Advertisers Still Heavily Rely on Third-Party Cookies for Programmatic; Publishers Increased Their QoQ Cookieless Revenue Across Most Categories in Q4

33Across, an addressable infrastructure designed for the open web, today announced findings from its latest “Q4 Programmatic Cookie Alternative Trends Report.” In creating this new report, 33Across examined programmatic transactions on its exchange to understand cookie alternative and third-party cookie trends among buyers and sellers in Q4 2023.

Current Trends in Third-Party Cookie Deprecation

2023 was quite a turbulent year for digital advertising as the industry experienced economic weakness, layoffs, and confirmation of Google’s third-party cookie deprecation timeline. However, during the second half of the year, positive economic indicators like stable interest rates, increased consumer spending, and continued job growth curbed the fear of a US recession.

Google's Privacy Sandbox has recently come under scrutiny in a report by the IAB Tech Lab, revealing gaps in the process of purchasing, selling, delivering, and measuring digital ads following the decline of third-party cookies. While Google's Privacy Sandbox aims to address some of these gaps, the IAB Tech Lab has highlighted additional areas needing attention. Google, however, has disputed the report, claiming it contains "many inaccuracies" and overlooks the broader objective of the Privacy Sandbox: enhancing user privacy while maintaining effective digital advertising.

33Across Exchange Insights

In contrast to the restraint we saw from marketers during the fourth quarter of 2022, the 33Across Exchange had considerable growth in Q4 2023. On average, advertisers grew their cookie alternative investment quarter-over-quarter (QOQ) by 13% in Q4, increasing their cookie alternative share of voice (SOV) by an average of 9%. Since Google announced it would begin removing third-party cookies on 1% of Chrome users, programmatic buyers have pushed to test alternative identifiers and solutions. However, advertisers still continue to focus most of their programmatic advertising buys on the third-party cookie due to ease of use.

Retail advertisers, in particular, have made significant strides in cookieless investments during the second half of 2023, allowing them to test new methodologies and reach audiences outside of third-party cookies (Safari, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, and non-cookied Chrome) at efficient CPMs. Retail advertisers more than doubled their cookie alternative SOV year-over-year (YOY) in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Key Takeaways

• Cookie Alternative SOV Grew by More Than Double YOY for Retail Advertisers: In Q4 2023 Retail advertisers invested 26% of their programmatic budgets in cookie alternative inventory, up 117% YOY.
• Advertisers Still Rely on Third-Party Cookies for Programmatic: Advertisers had a 9% average QOQ increase in cookieless SOV in Q4; however, they continue to rely heavily on third-party cookies.
• Cookieless SOV Increase for Travel Advertisers Correlates to Revenue Growth for Publishers: Travel advertisers grew their cookieless SOV by 8% from Q3 with heavy investment from booking sites and a leading vacation rental company, leading to a 10% revenue increase for Travel publishers.
• Publishers Increased Their QoQ Cookieless Revenue Across Most Categories in Q4: Seasonal events like holiday shopping, sporting events, and entertainment increased cookieless revenue by an average of 17% from Q3.

SpotOn Marketing Assist solidifies SpotOn as the first point-of-sale provider to offer an automated restaurant marketing solution for email and social media campaigns 

• Simplifies email and social media marketing for independent restaurants, saving operators an average of 3 - 5 hours per week

• Leverages the power of AI to create and send automated campaigns designed to drive revenue and increase loyalty

• Provides deep insights into campaign performance and customer behavior

SpotOn, the top-rated software and payments partner for restaurants, today announced the introduction of SpotOn Marketing Assist. Designed to streamline the restaurant marketing process, SpotOn Marketing Assist is the first product of its kind to empower restaurants to drive guest visits and boost sales while eliminating the time and resources needed for self-serve marketing tools. 

For restaurant operators, marketing often falls to the back burner when managing the daily challenges of rising labor costs, fluctuating food costs, and meeting guests' increasing expectations. Independent restaurants can barely cover the cost of their front and back-of-house staff, let alone a dedicated marketing resource. With 90% of restaurant operators reporting their customers are more value-conscious than they used to be, restaurants need to build their brand and drive guest loyalty with value-driven incentives.

