List of major changes for this release:

Removal of statistics dependent on Successful Clicks
Changes in API
New modification for emission plan

Removal of statistics dependent on Successful Clicks
From August 21st, 2024, the following statistics will no longer be available in AdOcean:

Unique Users Successful Clicks
CR-U
CR-V
Frequency Clicks SUC
Frequency Clicks CR-U
This change is due to the system no longer supporting the "successfulClicks" script, which is essential for calculating these statistics.

This update will result in several changes across the interface:

The Advanced Statistics tab will no longer include options for CR-U, CR-V, Successful Clicks, and SUC (Unique Users Successful Clicks).
SUC, CR-U, CR-V statistics will also be removed from period reports, including both existing and new reports.
It will no longer be possible to plan campaign emissions based on Successful Clicks or set limits based on Successful Clicks and SUC.
Any current plans and limits based on these statistics will be updated to use Actions or UA instead.
Changes in API
This update will result in several changes across the API:

GetFreqStatNames
Command will no longer return clickssuc and clickscrusers statistics
GetFreqStats
The following stats will no longer be available: clickssuc and clickscrusers
New modification for emission plan
There is a new option that modifies order, surround and campaign emission plans.

Modification can be added to emission plans that have goal, are not in ASAP mode and are not planned per day.

There are 3 possible values:

None - modifications are disabled;
Delivery - for the last 3h hours, the emission plan will try to achieve the goal in ASAP mode. Please be aware that this setting increases the chance of over-emitting the plan.
Aggressive - the entire plan is shifted by several hours, creating buffer as if the plan were to end 3 hours earlier. It can be useful for HbbTV campaigns. Please be aware that this setting significantly increases the chance of over-emitting the plan.
There is a new modification input / output for the following commands:

AddOrder
CopyOrders
GetOrderInfo
UpdateOrder
AddSurround
GetSurroundInfo
UpdateSurround
AddCampaign
CopyCampaign
GetCampaignInfo
UpdateCampaign

AdOcean Newsletter Update: 21-08-2024

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.

News & Articles

Are cookies holding up?