With the July 22 announcement by Antonego Chavez, deputy director of the Privacy Sandbox project, the media world was abuzz with news that support for third-party cookies will be retained in the Chrome browser. Is that all there is to it? Let's take a look at the topic.
Competition vs. Privacy
Google's statement comes as somewhat of a surprise. The corporation actually began talking about building a "Privacy Sandbox" as early as 2019. It began this work, Google said - in response to growing concerns and reputational risks associated with privacy threats based on tracking techniques. The ICO, the UK's data protection watchdog, has backed work on Privacy Sandbox. Such announcements by Google were in line with the actions of other browser makers, which have gradually restricted or blocked third-party cookies.

Google's plan to eliminate third-party cookies, however, faced strong opposition from advertisers and publishers from the outset. The CMA, the U.K.'s competition watchdog, listened to the industry's voice and also had serious arguments. Advertisers and publishers argued that Privacy Sandbox further strengthens Google's dominance in the adtech space, as the company would become the owner and operator of the reconfigured targeting infrastructure. This would clearly mean that advertisers and publishers would become even more dependent on the tech giant.

Suggestion: let users decide
Google's proposal for a "third way," which relies on consumer choice at the browser level, may offer the two British regulators a fairly simple way out of the impasse: Let users decide!

Someone might say - after all, users already decide on the use of cookies in cookie pop-ups. Such a sentence is true in a situation where the choice presented to the user is transparent and easy to use. Often, however, he or she does not have a clear choice in the first layer of information and, in addition, has to make an effort not to consent or to change his or her decision. In this kind of situation, it is difficult to claim that users' decisions are fully transparent and valid.

IAB Europe's response
In its post, IAB Europe highlights two key points that the IAB says should be addressed in any alternative approach implemented in Chrome.

The IAB notes that the means of consent are already subject to industry standards, developed within the framework of existing regulations. From this perspective, it is unclear how a user's decision made before he or she enters a specific website and before he or she receives the legally required information should be treated. Is such a decision informed and specific? It should be noted, however, that for years users have been able to manage third-party cookies through browser settings or by using blocking plug-ins. And the proposal may fit quite well into this existing practice.

The second point that IAB Europe raises is the analogy between this solution and Apple's ATT case, which entailed harm to publishers and which is currently under antitrust scrutiny in several EU jurisdictions.

At the end of its statement, IAB Europe calls on Google to ensure that development is carried out in close cooperation with industry standard-setting organizations.

What's next?
Google will offer users a choice. There is no detailed information on this subject. However, we can properly imagine that Google may give users a choice of 3 options:

turn off third-party cookies, content and ads can be random and not interest me;
turn off third-party cookies, but tailor content and ads to my interests (in cooperation with Google - use Privacy Sandbox tool);
turn on third-party cookies, tailor content and ads to my interests. We will soon see what details are being discussed at Google.
The UK's Competition Authority (CMA), has announced that it will work closely with the ICO to carefully consider Google's new approach to Privacy Sandbox, and is open to gathering feedback from interested parties until August 12 this year.

Uncertainty about specific solutions is therefore really high.

Gemius solutions for publishers and advertisers legally compliant
Whatever solution is worked out to the above issue, we believe that the depreciation of third-party cookies will continue. Therefore, we reacted to the announcements and changes and proposed to make appropriate changes in our surveys. In cooperation with stakeholders , we have developed methodological and organizational solutions in the gemiusAudience study (in Poland Mediapanel) that follow the changes beyond our control, which is to limit the use of cookies. The efforts we are making give us confidence that, despite all sorts of changes, we will still be able to provide data for independent media research. This means that - as always - we will offer our clients lawful research solutions that are safe for the surveyed entities and the recipients of the media survey results.

Are the cookies holding up.jpg

With the July 22 announcement by Antonego Chavez, deputy director of the Privacy Sandbox project, the media world was abuzz with news that support for third-party cookies will be retained in the Chrome browser. Is that all there is to it? Let's take a look at the topic.

Are cookies holding up?

The reach of TV Stations based on Out-Of-Home TV platform looks quite different in June in comparison to May 2024 due to sport events of Eurocup 2024. The most significant increase could be observed for ZDF TV channel – Reach (%) growth in 2 times (43% in June vs 21% in May). Next position occupied by Das Erste (39% in June vs 27% in May). And for RTL, Deluxe Music and Sat.1 Tv stations differences are less noticeable.