"SpotOn Marketing Assist is democratizing AI and automation technology for the independent restaurants who need it the most,” said Bryan Solar, Chief Product Officer at SpotOn. “Beyond empowering operators to set up automated campaigns, SpotOn is helping to drive repeat business while providing operators with data-driven insights they need to keep the momentum going and drive revenue all year long.”

Customization Campaigns & Effortless Setup

For busy restaurateurs, SpotOn Marketing Assist promises simplicity and effectiveness. Operators are prompted to answer a few quick questions about their business category, marketing objectives, deal preferences, time-based deals, and brand - all with the ability to change at any time. Business categories help provide marketing campaigns especially relevant to a restaurant's service type and guests, for instance, happy hours for Mexican restaurants.

Operators can select from multiple marketing objectives to increase online orders, in-person visits, phone calls, reservations, or all of the above. In addition, operators specify limits for discounting and specific shoulder periods to ensure they’re controlling costs. SpotOn helps operators ensure their campaign is aligned with their brand with font and color options and photo upload and selection. Operators just need to connect their restaurant’s Facebook page and add their Google Business profile.

SpotOn Marketing Assist syncs with the SpotOn Restaurant POS to generate email lists from the restaurant's SpotOn Order and SpotOn Reserve customers. From there, SpotOn Marketing Assist takes over creating a marketing campaign tailored to that restaurant and its goals. SpotOn’s marketing campaigns focus on creating a sense of urgency and demand through discounts and promotions. Operators can view, edit, or delete scheduled campaigns in the dashboard anytime.

According to The National Restaurant Association’s State of the Industry Report, more than 8 in 10 adults would take advantage of discounted dining on slower days or off-peak times to save money. To help operators leverage this opportunity, SpotOn created a “Slow Day Boost” revenue-driving campaign that allows operators to input their slow days and meal periods for SpotOn Marketing Assist to auto-generate a campaign with a limited-time offer (LTO) for those shoulder periods the operator outlined.

AI-Powered Content & Automated Campaigns

SpotOn Marketing Assist campaigns save time and money, shifting a manual marketing process into an automated one, with users reporting an average of 3 - 5 hours per week saved. Powered by automation, SpotOn Marketing Assist defines marketing events each month and then creates and schedules campaigns for these events. Using AI, SpotOn Marketing Assist creates the marketing campaign content, while the imagery is selected using the restaurant images uploaded or stock photography; both are generated based on the restaurant's pre-determined category, business goals, and specific event. For example, a March Madness campaign is created for a pizza restaurant wanting to drive more online orders.

Once the campaigns are set up and approved, SpotOn Marketing Assist takes over seamlessly publishing the restaurant’s campaign across their email marketing and social media channels. SpotOn Marketing Assist significantly improved restaurant email performance by 23%, with automated emails reporting a 9.55% open rate, compared to manual emails with a 7.79% open rate.

“Without SpotOn, I was doing marketing maybe once a month, sometimes skipping it completely when we were busy or short-staffed,” says Kim Dieu of Mi ‘N Tea. “Now it takes just 15 minutes, my customers are receiving relevant emails each week, and I’ve seen a significant increase in sales in recent months.”

Data-Driven Insights

As part of the SpotOn Restaurant ecosystem, SpotOn Marketing Assist’s deep integration with SpotOn Restaurant POS and SpotOn Order facilitates a seamless experience for guest redemption in person or online and provides operators with invaluable campaign performance data and customer insight. SpotOn Marketing Assist ties campaigns directly to revenue through the connection with SpotOn Restaurant, providing operators with a better understanding of their guest's preferences and marketing program performance.

In a review of early performance, SpotOn found that “Slow Day” deals are the top-performing redemptions, followed by “Happy Hour” deals and “Deal of the Month” campaigns, suggesting consumers are increasingly motivated and willing to change their dining times to save money.

Collaborates with Global Tech Leader, Wipro, to Advance the Next Generation of Data Classification with Scalable, Accurate Discovery and Sensitive Data Intelligence

1touch.io, a pioneer in sensitive data intelligence, today announced a strategic partnership with Wipro Limited, a global leader in technology services and consulting, to deliver comprehensive data protection solutions and contextual insights to enterprises worldwide. The collaboration brings together 1touch.io's Inventa platform with Wipro's expansive integration capabilities and global reach, transforming the way enterprises manage and utilize their sensitive data assets. 

