Contextual targeting is key in this changing environment: Dan Richardson, Yahoo

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by Lindsey Francy Sep 12, 2022 News
Contextual targeting is key in this changing environment: Dan Richardson, Yahoo

Dan Richardson, Head of Data, APAC, Yahoo, highlighted the many learnings that Yahoo has experienced along the way, as he delivered his keynote address at Adgully's DATAMATIXX 2022 Summit & Awards on 'A manifesto for a better Internet in 10 slides or less' There are three simple words that are important if we want to look at history. We used to hear a song on the radio on a Sunday afternoon, but now we can listen to it on the platform of our choice. It is instantaneous.

Key things brands and marketers should keep in mind when advertising in a cookieless world and more.

What are the tools at the disposal of the marketers to target the non-addressable audience in most markets? Machine learning, artificial intelligence, and contextual targeting can be effective.

Depending on the market, the non-addressable audience is at different stages. The pool of unknown users on Apple's platforms will only increase as the iPhone gains ground. The audience in Singapore is much larger than in other markets. 30% of the inventory has no identification. The number is going to increase to 75% by the year 2020. Advertisers and publishers need solutions that can help them reach and monetise their audiences in a changing environment where they can't be identified.

Different tools are brought to the table when we meet with clients. When it comes to contextual targeting, it's important to consider the URL, the page, and the app someone is using. There is no requirement for a cross site tracking. When combined with other programmatic signals, contextual data signals can be used to feed machine learning.

Our program has the ability to use all these signals in a very smart way. In order to infer the audience's demo, interests and likelihood to perform an action, we use our known audience as the seed of knowledge. Double digit improvements to publisher monetisation have been seen in our ad exchange, cost efficiency and consumer engagement metrics. These solutions work well. Privacy-safe is what consumers value.

Are we heading towards a world of cookieless advertising?

Iterating data protection regulations is what we deal with in the Asia-Pacific region. The Personal Data Protection Bill was withdrawn by India and a new draft is being worked on. It's a good thing that it recognizes the need to protect consumer privacy. It makes it harder to harvest the same thing in different ways. A dual strategy is needed by marketers.

Get the most out of first party data and introduce a layer of good governance. This is made up of a lot of different things. You should partner with people who can help you meet the criteria.

Alternative identity solutions can work in cookieless environments. We are seeing an improvement in the cost-per-conversions for advertisers using ClickID. Our unified identity solution uses consent-based, first-party data from millions of opt-in users across our global portfolio of O&O media properties.

More checks and balances are needed with respect to the proliferation of browser cookies. As the data value exchange becomes core, new regulations have led to immense positives, especially with regard to loyalty, ecommerce and content, which are seeing an improvement in quality as the data value exchange becomes core. With Yahoo being a consumer-facing brand with a user base of 900 million globally, we are aware of what is at stake and how to keep consumers feeling safe and valued.

When advertising in a cookieless world, what are the key things brands and marketers should think about?

It's more important than ever for marketers to invest in first party data. Building your first party data strategy involves four steps.

  1. Invest in CRM data. Consumer facing data is the source of effective and compliant advertising. 
  2. Establish a clear value exchange to get user consent. Respecting user privacy builds trusted relationships. 
  3. Encourage user registration. In a cookieless world email becomes the primary identifier for digital advertising
  4. Find a trusted identity partner. Identity solutions activate your data in the cookieless world. 

Because our entire advertising stack is built on first party data, we feel confident in our ability to tackle any changes to tracking and regulation.

Do you think it's time for the open web advertising business model to transition beyond CPM?

The CPM model is an important part of the advertising business, especially for non- performance or click-based channels.

What metrics are most important to marketers? How do changes to third party tracking, device IDs and privacy regulation affect these?

Over the past 15 years, the advertising industry has moved away from last touch conversion attribution towards a multi touch view, which allows marketers to see the consumer path to purchase and assign the appropriate value along the chain. Smart innovation and alternative identity solutions are helping connect the dots, in a way that respects consumer privacy, despite the fact that this has become more difficult due to cookie- blocking.

Building on the quality argument has been one of the positive steps. With viewability standards and now with attention metrics. More than half of all ad formats studied by Yahoo and our partner the Omnicom Group met viewability standards, but achieved less than one second of active attention. The significance is that it shows that viewability is a technology-focused metric.