The Drum kicks off its week-long deep dive into all things data
This week, The Drum is delving into all things data-related. From post-cookie ad targeting to combating bias in AI – plus recent antitrust lawsuits concerning big tech players and more – we’ll help you understand what’s happening. We will also help you navigate many of the increasingly complex challenges facing businesses today. Here’s a peek into what we’ll be covering.
We’re diving deep into all things data
As technological capabilities advance at an unprecedented rate and markets grow ever more competitive, consumer data offers growing value across the business value chain. Yet, at the same time, it’s becoming increasingly difficult and more taboo to collect, store, use and exchange this information. Yes, the privacy paranoia movement is in full force.
In response to growing demand for consumer data privacy and protection – from consumers themselves, political leaders and interest groups – tech players and regulators are taking it upon themselves to lay the groundwork for a more private, consent-based digital landscape.
Google Chrome, of course, is sunsetting the third-party cookie in a move that will inhibit businesses from ‘following’ users across the web. Apple has in recent months rolled out a number of system updates, including its hotly-debated AppTrackingTransparency and Private Relay features that aim to give users greater say over how developers and advertisers use their personal information.
Meanwhile, China and Saudi Arabia have in recent months introduced their own comprehensive GDPR-like laws that put consumer consent and transparency at the heart of commercial uses of people’s personal information. In the US, on the other hand, federal data protection legislation looks fairly out of reach. As such, states are increasingly introducing – and signing into law – their own privacy regulations, including the new Colorado Privacy Act (which follows the example set by the California Consumer Privacy Act and the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act).
Taken together, these changes are erecting new hurdles for businesses – and for marketers, developers and publishers in particular. Traditional models of ad targeting and personalization are being turned on their head. Marketing and sales measurement demands reinvention. Incentivizing audiences to share their own data willingly has become a chief objective of many businesses.
In combination with broader changes in the digital space – such as the movement toward the metaverse, a boom in fintech and crypto, the rise of AI and machine learning and growing cries for corporate good from users – one thing has become indisputably clear: we are hurtling toward a new kind of internet. And data is at the heart of it all.
Throughout this week, we’ll be publishing features, breaking news, opinion pieces and video content exploring these challenges and opportunities – and how the industry can work proactively to adapt and thrive in our data-obsessed and privacy-conscious world.
Look forward to diving into some of the following topics as part of The Drum’s Data Deep Dive:
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Combating bias and algorithmic harm in AI
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Which agencies are winning the data war
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Understanding China’s new Personal Information Protection Law
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Mitigating ad fraud
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The evolution of co-viewing video ad measurement during the pandemic
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The promise of contextual targeting in a post-cookie world
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Marketing in the metaverse
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Moving to a ‘zero-party’ data framework
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How Facebook’s advertising business is evolving
Happy deep diving!