There’s no denying that the prospect of a cookieless future is concerning to many. For years, Magazine Manager Blog has written about various cookie concerns (and the data-driven strategies to address them).
New data from Mediaocean’s 2022 Market Report and 2023 Outlook confirms much of that, with 37% of the more than 600 respondents saying a lack of preparedness for a cookieless future (“and other data deprecation relating to consumer privacy”) was the largest area of concern for their media and marketing initiative. That concern was followed by a decline in the ability to measure campaign effectiveness (32%), the loss of access to third-party data (32%), and consumer ad avoidance (29%).
Interestingly, the research acknowledged the “seemingly contradictory findings” of marketers and agencies sounding these alarms, but also expressing “only moderate interest in privacy.” For instance, when those surveyed were asked to choose up to 3 of the most important consumer trends for 2023, consumer privacy ranked fourth with 35%, outranked by TikTok/social video (63%), CTV/streaming (54%), and e-commerce everywhere (47%). “On the topic of privacy,” the report says, “our survey reveals that some learned passivity has unfortunately taken hold of our industry.”
And it’s at that intersection of internal reflection and tea-leaf reading of the trends where I think publishers should take particular note. The survey asked, “given our current macroeconomic uncertainty,” which advertising capabilities and media investments were most critical. More than half of the respondents (52%) said performance-driven paid media.
The research was quick to point out that more than a third listed brand advertising as critical — “experienced marketers,” the research says, “understand intrinsically that investing in the brand is investing in the long-term health of the business” — as well as the fact that brand advertising budgets are “often the first to go as marketers double down on ‘what works.’”
With the uncertainties of 2023 and beyond, knowing the directions that marketers are leaning is as important as knowing how they’re working for day-to-day and long-term success.
To download the full report, visit mediaocean.com.
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