As for Share of time (%) metric, the top-3 TV Stations were the same with similar differentiation in May versus June. Forth position placed by Sat.1 and had higher value for May – 8% (2,7 times more than in June).

In terms of Average Time Spent metric, the first 3 leader also the same – ZDF, Das Erste and RTL. The maximum ATS had ZDF in June - 2 hours 2 minutes and 14 seconds. The minimum reached by Deluxe Music in June – 4 minutes and 44 seconds. The highest difference in ATS had Sat.1 – almost 2 times in June vs May.

Gender reach distribution for OOH TV platform showed increase for all TV Stations among Men in June, for ZDF in 2,3 times and for Das Erste in 1,6 times, for RTL – 1,4 times in comparison to May. As for Deluxe Music and Sat.1 – variations were minimum (1-2%). Trend for women is similar, except RTL and Sat.1 with slight decrease in June vs May.





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Eurocup OOH TV in Germany, measured by AdReal

Out-Of-Home TV in Germany during Eurocup 2024

The methodological changes to Gemius' Out of Home TV audience measurement, announced in December 2023, are already reflected in the results of Gemius and Nielsen survey. The changes were developed and implemented in response to recommendations made after the CESP (Centre d'Etude des Supports de Publicité) audit.

The most important modifications implemented in the Gemius study concern a change in the definition of the panelist's home point and a clarification of the way TV viewing is measured outside the home. According to the new measurement method, a panelist's home was considered to be the address of the household to which he or she belongs. The new definition is consistent with that of the CSO. The same definition is also used by Nielsen in its survey, resulting in increased consistency between the two measurements. In addition, it has been assumed that a panelist is outside the home when he or she moves more than 40 meters away from it. Until now, this distance was defined more conservatively and was 100m.

The changes introduced will make the determination of TV viewing outside the home more realistic and avoid underestimating it, and the measurement of OOH audiences carried out according to the new assumptions will translate into an increase in its share of the total TV audience.

When we were the first in Poland to start surveying TV viewing outside the home, we approached the task with great respect and caution. We were concerned not to overestimate the scale of the phenomenon and distort the result. - comments Emil Pawlowski, Chief product officer at Gemius. - Today, thanks to the CESP audit, we already know that the criteria we use can be less restrictive. I am glad that we have developed a methodology thanks to which the presented results will even more accurately describe the media reality in Poland.

MOC TV has warmly welcomed the changes made by Gemius to the OOH survey, which is conducted in accordance with global standards. It proved crucial to improve the definition of when the respondent is out of home from 100m to 40m, as well as the place of residence. This results in a more realistic measurement and a significant increase in the level of out-of-home viewing. - Przemysław Broniszewski, member of MOC TV's management board, says.

Methodological changes in OOH measurement have been implemented in Gemius research and in official TV viewing data provided by Nielsen since March 1, 2024.

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The methodological changes to Gemius' Out of Home TV audience measurement, announced in December 2023, are already reflected in the results of Gemius and Nielsen survey. The changes were developed and implemented in response to recommendations made after the CESP (Centre d'Etude des Supports de Publicité) audit.

Changes in OOH measurement implemented in Gemius and Nielsen survey

gemiusAudience research will be launched in Germany in Q4 2023, unlocking a holistic view of cross-media audience consumption in the market.

Featuring a wide range of filterable and comparable metrics, gemiusAudience will provide a comprehensive analysis of visitors’ activity on websites and applications across PC and Mobile device types, and will also include in-home and out-of-home TV viewing data. Future stages will also include coverage of connected TV devices. This exciting launch represents the first comprehensive cross-media measurement research - fueled by a single source solution - which will fill an existing gap between linear TV, connected TV, Desktop and Mobile.

gemiusAudience is also partnering with publishers to enrich the tool’s underlying data via 1P sources, and YouTube will be the first digital at launch later this year.