The partnership heralds a new era in data management, characterized by advanced, scalable discovery and classification methods. This advanced approach leverages sensitive data intelligence to ensure that data is not only precisely identified and categorized but also protected and utilized in compliance with evolving regulations and privacy standards.

Under this agreement, Wipro will incorporate 1touch.io's Inventa sensitive data intelligence platform into its Data Security and Protection practice. This integration meets the growing demand for advanced data discovery and classification across various industries. It will enable enterprises to enhance their understanding and management of sensitive data, improving security and compliance while unlocking the data's full potential for business innovation.

"In today's data-driven landscape, effective data management requires agility, accuracy, and contextual intelligence," said Samrat Chaudhuri, Global Practice Leader at Wipro. "Our partnership with 1touch.io is a strategic move towards offering a comprehensive platform that not only identifies and secures sensitive data but also maximize its value. Together, we are establishing new standards in sensitive data intelligence, transforming how businesses protect and engage with their most critical asset – their data."

Zak Rubinstein, Chief Business and Strategy Officer of 1touch.io, added, "Partnering with Wipro, known for their deep technical expertise and strong client relationships, is a significant step for us. Their global reach and exceptional integration skills will not only broaden our market presence but also enhance the integration of our solutions into more sophisticated systems, increasing our impact across key industries. This partnership is a significant milestone in evolving our offerings and meeting the diverse needs of our clients worldwide."

Private equity executive adds finance and strategy expertise to CRM leader’s executive team

Act!, a leading customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation solution for small businesses around the world, today announced the appointment of Andrew Kane as Chief Financial Officer. In his role, Mr. Kane will be responsible for all aspects of the company’s global finance and accounting operations. 

Before joining Act! Mr. Kane spent over a decade at SFW Capital Partners investing in and advising software, information and other technology companies. Mr. Kane was responsible for leading the evaluation and execution of new investment opportunities, as well as supporting SFW’s existing investments, including Act!, Greenshades Software, Captify Technologies, Devada, GLG, Essen Bioscience, MD Buyline, among others. Mr. Kane previously served on the Boards of Act!, Greenshades Software, and Devada, and currently serves on the Board of Captify Technologies.

Prior to joining SFW, Mr. Kane worked at Gotham Consulting Partners, a management consulting firm specializing in private equity firms and their portfolio companies. Mr. Kane earned a B.S. in Operations Research and Information Engineering from Cornell University.

“Andrew brings invaluable expertise in SaaS strategy and oversight of B2B execution, as well as a unique awareness of our operations, having been a long-time Board member. His discipline and strong financial acumen will add new dimensions to our leadership team,” said Bruce Reading, President & CEO of Act!. “We are delighted to welcome Andrew to his new role with us, and look forward to his valuable contributions.”

“After working closely with the Act! Team over the last few years, I’ve seen the company’s growth potential firsthand,” said Kane. “With the recent advances in the cloud offering, alongside its long-standing market position and experienced team, there’s an enormous opportunity ahead and I’m excited to be part of it.”

A new era in web development, Flux is an industry leader in developing new partnerships in the content management space

Flux, a leading global decentralized technology company specializing in cloud infrastructure, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and decentralized storage, officially launches WordPress on its platform following a successful Beta phase that commenced in February 2023. This launch marks a significant milestone in making the most popular content management system (CMS), WordPress, accessible on Flux's cutting-edge decentralized infrastructure.

With WordPress commanding over 43% of the web – from personal blogs to robust e-commerce sites, its unparalleled ease of use, flexibility and extensive plugin ecosystem have made it the go-to CMS. The full integration of WordPress on Flux elevates these components, delivering unmatched speed, affordability, and usability for those launching websites with or without extensive coding knowledge.

