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The concept of the Privacy Sandbox has emerged as a critical development in adtech, particularly when it comes to the web and mobile in-app experiences. Google is working with industry partners to find a viable solution to targeting and monetization without the use of Google Ad ID.Privacy Sandbox on Android (in-app) is designed to stop apps from secretly tracking you. The implementation is new, innovative, and a complex piece of technology with multiple unknowns; but at its core, aims to enhance user privacy while preserving the essence of personalized advertising.
The introduction of Privacy Sandbox technologies aims to provide websites and applications with alternative methods for delivering personalized advertisements while prioritizing the protection of your personal information. These technologies strive to minimize the extent of data collected about you to enhance your privacy online. But like any advancement, Privacy Sandbox brings with it new challenges and opportunities. Advertisers and publishers who understand its impact will be ahead of the game.
In this explainer blog, we explore the nuances of the Privacy Sandbox Android within the mobile in-app environment. We’ll peel back the layers to help you, marketers or publishers, make sense of this increasingly complex ecosystem.
Advertisers are concerned. They’re facing increasing restrictions, and as a result, they’re losing targeting and frequency capping capabilities, along with control over ad placement. This can lead to budget cuts as channels become less effective, which in turn impacts both advertisers and publishers.
Even more concerning is the lack of user trust. Security breaches become an issue when data is being processed. As users lose control, they lose confidence. The average user is skeptical, finding it hard to believe that selecting "reject" on an intrusive consent screen will truly secure their data.
Consider the transition from traditional fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Decades ago, reliance on fossil fuels seemed inevitable, despite the environmental consequences becoming increasingly evident. It took time for society to recognize the need for alternative energy sources like solar, wind, and hydroelectric power. Similarly, in adtech, data usage has exploded, but privacy mechanisms haven't kept up. The industry is simply patching the issue, and in the process, aggravating users with confusing choices in the hopes they will blindly accept them all.
We need to change the way we work, with a focus on keeping data on devices and in secure environments in order to regain user trust. Advertisers can still target the right audience. The difference is that security will be enforced by the platform, built right into the operating system and thus drastically reduce data leakage and the risk of security breaches.
Advertisers must be more conscious about data usage and promote a more privacy-safe approach. The goal is still to deliver the right ads to the right people at the right time, but with a different, more privacy-focused method.
The Privacy Sandbox is not a one-fits-all replacement. Advertisers and publishers need to adapt to new standards, and service providers need to support their clients through this transition.
Google’s preliminary roadmap doesn’t provide a specific timeline at the moment, but they will provide substantial notice ahead of any future changes. This gives publishers ample time to update their mobile apps to new SDK versions.
iOS publishers have been affected by the IDFA limitations for a while now. Verve, for example, released a powerful version of the ad monetization SDK with support for ID-less monetization, this May.
Budget cuts on the advertiser side directly translate into revenue loss for publishers. Publishers need to make their inventory attractive enough to counteract potential budget reductions by ensuring advertising revenue.
So how do they do that? As the industry actively develops solutions, in-app publishers need to ensure that all software development kits (SDKs) from partners remain up-to-date. By keeping both monetization SDKs and measurement partner (MMP) SDKs updated, publishers can integrate new technologies seamlessly within their apps.
However, publishers should be mindful of who they partner with. TCF 2.2 in the CMP mandates that all publishers must disclose all the partners they work with and the extent of data sharing. This requirement has become standard, and is visible on websites and mobile apps when content dialogues open with the statement "We and our thousands of partners process your data." So publishers need to exercise caution when selecting partners to make sure that they’re compliant.
The use of first-party data is especially important and presents substantial potential. It's a topic that hasn't received much attention among our publishers yet. Within the Privacy Sandbox, there's an opportunity to leverage this data for targeting on the device without any information being passed to advertisers or other industry players. This enables us to process and monetize the data without directly viewing it, paving the way for more robust first-party data usage than was technically feasible before.
Google has proposed over 20 new technologies and privacy-centric adjustments applicable to both web and in-app environments. These initiatives can be categorized into several overarching objectives: enhancing relevance, refining measurement capabilities, establishing robust cross-site privacy protocols, mitigating covert tracking practices, and combating spam and fraud. However, the evolution of identity management extends beyond the borders of the privacy sandbox concept. There are numerous solutions crafted to operate without Privacy Sandbox. Nonetheless, here are their suggested technologies specific to Android Privacy Sandbox (in-app)
RELEVANCE:
For thoroughness, it's important to mention that there are additional technologies specifically tailored for the web (Privacy Sandbox Chrome). You can find all the technologies listed on Google’s developers pages.
We began early research on privacy-enhancing technologies when Apple announced the IDFA deprecation. We support SKAdNetwork (SKAN) and iOS Privacy Manifests. Our investments in privacy enhancement encompass Dataseat, our DSP tailored for the IDFA-less environment, along with a targeting approach centered on contextual and cohort-based learning. Through Dataseat and Verve Group’s exchanges, we’re dedicating significant resources to machine learning, specifically geared towards analyzing and enhancing SKAN-only traffic.
Last year we released ATOM for iOS, the industry’s first anonymized and on-device audience targeting solution for mobile marketers. ATOM enables marketers to continue reaching the right audiences without compromising their privacy.
For Android devices, the situation is somewhat different. We’re excited that Google will integrate the Android Privacy Sandbox as a set of technologies directly into ATOM’s operating system, and that they're collaborating closely with the adtech industry to ensure updated products will be available before identifiers are removed.
Anish is the Head of Product Marketing at Verve, overseeing the company’s portfolio of ad products and solutions. With over a decade of experience in media and ad technology, Anish has previously worked with industry leaders such as InMobi and GroupM. He drives the go-to-market strategy for Verve’s ad products, specializing in privacy-based technology and its impact on the ad ecosystem. Anish collaborates closely with clients and partners to educate and promote the adoption of ID-free technologies.