The Future Of Data Marketplaces

Norman Au Sep 28, 2021

With third-party cookies going away the advertising tech industry is losing a foundational block and data layer that media strategies, technology vendors and marketers have relied on for years. This inevitable demise will have an impact on data marketplaces that exist to drive scale and reach for advertisers. And this is creating real challenges for marketers today.

For many brands, first-party data marketplaces have always been extremely valuable due to the nature of the rich data sets derived directly from the consumer base. However, first-party data has long been known for being restrictive in both scale and breadth. Third-party data marketplaces solve these scale challenges, as their role is to aggregate data from numerous sources – such as rich behavioral data – to provide a marketer with increased reach and the ability to acquire new customers. But oftentimes these data sets are not derived from reliable sources and come with a plethora of issues from quality and accuracy, alongside being sold to numerous parties including potential competitors.

Up until today, most marketers have relied upon a combined approach tapping into both first-and-third-party data marketplaces to inform their targeting strategies, but with the humble cookie ceasing to exist, it begs the question: what is the new building block for campaign strategies?

And this is where context comes in. Context now becomes the starting point – the building block and foundation layer – to provide marketers with tremendous opportunities to draw on additional insights. As stated by our Co-founder and CSO, Umberto Torrielli “ The foundation of contextual is effectively real-time deterministic data that has no latency period. It allows for advertisers to feel confident in their targeting strategies and relies on tangible data.”

So, what does the ideal marketplace look like ?

Simply put, the next generation of marketplaces, specifically contextual marketplaces, will need to offer a variety of data partners who can help provide scale and insights for marketers. By using contextual data as the base, marketers will discover that they are able to attain better targeting layers than they once accessed with third-party players for targeting strategies.

And, that is why we here at 4D have created the 4D Dimensions Marketplace. A marketplace that focuses on in-the-moment marketing, offering advertisers with an incredible array of data signals such as weather, domain quality and even piracy control to strengthen their contextual strategies. And with context as its nature, the marketplace offers a 100% compliant, privacy-first foundation for marketers to then overlay their first-party data to create a much richer, more powerful future.

This is why the 4D Dimensions Marketplace really excites me. We are not recreating a traditional marketplace; we are providing marketers with better options, smarter intelligence, and greater collaboration as we step into the post-cookie era.

Our aim is to help marketers to feel at ease knowing that there are solutions that will withstand and comply with the industry as it goes through radical changes. And it’s time to act and adapt to these changes now. So, what are you waiting for?

Looking to transform your data and tech strategy? Look no further. Get in touch with our expert marketing services team today.