“The full release of WordPress on our decentralized platform marks not only the fruition of relentless efforts but also initiates a transformative odyssey for web hosting and content management," stated Daniel Keller, CEO of Flux. "Through the seamless integration of WordPress into Flux’s decentralized infrastructure, we dismantle obstacles to high-performance, cost-effective web hosting, unlocking fresh opportunities for creators, entrepreneurs, and businesses worldwide. This release epitomizes our commitment to innovation, accessibility, and user empowerment, propelling us to pioneer a more open, efficient, and decentralized web."

The backbone of this innovative offering lies in Flux's extensive network, encompassing not only enterprise-grade nodes, but also nodes ranging from individual users to data centers, meticulously designed to guarantee peak performance for WordPress sites. This infrastructure addresses crucial web metrics such as bounce rate and conversion rates, which are significantly affected by loading speeds. Studies have shown a 32% increase in bounce rates when page loading time escalates from one to three seconds, highlighting the importance of fast response times for SEO effectiveness and overall profitability.

Flux's decentralized WordPress solution not only rivals but surpasses traditional hosting platforms' performance, offering a more efficient, cost-effective, and scalable hosting option. The ease of deploying a WordPress site on Flux, demanding minimal technical expertise, ensures accessibility for a wider audience, which is reinforced by extensive support resources helping to make the technology user-friendly and empowering for all.

Key features include geolocation capabilities for optimizing site performance based on user concentration, alongside built-in redundancy to guarantee maximum availability. With a four-tiered pricing plan that competes favorably with traditional hosting services, Flux delivers top-tier web hosting for all project sizes and budgets with accessibility at its core.

Flux is not just redefining the landscape of web hosting but stands as a pioneer in bridging the gap to a decentralized internet, offering a smarter, more efficient, and more cost-effective solution for the liberated web. This comprehensive release invites users to immerse themselves in the best of Web3 technology with the ease and familiarity of WordPress, promising a new era of internet use and accessibility.

AdPlayer.Pro streamlines Prebid ad integration with new header bidding platform functionality.

AdPlayer.Pro, a global provider of online video advertising technology has announced the release of new video ad server platform features, specifically aimed at the smoother integration of Prebid ads.

According to the official announcement, the newly-introduced functionality implies the platform users obtain the ability to configure video header bidding tags in a smoother way, compared to the so-to-speak "conventional", mostly manual setup. Namely, the AdPlayer.Pro video ad platform dashboard functionality enables pre-selecting a Prebid partner and setting up the required parameters flawlessly, without writing any code, as well as adding extra setup layers using the optional parameters, if needed.

In addition, the eCPM tracking capabilities in the Demand statistics report have been improved, ensuring the more accurate tracking of winning bid prices in the auctions.

As Natalie Romankina, CEO of AdPlayer.Pro explained, the new video header bidding capabilities can be a real game changer for ad ops specialists, handling the setup of numerous video ad tags for multiple Supply partners on a daily basis.

"With programmatic video advertising keeping its paramount share of the global digital ad market in 2024, the faster, and more streamlined configuration and integration of video ads into the publishers' digital properties is a Must. And we're happy to assist our business partners, ensuring their access to a full scope of enhanced technical novelties to simplify their operational routine, hence unleashing extra resources for the more creative tasks," she claimed.

Peculiarly, the newly-released video header bidding features have garnered high acclaim from AdPlayer.Pro's partners starting from day 1, who are noting the average 35% faster ad campaign setup, even among the junior, less tech-savvy ad-ops team members.

"We're more than content with our partners' positive feedback regarding their use of our new Prebid-enabled functionality. Expect more programmatic-focused features to enrich AdPlayer.Pro's video ad tech solutions in 2024," Ms Romankina claimed.

As known, the AdPlayer.Pro ad-enabled video player doesn't require any prior Prebid integration on the publishers' digital properties for the video header bidding setup - only the player JS code, which contains all required config parameters.

Forter, the Trust Platform for digital commerce, has achieved AWS Advanced Technology Partner status, expanding its reach to even more of the world's leading digital commerce businesses.

Forter, now listed in AWS Marketplace and officially part of the Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Accelerate Program, makes it easy for enterprises to seamlessly purchase and integrate Forter's solutions into their existing tech stacks. In addition, eligible AWS customers can use the AWS Enterprise Discount Program (EDP) to purchase Forter in the marketplace.

