beyond cookies in mobile advertising
TRANSCRIPT
Beyond Cookies in Mobile
by:
Cloudburst Media1. We leverage exclusive, direct
relationships with niche data providers to create custom audience segments for marketers
2. We then activate those audience segments programmatically, focusing on our network of 600+ premium publishers
3. We refine those activations in real-time for greater insights and improved performance
Intro
While reports of the demise of cookies on mobile may be premature, tracking a user’s online behavior across mobile devices, networks and apps still poses a major challenge for the cookie.
So, what can marketers do? Let’s start with the basics…
What exactly is a cookie?
• Cookies are text files dropped on a user’s web browser by a website that the user visited
• Each cookie contains a unique identifier that links a user to a specific website, allowing for a more personalized experience
• Cookies allow advertisers to follow a user’s activity through the web, make inferences about their likes and dislikes, and then serve them highly targeted / relevant ads
How cookies work
Do cookies exist in Mobile?
• Yes, but their reach is limited– User behavior on mobile devices is fragmented
across the mobile web and apps– Apps operate outside the WWW, with weak nexus
to exterior properties
Cookies on mobile web vs. in apps
Mobile Web• Cookies are fully functional on
the mobile web– Users browsing the Internet using
mobile web browsers get cookied• Mobile browsers, just like
desktop browsers, have different cookie settings and handle 1st and 3rd party cookies differently
• However, cookies on mobile browsers reset when the browser is either closed or when the phone is shut down/restarted
Mobile Apps• Cookies exist within apps • However, cookies from one app
cannot be shared with another app, making it difficult to track user behavior across apps
Cookies on mobile web vs. in apps
Tracking challenges in mobile• Mobile app usage accounts for 86% of users’ time on the mobile web
– Since each mobile app uses a different “sandbox” and the mobile browser uses its own sandbox, advertisers have difficulty identifying a visitor as the same person (from app to app and from app to mobile browser)
• Typically, users have more than one mobile device (cell phone, tablet, game console), complicating identifying a user as the same user when he surfs the Web on different devices
• User privacy preferences, such as tracking opt-out, entered on one app are unlikely to be respected on other apps or on the mobile web browser, or vice versa because ad networks do not recognize different instances of visitor interactions as belonging to the same user
Alternatives to tracking users/mobile behavior across devices• Device IDs• Statistical IDs• Digital fingerprinting• Universal logins
Device IDs
• These include Apple’s UDID and IDFA, Google’s Android ID, MAC address, etc.
• Users cannot alter or opt out of tracking with most of these solutions. – However, the IDFA allows for opt-outs
• However, dynamic device identifiers (i.e., IDFA) make it hard to attribute ad performance across channels and can not tie together different devices when used by the same consumer
Statistical IDs
• Algorithms that leverage information provided by the gateway a device uses to access the Internet– TapAd, DrawBridge, AdTruth
• These statistical solutions are probability-based, and suffer from some uncertainty, especially when employers offer employees the same devices, with all subject to centralized software control and updating
Digital fingerprinting
• Combines algorithms and data points, such as device ID, Wi-Fi networks used to access the Internet, time zone, language settings, sites visited, etc. to tie together ownership of different devices – TapAd, Drawbridge, AdTruth
Universal logins
• Proposed solution, not yet available, would allow users to specify mobile tracking preferences through a single, centralized dashboard– Users could register their devices and apps and
indicate privacy preferences for each• Those willing to participate would enjoy
increased personalization and potentially free access to ad-supported services / content that those opting out would be required to pay for
Final thoughts• Mobile is a critical marketing channel
– 60% of web traffic originates from a mobile device• And connecting a user’s behavior in mobile apps with their
behavior on the mobile web is critical to success. Linked data: – Reduces delivery of irrelevant ads and/or the same ads over and
over– Identifies whether a user who saw a product advertised in an
app transacted on the mobile web (and vice versa)• However, marketers can not rely on cookies in mobile alone• Testing alternative frontend and backend tracking mechanisms and
leveraging in-app tracking solutions, such as Kochava or TUNE can help
How Cloudburst Media can help
• We can leverage our direct relationships with data providers to create custom audience segments for your brands
• Our technology partnerships allow us to export data derived from desktop behaviors and apply it cross device, allowing us to target our custom audiences on desktop and mobile devices
• Allowing marketers to advertise to the same users cross device with more certainty
