The adtech industry is going through a period of major upheaval and change. Brands, agencies, and publishers want to get ahead of the shifting landscape by embracing new opportunities, technology, and skills. To adapt to evolving trends, they are identifying their top priorities and moving quickly to address them. So what’s foremost on everyone’s minds? According to a recent Quantcast survey of over 600 advertising and publishing professionals in North America, the majority of them are focused on preparing for a cookieless future.
The cookie conundrum
The demise of third-party cookies will remain a key obstacle for brands, agencies, and publishers in 2022, as 60% of survey respondents said preparing for the cookieless future is one of their top priorities. Finding new audiences, measurement, and attribution will be primary concerns while navigating the cookieless world, and 57% of respondents agreed that first-party data will be foundational to a cookieless solution, with contextual approaches following behind at 38%. Additionally, 36% of respondents think a combination of first-party data, contextual, industry IDs, and cohorts will produce the best cookieless solution.
Top of mind for 2022
Most brands and agencies see attribution and driving revenue as their key challenges in the coming year, highlighting the value of tracking marketing spend to return on investment. As for what they are looking for in an adtech partner in 2022, the majority of respondents listed campaign effectiveness and cookieless solutions as being most important.
Learning and development are also a priority for brands and agencies. To adapt to the evolving needs of the adtech industry, 41% of respondents aim to upskill in the areas of attribution and measurement. Results also show that 34% of marketers surveyed are interested in gaining audience insights and developing a better understanding of changing consumer behavior in 2022.
On the other side of the adtech ecosystem, publishers expect their top challenges in 2022 to include driving revenue and growing first-party data, which will be paramount as the industry looks at novel ways to find new audiences in a post-cookie world.
While brands, agencies, and publishers face challenges in the year ahead, there are also opportunities to be gained. Early adopters of cookieless solutions will gain a competitive advantage and reap significant benefits. By embracing new innovative solutions, the advertising ecosystem can thrive amidst uncertainty.
Learn more
Access the 2022 North American Quantcast State-of-the-Industry Report here. You can also check out the 2022 APAC Advertising State-of-Play report here or read about its results in this blog post. You can also learn specifics about how our clients are preparing for a cookieless future in this blog post about m/SIX and PMG.