"We are thrilled to become an ISV Accelerator partner listed on AWS Marketplace," said Michael Reitblat, CEO and co-founder, Forter. "This collaboration expands our reach globally, bringing identity intelligence to more of the world's leading enterprises. By filtering out fraud, businesses can focus on growing customer lifetime value, reducing chargebacks and maximizing conversions."

Forter fights fraud and delights customers at every interaction – from account creation and checkout to loyalty programs and returns – for leading brands such as Pacsun, ASICS, ASOS, Priceline and FarFetch. On average, enterprises that switch to Forter reduce chargeback rates and false declines by 72% and 46%, respectively.

Latest toolkit gives marketers the ability to personalize website experiences to drive meaningful engagement and advance buyers through their digital journey and accelerate pipeline

Folloze, creator of the world’s first and only no-code B2B Buyer Experience Platform (BX 3.0), today announced the release of Folloze Website Engager, a toolkit that turns company website visits into engaging, personalized experiences that generate rich first-party engagement insights. It also provides a launchpad to accelerate the full digital buyer journey and boost demand generation performance. Folloze Website Engager will include the company’s recently introduced Folloze GeneratorAI capability, built within Folloze AI, the company’s growing suite of AI tools available within Folloze’s easy-to-use no code buyer experience platform. 

Today, only 10-20% of the digital journey happens on a company’s website. Buyers do their research before they start the engagement process, leaving companies limited opportunity to capture attention and cultivate sales. Research shows that people form an opinion of a website in less than one second and the average time spent on a page is under one minute. As such, companies need to make every second count. Folloze Website Engager toolkit was designed for this purpose, helping sites come to life, fully serving the needs and wishes of target audiences. Built on the platform offering first-party insights, Folloze Website Engager puts the right content and messaging in place to capture attention and advance customers through their digital journey as efficiently as possible.

"Today’s marketers need to think about the journey, not a single visit. When you integrate Folloze into the website, you can deliver high value, persistent, personalization to accelerate the buyer’s experience and help route the buyer to the path that is most suitable for them,” said David Brutman, Chief Product Officer & Co-founder at Folloze. “Engagement is the new currency; it serves as the connector and accelerator across the entire journey. Folloze Website Engager unlocks personalized and meaningful website engagements that keep buyers in the moment and moving forward in their journey. This is a key strategy to accelerate pipeline and results.”

Complete Buyer Journey Empowerment

An effective demand generation strategy must include complete buyer journey empowerment in order for organizations to keep buyers engaged. Folloze Website Engager was made to help. With the toolkit, marketers can extend their Folloze campaigns by embedding boards and content from boards directly into the website. Those boards can be dynamically personalized to customer persona, stage in the life cycle, and account without coding or web developer time involved. Additionally, they can leverage first-party data for personalization to resonate with each persona's unique requirements and ensure the content or offer is appropriate for the buyer journey stage. Folloze Website Engager also makes it possible for marketers to include a clear and compelling Call-to-Action (CTA) that is appropriate for the buying stage, and orchestrate multi-threaded touch with the buying committee to extend interactions.

Key benefits include:

• Engagement. Fast and easy website personalization that accelerates downstream Account-based motions.
• Insights. Full-spectrum 1st party behavioral data that doesn't just end at the website but connects across the entire journey.
• Agility. Adds flexibility personalization and campaign integration to the website with no need to involve web developers.

To ensure marketing and sales are aligned, marketers can arm sales development teams or account executives with a follow up playbook based on engagement level insights identified by Folloze Website Engager. For example, when there are enough highly engaged people within an account, this account is ready to engage with sales. The sales team can also send prospects directly to specific assets or website pages powered by Folloze to create consistency in flow and messaging.

Additionally, Folloze reporting features make it easy to review engagement and conversion metrics captured by Folloze Website Engager. Users can connect Folloze data to their 360 marketing dashboard to make sure it’s incorporated into attribution models as well. Whether you’re integrating 6sense, Demandbase, or Dun & Bradstreet platforms with Folloze, the toolkit also makes sure engagement data is used to determine buying stages and segments.