This time last year, 82 percent of marketing professionals told IAB that their organizations had been impacted by data signal loss. Likewise, 95 percent of them said they expected signal loss and new privacy legislation to continue to be a challenge in the coming years. 

95 percent? It makes you wonder if the other 5 percent just misunderstood the question?

Without a doubt, signal loss and heightened challenges in audience targeting and attribution are some of the greatest challenges facing all publishers and data-driven marketers today. It’s also one of the driving forces behind the industry’s most significant data and technology advances in recent years. That said, not all so-called “identity resolution” solutions hold up to scrutiny—and even fewer are built with both buy- and sell-side considerations in mind.

To understand where the greatest progress has been made in solving for signal loss, we spoke with Dror Ben Yishai, CTO of Intent IQ. Here’s what advertisers and publishers need to know about identity resolution in an evolving privacy landscape. 

Our industry has been throwing around the phrase "signal loss" for so long that it's started to lose meaning. Where are advertisers feeling the biggest pinch? What audiences are simply out of reach today? 

Signal loss has been accelerating for some time, both on the web front and on the mobile front. It will only get worse as regulations mandating features like Global Privacy Control (GPC) increase and security and privacy concerns continue to rise, especially in European markets. “Signal loss” is not just about cookies going away; it’s about the growing challenge of reaching audiences on all the difficult-to-target devices and environments, including Safari, Firefox, CTV, iOS, and other MAID-less environments.

You can’t talk about “signal loss” without then talking about “identity.” What does “identity” look like when done right? 

Identity resolution is the foundation of any effective marketing and targeting strategy. But for identity to work, it must be accurate, scalable, effective, and precise. Identity, when done right, enables marketers to buy audiences, not just traffic, and it lets the sell side create and identify real audiences, eliminating both fraud and wasted resources.  

When we thought we were losing the third-party cookie (and let's be honest -- we still are), we saw a whole lot of new identity innovations hit the market. Where was the greatest progress made, and can we quantify that progress in any way? 

The advent of effective alternative IDs has probably been the most important step forward for the industry. But all alternative IDs are not all created equal. (Check out the piece we published with Advertising Week, which helps marketers assess alternative IDs.) In short, for alternative IDs to be effective, they must be available at scale, be accurate, and be interoperable.

What's Intent IQ's role here? What's under the hood of your identity resolution technology? 

Our alternative ID is available at scale across 180 million users and 50 billion monthly ad impressions in North America alone. It is more than 90 percent accurate, built on top of hybrid signals that are both deterministic and probabilistic. Our ID node's vertex connections within the graph are re-evaluated every 48 hours across billions of data points to ensure exceptional accuracy compared to other old-school device graphs that have an offline bimonthly dump. 

Most importantly, our tech works for both the buy and sell sides. Using our universal ID, coupled with our bid enhancement, both publishers and marketers can target real people (not just traffic), driving better performance across the board.

Sounds like you’re trying to create a win-win for both the sell and buy side. How are you doing that, and how is that different from other approaches being taken right now? 

Our identity solutions bridge the gap between real supply and real demand, optimizing the matching process by eliminating fraud and redundancies. Through the powerful combination of universal IDs and bid enhancement, SSPs can accurately identify and curate authentic supply, while buyers can precisely target their desired audiences with greater effectiveness and efficiency. This includes capturing premium iPhone users—a highly valuable yet challenging segment to reach—unlocking new opportunities for more effective engagement and higher performance. 

OK, prove it. Let's hear some real-world client results. 

Our Fandom partnership showcases how effective our identity solutions can be for both the buy and sell sides. Working together, we have driven revenue lifts of 55-140 percent across their suite of sites, with hard-to-reach iOS users contributing 79 percent of the cookieless audience and driving a 26 percent increase in CPMs and 58 percent increase in fill rates. 

Fandom’s impressive performance is the result of working with buy-side partners like Involved Media who are now better able to find their specific audiences and target them at scale across their sites, driving increased ROI and investment (and reinvestment). It’s a self-perpetuating cycle. 

Very cool. Thanks for reminding us that “signal loss” doesn’t have to mean “audience loss” with partners like Intent IQ. 

About Intent IQ

Intent IQ is a privacy-forward next generation identity resolution leader, whose technology is powering many of the leading platforms in the industry. It is backed by AlmondNet Group's IP portfolio currently comprising over 170 granted patents. Intent IQ's solutions are fueled by a powerful identity device graph with unparalleled accuracy and scale that connects all screens and devices, in real-time, across multiple environments including cookieless, MAID-less, and CTV. The company's solutions include privacy-friendly identity resolution, first-party ID clustering technology, cookieless audience activation, bid enhancement, and attribution. Intent IQ is headquartered in New York City and has a research and development center in Herzliya, Israel. 

For more information, visit www.IntentIQ.com.