{"id":11093,"date":"2022-02-08T19:08:07","date_gmt":"2022-02-08T19:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/08\/addressability-is-a-slow-motion-train-wreck-says-iab-ceo\/"},"modified":"2022-02-08T19:08:07","modified_gmt":"2022-02-08T19:08:07","slug":"addressability-is-a-slow-motion-train-wreck-says-iab-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/08\/addressability-is-a-slow-motion-train-wreck-says-iab-ceo\/","title":{"rendered":"Addressability is a “slow-motion train wreck” says IAB CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cLess incrementalism and more burning impatience from the entire industry.\u201d This was the mantra repeated again and again by IAB CEO David Cohen in his opening keynote address to the Annual Leadership Meeting convened this week, both virtually and in-person, in New York City. His message was a stark warning: major challenges are facing the industry and a cautious response to them will be disastrous.<\/p>\n

The \u201cIAB State of Data<\/a>\u201d report, released to coincide with the event, underlined the scale of these challenges, raising concerns about a measurement blackout as the industry continues to invest in third-party data despite the threats of cookie deprecation<\/a> and stringent legislation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the dark. <\/strong>\u201cIf we don\u2019t diversify our approach to the market, soon we\u2019ll be operating by the equivalent of candlelight.\u201d said Angelina Eng, Vice President, Measurement and Attribution, Programmatic+Data\u00a0Center, IAB, in a release. \u201cThe industry risks losing\u00a0$10 billion in annual sales<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 without a serious plan for what happens when everyone\u2019s in the dark.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisers are trusting in adtech and publishers to solve the problem, but in the view of the IAB, and despite its REARC initiative,<\/a> it\u2019s not happening. The IAB is calling for the industry to develop common standards and KPIs, develop privacy-centric solutions for addressability and measurement, and leverage existing tech standards to apply across channels.<\/p>\n

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Diversity is mandatory. <\/strong>Among Cohen\u2019s warnings was a shortfall in tech talent. By 2030, he said, more than 85 million tech jobs could go unfulfilled. \u201cWhat does it have to do with diversity? Everything.\u201d Failure to diversify the talent pool puts recruiting an adequate workforce at risk.<\/p>\n

The media and entertainment industry has made big strides: \u201cThey had no choice. New technologies, our technologies, enable audiences to find what they want, where they want it, when they want it. Entertainment companies knew they had to reach deeper and broader to satisfy their existing audiences and the new audiences they [needed to] gather.\u201d The marketing and advertising industries need to catch up. IAB is supporting this with its Digital Media Apprenticeship <\/a>program. \u201cTalent and DEI needs less incrementalism and more burning impatience from the entire industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Privacy and addressability. <\/strong>The deprecation of third-party identifiers was described by Cohen as \u201cthe world\u2019s biggest slow motion train wreck. We can all see it coming from miles down the track. And the industry\u2019s response? More incrementalism. \u2018Someone will figure it out for me.’\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just about cookies, it\u2019s about Congress too, said Cohen, referring to the proposed surveillance ad ban legislation<\/a>. \u201cWe are simply not prepared,\u201d said Cohen. He called, inevitably, for less incrementalism and more burning impatience.<\/p>\n

Next generation measurement. <\/strong>\u201cWe have at least 27 individual industry efforts focused on next generation measurement,\u201d said Cohen. \u201cLearning is good,\u201d he continued, \u201cbut couldn\u2019t we all use some standards in measurement we could all build off of?\u201d It requires industry involvement rather than businesses defending their \u201cfavorite metrics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why we care.<\/strong> Marketers and advertisers will look back on this speech as an urgent call to action. The question is whether they will look back from the perspective of an unresolved addressability and measurement blackout, as the IAB is warning, or from the happy uplands of an industry-wide resolution to these challenges.<\/p>\n

Right now, with Google flip-flopping on what will replace cookies and a bewildering portfolio of composite deterministic\/probabilistic identity resolution solutions on offer from a range of adtech vendors, the IAB\u2019s warnings have force.<\/p>\n\n

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