Unless
you've been lost in a galaxy far, far away, or on an island
out of sync with the space/time continuum, you've most likely
heard the latest in the ongoing siege of Microsoft®
by Google, or Google by Microsoft®, depending upon your
point of view. This week it's the browser wars (dunt, dunt,
dunt) with Microsoft's unveiling a beta of IE 8, and Google's
release of Chrome. When even Time
Magazine is bandying about terms like "superpowers,"
it's hard to not pay attention.
Press coverage is largely focused on the Google/Microsoft battle for supremacy, and the consumer privacy pro's and con's of both browsers' consumer privacy features. But as these Goliaths duke it out, what about the potential impact to the online advertisers whose media dollars actually pay the bill? The truth is that targeting and cookies, already under fire from the FTC, could now be at risk by third party content blocking browsers. And because online's current technologies depend heavily on third party cookies – as the cookie crumbles, so goes the industry. Or does it?
The third party cookie has been the mainstay of internet advertising for the past 10 years. It's brought us third party ad serving, targeting, conversion metrics, and web analytics, to name a few. So if adoption of the new blocking technologies becomes widespread, whose head might be first on the chopping block? The list is impressive – third party ad servers, media networks, affiliate programs, and web analytics for starters.
There's no way to be certain how large the ultimate adoption rate or usage of these new browser privacy modes might be, but Internet Explorer already enjoys a 72% market share. Is the writing on the wall for online advertisers and technology providers – adapt, or perish? One thing is clear, online advertising is overdue for a technological overhaul that can provide both privacy AND relevant advertising experiences to the consumer. We think it's time to get on the bandwagon, and have already begun by providing new technology that allows known and trusted merchants a means of engaging in dialogue with consumers, in a way that protects both the consumers' privacy and the advertisers' brands.
– Layne Salter
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