Third-party Data: the Writing is on the Wall

July 14, 2020

The relevance of business models deteriorates over time. That is the nature of commerce in every industry, and particularly for the online advertisement industry, where data collection methods have come under intense scrutiny in the last few years.

Demise of third-party cookies

The web browsers (Safari, Firefox, and Chrome) that deliver advertisements and collect user-behaviour data on behalf of the websites have revolted against the unethical means of data collection using third-party middle men. Regulators and changes in public opinion have supported new frameworks like GDPR and CCPA. Even publishers and advertisers have conducted extensive studies to probe this convoluted and secretive eco-system of data collection. And now latest in the news, data security researchers have found massive data leaks from one of the largest data management platform vendor, Oracle BlueKai.

It’s pretty clear the direction this is heading: companies are taking more direct ownership of capturing and managing their first-party data, and cutting their unhealthy reliance on the third-party “middle-men” that the online advertisement industry has enabled.

Promise of first-party data

First-party data is created when your prospects and customers visit and interact with your business’ digital properties. This data is truly huge, and contains a treasure trove of information, including behavioural patterns, customer journey insights, buying signals from customers, and much more.

Data Science, Machine Learning, AI and many other advanced techniques have now become mainstream, much thanks to tremendous capacity available in the largest of Clouds like GCP. There is a trained workforce available in the market that can leverage first-party data like never before. The new frontier of Digital has moved to leveraging first-party data to its fullest potential; from launching customer acquisition and retargeting campaigns to improving customer journey and experience using data-led personalisation. The largest Digital organisations, in both commercial and public sectors, are racing to the next fruitful milestones of Data & Digital.

Links to related articles and examples of how leading companies are doing with their first-party digital data.