ID, Please
You know what the world needs more of? Advertising IDs.
That’s why this is a great week.
Just yesterday, Taboola launched Realize ID, which CEO Adam Singolda says is “helping performance marketers capture and act on open web intent before it disappears.”
And then 51Degrees, a data services company affiliated with online ad standards advocacy organization Movement for an Open Web, released the 51Degrees Identifier, which it’s calling “51Did.”
They’re joining a crowded field.
There are third-party IDs, like LiveRamp’s RampID, The Trade Desk-backed Unified ID 2.0 and ID5, and IDs built on a company’s own first-party data, like Yahoo ConnectID, TransUnion’s TruAudience and the PayPal Ads ID, which launched in April.
And there’s always room for more because no ID has been able to establish itself as the industry standard. No vendor owns the market or mindshare.
Therein lies the rub. Advertisers want a ubiquitous coin-of-the-realm-type ID. But what they’ve got is more like credits at Dave & Buster’s-esque chain with its own currency that you can only spend on site.
Gamechangers
How bad are things getting in gaming land? Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it’s eliminating 268 more gaming jobs and consolidating studios as it aims to cut 20% of its Xbox workforce by the end of the year, Business Insider reports.
Meanwhile, Sony drew the ire of gamers over the summer with its plan to phase out physical game discs starting in 2028. And Xbox might follow Sony’s lead.
Sony framed the decision as a reaction to rising console manufacturing costs. But the move would also crush the $7.2 billion global game resale market.
But you can’t cut your way to growth. Two new patents suggest where Microsoft and Sony plan to find new revenue: ads.
Microsoft recently published a patent application for a system that serves ads in PC and console games during breaks in gameplay, like during loading screens or after beating a boss.
And Sony published a patent that would turn a PlayStation controller into a payment relay for sending credit card info to the console. The patent focuses on digital game purchases. But it’s not much of a stretch to imagine how it could be repurposed for shoppable PlayStation ads.
A Trail Of Cookie Crumbs
If you feel like OpenAI knows more about you than it should, that’s because it (probably) does.
According to independent analysis by cybersecurity researcher Buchodi, OpenAI can connect off-site behavior back to a ChatGPT account through a cookie that it categorizes under “analytics” in its cookie policy.
The cookie has a one-year duration, meaning that it can track site visits and conversion events for up to 365 days after someone interacts with a ChatGPT ad. The “unusual” aspect of the practice, as Tom’s Guide puts it, “is that the advertising platform in this case sits alongside an AI assistant where users may share substantially more personal context than they would with a traditional search engine or social network.”
This opens the door to a host of privacy concerns, especially for users who have opted in to analytics cookies, but opted out of advertising cookies – though OpenAI notes that advertisers still cannot see personal data or conversation history.
The concern, Tom’s Guide reports, is that any website using OpenAI’s ad tools would be feeding consumer data and purchase behavior back to the company.
Worth noting, however: Buchodi hasn’t caught the ChatGPT cookie doing this in the wild (i.e., tying an event on a brand’s website back to a ChatGPT account), so take the findings with a grain of salt. Or with a cookie crumb, if you will.
But Wait! There’s More!
Despite widespread reports to the contrary, a new Disney+ subscriber agreement apparently won’t bring a flood of ads to ad-free plans. A Disney source says the update simply clarifies that the platform already runs ads during live content, a standard practice across streaming. [Adweek]
The IAB Tech Lab releases AAMP 3.0, its latest technical standards for agentic media workflows. [post]
Amazon blocks Meta’s Muse AI and raises the stakes for agentic ads. [Tipsheet]
In other Muse news: Meta hypes its Muse AI agent’s ability to call businesses and complete transactions on a consumer’s behalf – but it’s reportedly been testing the solution by having humans handle the actual phone calls. [404 Media]
First Trump banned MS Now, Politico and CNN from pool reporting. Then the entire White House TV press pool walked. Now there’s Trump TV, a 24/7 YouTube channel that critics are already calling “state-run” media. [The Hill]
The US Joint Industry Committee announced its video measurement recertification for Nielsen’s three adversaries: Comscore, VideoAmp and iSpot. [Advanced Television]
You’re Hired!
Dentsu’s Carat appoints Sarah Stringer (formerly of Dentsu Media) as global chief strategy and innovation officer and promotes Bram Meuleman to global chief planning and intelligence officer. [release]
Epsilon hires three new execs: Michael Chock as chief growth officer, Ant McDonagh as general manager for Epsilon Digital and Kathleen Dundas as chief solutions officer. [release]