About the Technology
gemiusAudience research will be based on a representative Panel of German-speaking population aged 14 and over demographically representative under gender, age, education and size of the settlement. Currently, the panel includes PC and hardware panelists, recruited by a partner company GapFish. Panel reports data on media consumption on PC, smartphones, TV (reference signal covers 38 tv channels) and in future also cTV. Gemius analyzes behavior of people equipped with personal measurement optimized smartphones and reports on viewership regardless of panelist location. gemiusAudience is based on holistic and integrated research methodologies, as well as proprietary, internationally recognized methodologies and algorithms. Data Collected by Gemius Panel is a user-centric and tag-less measurement that is covering entire market, is GDPR compliant and future proof, as it does not require 3rd party cookie data.

How can the market benefit from gemiusAudience research?
gemiusAudience research will help move away from differentiated linear TV and digital audience to get one clear and holistic view of audience consumption, it is a True single-source, passive research measurement that will cover all media types, all channels and all activity (both in-home and out-of-home). Gemius methodology will show detailed data on users’ behavior on each of the platforms separately as well as jointly with deduplication. gemiusAudience research will report on all Publishers inventory on all platforms, and will answer the eternal questions: who’s watching, when it happens, and on which devices. Furthermore, this will help to plan the purchase of advertising space in cross-media terms, with an emphasis on video consumption, linear television and the Internet, and will give Publishers full knowledge of their audience from all media. Gemius clients will be able to make business decisions based on real cross-media data and trends. Having full knowledge of media consumption of particular target audiences, Gemius clients will be able to optimize their campaigns by choosing websites, TV channels, stream players and apps with highest affinity, reach and engagement.


gemiusAudience cross-media data will be offered to all media stakeholders on the German market.

The online business world is a very dynamic environment indeed – to keep up with your competitors you want to act quickly and effectively. And in order to do that, you need the newest and the most reliable data you can find on the market. gemiusAudience has got you covered – we have just the answer suited to your business needs. All our tools are designed to be both, consistent and fully independent at the same time. Our clients’ can take advantage of the synergy effect, which is the result of a combination of gemiusAudience with other Gemius solutions. Today we can measure Internet, television, including its OOH audience and the popularity of advertisements across platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok). Summing up, we focus on the research covering the widest possible scope of consumer behavior, in the digital sphere and beyond.

- comments Marcin Pery, CEO of Gemius.

About Gemius
Gemius is a research and technology company, provides data, business consultations, solutions and recommendations in cross-media business. We offer comprehensive cross-media solutions for marketers, advertising agencies, publishers and e-commerce. Gemius has been in the market since 1999. It is a member of IAB Europe and I-COM Global. The researchers conducted by the company are carried out in accordance with the principles of the international ICC/ESOMAR code.

Find out more on www.gemius.com

About gemiusAudience
gemiusAudience is the leading internet audience measurement research providing detailed information about cross-media usage and demographic profiles of online users. The research has become an essential knowledge for publishers, investors, media agencies and advertisers. It is well-established and recognized digital measurement standard in many European countries, acting as an official market currency appointed by local joint industry committees.

gemiusAudience solution is an official currency appointed by local joint industry committees on markets such as: Poland, Denmark, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia. On other markets such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Portugal, Serbia, Ukraine, Romania, Turkey where there is no local industry organization, it is de facto currency. Throughout all markets where gemiusAudience is present, its implementing directly contributed to a growth of market transparency and the significant increase in advertising spending.

Find out more at audience.gemius.com/en/
Check publicly available data on e-public.gemius.com

In case of any questions or doubts please contact:

Chief Sales Officer Gemius GmbH
Regional Manager Gemius
Lesya Prus
e-mail address: Lesya.Prus@gemius.com

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gemiusAudience research will be launched in Germany in Q4 2023, unlocking a holistic view of cross-media audience consumption in the market.

gemiusAudience research will be launched in Germany

Gemius PostBuy, a comprehensive evaluation of Cross-screen video campaign fuelled by Single-source, is launching YouTube measurement, facilitated by Google’s Ads Data Hub for Measurement Partners(ADH).
Starting from September 1st, 2023, Advertisers in Germany will be able to measure video campaigns, running on YouTube and within Linear TV holistically to understand how Digital and Linear channels work optimally together for efficient media campaigns. The newly created Google Ads Data Hub integration incorporates data signals from YouTube and provides a holistic view on the reach contributions per device and audience segment in order to maximize the Reach & Impact of Advertiser’s Media Spend. For video campaigns running on YouTube, data from ADH will include in-browser, in-app data and Connected TV.

