• MarTech Today
  • Sections
    • Ads
    • Marketing
    • Content
    • Sales
    • Analytics
    • Management
    • Resources
    • More
    • Home
  • Follow Us
    • Follow
  • MarTech Today
  • Ads
  • Marketing
  • Content
  • Sales
  • Analytics
  • Mgmt
  • Resources
  • More
  • Events
    • Follow
  • SUBSCRIBE

MarTech Today

MarTech Today
  • Ads
  • Marketing
  • Content
  • Sales
  • Analytics
  • Management
  • Resources
  • More
  • Events
  • Newsletters
  • Home
Martech: Advertising

The Media Trust works with UK publishers and vendors to classify cookies

The effort is the latest to get a handle on the countless cookies that a typical publisher’s site deposits onto visitors’ browsers.

Barry Levine on November 6, 2018 at 5:43 pm
  • More

Marketers relish tracking data from publishers’ sites, which come from dozens of cookies dropped by the sites’ vendors, as well as from vendors’ partners. But few publishers have a good understanding of the many ways visitors are tracked or how page loading times are impacted by these services.

To help get a handle on this situation, the UK-based Association for Online Publishing (AOP) announced this week a new cookie classification system with US-based digital risk management firm The Media Trust.

How it works. The Media Trust will scan and catalog the names of cookies deposited into a browser of a typical visitor to a participating publisher site, and match those names against its ongoing database of domains and cookie functions.

While a cookie’s content can only be read by the domain that issued it, Media Trust European GM Matt O’Neill pointed out, the name can be read by anyone. The unique ID for each user is in the cookie content, he said, while the name for the same cookie function from the same domain is identical across users’ browsers.

The name corresponds to the domain of the firm that issued the cookie and its function, such as tracking a user who has made a purchase. If the cookie function is not known, The Media Trust emails the vendor and ask them to fill out an online questionnaire about industry category, such as advertising/marketing, and cookie function.

If a vendor doesn’t respond, each publisher can determine if they’re willing to take the risk of having that unclassified cookie dispensed from its site, or if it must make additional efforts to confront the vendor.

Of course, each publishers’ set of identified cookies helps build a shared, comprehensive database of cookie sources and functions.

How publishers benefit. With this breakdown, the publisher can then get a view of the vendors utilizing its site, and the purposes for which they are tracking users. For European publishers, this can help in their offline determinations of which vendors are conducting activities in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as well as determine if there are any unauthorized vendors using their site.

It might also help publishers troubleshoot any page loading issues, since vendors’ data collection might, in some cases, compromise the speed of page delivery.

The AOP said it is in the process of creating an Advertising Protocol that will establish the terms and obligations for vendors that are dropping cookies, and determine penalties for vendors that don’t comply with publishers’ standards.

Previous to this collaboration, The Media Trust regularly scanned cookies issued to visitors by publishers, and then issued a report to the publisher. Now, O’Neill said, the publishers’ organization and participating publishers can readily view the results, and vendors are participating in the effort to classify their own cookies and define their functions.

O’Neill added that, to his knowledge, this is the first effort where cookie data is validated by vendors.

Why this matters to marketing. The AOP/Media Trust collaboration is only the latest effort to get cookies under control, so to speak.

The Dutch company Screen6, for instance, recently launched a non-cookie way of tracking users, part of its effort to address the dropping cookie match rate. The Advertising ID Consortium and the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) DigiTrust effort are separately, and together, trying to simplify the current ways of tracking users, in part by implementing a common cookie.

With consumer privacy regulations like GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act becoming a bigger factor, and customer experience becoming the key differentiator, brands and publishers know they have to get the multiple ways of identifying, tracking and targeting users under control.

In any scenario, a first step by publishers is getting a clear idea about just what tracking mechanisms are deployed on their sites.



About The Author

Barry Levine
Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.

Related Topics

Channel: Martech: AdvertisingGeneral Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Subscribe to receive daily martech news and expert insights. See terms.


We're listening.

Have something to say about this article? Share it with us on Facebook and Twitter.

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.
See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

MarTech 2021: March 16-17

MarTech 2021: Sept. 14-15

MarTech 2020: Watch On-Demand

×

Attend MarTech - Click Here


Learn More About Our MarTech Events

White Papers

  • The State of Local Marketing Report 2020-2021
  • Quality CRM Data: The Key to Delivering Great Customer Experiences
  • How the Microsoft Search Network Can Maximize Your Search Campaigns
  • The Marketer’s Playbook for Customer Acquisition
  • How To Optimize SEO With UGC
See More Whitepapers

Webinars

  • How to Avoid the Digital Transformation Trap
  • How to Build a Marketing System of Record
  • Meet BIMI: The brand-boosting email security marketers must have for 2021
See More Webinars

Research Reports

  • Local Marketing Solutions for Multi-Location Businesses
  • Enterprise Digital Asset Management Platforms
  • Identity Resolution Platforms
  • Customer Data Platforms
  • B2B Marketing Automation Platforms
  • Call Analytics Platforms
See More Research

Receive daily martech news and analysis.
Martech Today
Download the Martech Today app on iTunes
Download the Martech Today App on Google Play

Channels

  • Advertising
  • Marketing
  • Content
  • Social
  • Commerce
  • Sales
  • Analytics
  • Management
  • Home

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • SMX

Resources

  • White Papers
  • Research
  • Webinars
  • MarTech Conference

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff
  • Connect With Us

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • iOS App
  • Google Play

© 2021 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

Your privacy means the world to us. We share your personal information only when you give us explicit permission to do so, and confirm we have your permission each time. Learn more by viewing our privacy policy.Ok