The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) recently announced a significant update to its OpenRTB protocol: Full support for ID Bridging via the addition of ID Provenance Protocol. This is an important development for the programmatic ecosystem, aligned with work we’ve been doing in podcast identity, and marks an industry-wide move towards greater transparency and interoperability in digital advertising.
What is ID Bridging?
ID bridging is a sophisticated identity resolution methodology that creates secure, privacy-conscious pathways between different user identification systems. Imagine a complex neural network where user identities are nodes, and ID Bridging acts as the intelligent connective tissue, allowing precise yet anonymized data translation across platforms, devices, and contexts.
Why is it so Important?
This connective tissue is critical in a fragmented media ecosystem where users are identified differently across different channels. The approach gives advertisers a more holistic view of their audience, enabling better targeting, frequency capping, and measurement.
ID Bridging offers a way to maintain addressability without relying on third-party cookies or other potentially invasive tracking methods, allowing for more relevant advertising experiences while respecting user privacy.
Industry Momentum
The IAB’s endorsement of ID Bridging is a powerful signal that the industry is moving towards a more transparent and interoperable future. Their guardrails in the update to OpenRTB offer a framework to address concerns and confusion about how the technique is and should be used.
- Standardization and Guidelines: The IAB is helping to standardize the practice and establish clear guidelines for implementation. This promotes consistency and transparency across the industry.
- Focus on Privacy: The IAB emphasizes the importance of privacy-preserving approaches to ID bridging. This includes obtaining user consent, providing transparency about data usage, and ensuring data security.
- Industry Collaboration: The IAB’s move encourages collaboration among industry players to develop and implement ID bridging solutions that are both effective and ethical.
We are thrilled to see the move in this direction, and excited to see other players adopt their own approach and documentation for how they use the technique. Just this week, BidSwitch announced their own ID Bridging capabilities and ID Provenance Guidelines.
Leading the Way in Podcasting
At Consumable, we’ve been strong advocates for ID Bridging and have been implementing it within our PODiQ solution – aligning with the IAB’s ID Provenance Protocol as it was announced.
PODiQ is our people-based identity solution designed specifically for podcasting. It leverages ID Bridging to connect listener identifiers across various podcast platforms and apps. We developed this solution to solve for the historical challenges in addressability for podcasts (i.e., the limitations of RSS technology).
Through continued testing and real-world application, we’ve seen firsthand the exceptional value and results that ID Bridging can deliver.
- Improved Targeting: Deliver more relevant ads to listeners based on a unified view of their interests and preferences.
- Enhanced Measurement: Gain accurate insights into campaign performance and audience engagement across different platforms.
- Increased Revenue: Unlock higher CPMs by offering advertisers a more addressable and valuable audience.
To learn more about PODiQ and how we use data science and probabilistic identity graphs for ID Bridging, we encourage you to explore our PODiQ White Paper and our deep-dive on PODiQ for Publishers.
An Industry-Wide Call for Transparency
We believe that all publishers should demand transparency and interoperability from their technology partners. Support for ID Provenance is a major step in the right direction, and we urge publishers to actively push for solutions that embrace this approach.
At Consumable, we remain committed to building innovative solutions like PODiQ that support a more transparent and privacy-conscious digital audio ecosystem, but also provide powerful solutions for publishers and advertisers. We believe that by working together, we can create a future where advertising is both effective and respectful of user privacy.
