Study Reveals Concerns Among Advertisers Over Changes to Third-Party Cookies and Mobile Identifiers

According to a recent study conducted by Datonics, programmatic ad marketers are expressing concerns over potential disruptions to their data flow. Specifically, these buyers fear that upcoming changes to third-party cookies and mobile device identifiers will hurt their ability to effectively target their desired audience.

The study surveyed 400+ programmatic ad buyers, representing brands and agencies that spend a lot of money on digital advertising. According to the survey, nearly 28% of the respondents are concerned about the sudden strategy shift. Furthermore, 7% of the respondents do not take the data strategy disruption matter seriously.


The impending failure of 3rd-party cookies and cellphone identifiers has been a major problem for the digital advertising industry. These identifiers allow advertisers to track user behavior and target the right audience with relevant ads.

However, with transformations in privacy regulations, these identifiers will no longer be available. This has led to a sense of uncertainty among programmatic ad buyers, who fear that they will not be able to effectively target their desired audience.

The investigation highlights that these ad buyers utilize a variety of data types to inform their campaigns. The survey found that interest and behavioral info are the most used, with 89% of respondents utilizing them. Additionally, demographic facts & figures are also widely used, with 78% and 72% of respondents, respectively, incorporating them into their campaigns.

Location-based data is used by 69% of programmatic ad buyers. The percentage of respondents that use brand affinity data and life stage data, respectively, is 60% and 59%. Finally, 52% of programmatic ad buyers use B2B data. These results underline how crucial it is to use a variety of data sources in programmatic advertising campaigns to enable accurate audience targeting.

Also, the respondents ranked several factors while opting for information. The top factor was audience scope, with a ranking of 4.45 out of 5. Consumer assistance followed closely behind, with points of 4.27 and 4.23, respectively. Price and sourcing & process were also important considerations, with rankings of 4.14 and 4.13, respectively.

Company credit and confidence ranked slightly lower, with a score of 4.09. These findings suggest that programmatic ad buyers prioritize data providers that offer a large, customized audience with strong customer support and competitive pricing.

Read next: Ad Revenue Hits 5 Year Low, Here’s What That Means for the Industry
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