Will Google Allow The Unified ID 2.0?

Palo Alto, California, USA - January 02, 2018: Google parking street/pavement sign. Title of a Google on a parking spots for Google employees in Silicon Valley.

There seems to be something of a misalignment between Google and the wider digital advertising industry at the moment.

On one side is Google, which recently doubled down on its decision to deprecate third-party cookies with the announcement it would not be building an alternative identifier once cookies are officially phased out.

The company has cited privacy concerns around alternative techniques such as the use of PII graphs based email addresses and has suggested such ad tracking techniques will not “meet rising consumer expectations for privacy”.

Meanwhile, plans for a Unified ID 2.0 are full steam ahead, with the likes of The Trade Desk, Criteo, PubMatic, LiveRamp and Nielsen all on board and beta testing underway.

Crucially, the Unified ID 2.0 will rely heavily on email addresses, with users set to be asked to share their details and consent when they visit a publisher page that supports the Unified ID 2.0.

So where will the Unified ID 2.0 fit into Google’s new privacy-first ad tech ecosystem?

Google has been careful not to specifically name the Unified ID 2.0, however, VP and GM of ads Jerry Dischler seemed to further distance Google from other industry solutions during last week’s Google Marketing Livestream event.

“Third-party cookies and other proposed identifiers that some in the industry are advocating for do not meet the rising expectations that consumers have when it comes to privacy. They will not stand up to rapidly evolving regulatory restrictions. They simply cannot be trusted in the long term,” Dischler said.

Google is not taking part in the Unified ID 2.0 and has said will not be using the technology in any of its products.

Whether or not this will extend from Google Ads to Google Chrome remains to be seen.

With Google out of the picture, the long-term success of the Unified ID 2.0 will most likely depend on whether or not publishers choose to go with the new identifier.

Dischler also championed the use of consented first-party data for advertisers as a way to meet evolving privacy expectations and revealed how advertisers will be able to use this data to improve measurement and audience strategies.

“First-party data can also help you connect with more of the right people for your business. We’re now expanding the availability of Customer Match to nearly all advertisers to reach and re-engage customers across ad types.

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Google unified id 2.0