/device-ids