About the technology
Gemius PostBuy was launched in Germany in 2020. Research is based on a representative Panel of German-speaking population aged 14 and over, demographically representative under gender, age, education and size of the settlement. Currently, the panel includes PC and hardware panelists, recruited by a partner company GapFish. Panel reports data on PC, smartphones, TV (reference signal covers 36 tv channels). Gemius analyzes behavior of people equipped with personal measurement optimized smartphones and reports on ad exposure level data regardless of panelist location. Data Collected by Gemius Panel is a user-centric and tag-less measurement that covers the entire market, is GDPR compliant and future proof, as it does not require 3rd party cookie data. True passive research technology, covering all media types, all channels and all activity (both in-home and out-of-home).

In 2022-2023, both Gemius and Google conducted a pilot for measuring YouTube campaign reach combined with Gemius single source panel to enable more precise and consistent Cross Media campaign Reach measurement.

Single-source panel allows to integrate tag-less and tag-based measurement, as well as server2server integration with Publishers, and YouTube is the first partner of Gemius to enrich the tool’s underlying data via anonymised and aggregated 1P data.

YouTube results in PostBuy are facilitated by Google's Ads Data Hub for Measurement Partners, enabling accurate calculation of YouTube Real users, Reach and Ad contacts results in PostBuy, in addition to Incremental Reach for YouTube as compared to reach for Linear TV. ​

During campaign set-up, Linear TV will be measured using sound matching on Gemius Hardware Panel, across 36 TV channels from Gemius reference database, while YouTube commercials will be measured with Gemius Hardware Panel and Google ADH integration (PC, Mobile and Connected TV platforms).

How can the market benefit from gemiusPostBuy research?
In the new world of cross-media analytics, the NET reach across all platforms and devices is becoming a key learning tool for marketers. Are you sure your last campaign was well-optimised? What channel upbuilt your reach the most? With gemiusPostBuy You can check total Net Reach of campaign (deduplicated across Digital and Linear TV), as well as Incremental Reach.

Analyse daily Ad contact frequency by media channel, creative or media type. Check, where the frequency in your target group was higher – on YouTube application, Connected TV or Linear TV?

Learn the demography of people who had contact with your campaign, analyse age and gender results day-by-day in PostBuy reporting, which is fully automated.

Integration process with an external data source (Google ADH) requires two steps.

Gemius PostBuy will provide You a comprehensive analysis of campaigns running on websites and applications across PC, Mobile and Connected TV device types, and will also include in-home and out-of-home TV data.

Gemius PostBuy integrated with Google ADH will be offered to all advertisers on the German market.

“In today's media landscape, TV campaigns can't reach nearly 20% of the Internet users aged between 16-49. Many digital channels are mostly duplicating audiences already reached via TV. With Gemius PostBuy it is finally possible to identify platforms that truly upbuild the INCREMENTAL REACH of campaigns. We are very excited about cooperation with YouTube in Cross-media campaign measurement, as it increases the granularity of Gemius PostBuy product. During last year, we’ve been running tests together to make PostBuy methodology more precise and connect 2 data sources in one data model.”
- comments Lesya Prus, Chief Sales Officer of Gemius Germany.

"Gemius Postbuy is a great new opportunity to gain insights into the Incremental Reach of YouTube in a CrossScreen Video campaign, based on a robust and independent Single Source Panel and enriched with YouTube insights via Ads Data Hub"
comments Steffen Hutmacher, Google Video Sales & Measurement Lead

Gemius PostBuy partnership with YouTube.png

Gemius PostBuy, a comprehensive evaluation of Cross-screen video campaign fuelled by Single-source, is launching YouTube measurement, facilitated by Google’s Ads Data Hub for Measurement Partners(ADH).

Leading audience measurement. Provides data on ALL digital media usage and demographic profiles of users.

ALL media results

Real Users

Demography

Websites, Streams & Apps

Innovative methodology

Awards winner

Designed for

Media agencies

International presence

gemiusAudience measures

gemiusAudience data

gemiusAudience results

Covering all environments

Display

Mobile

Video

Best Header Bidding integration

Rich collection of templates

In the spotlight

Are cookies holding up?

Out-Of-Home TV in Germany during Eurocup 2024

Changes in OOH measurement implemented in Gemius and Nielsen survey