I’ve received a few inquiries about the recent announcement of Google AdID. Because Google hasn’t released many details about the implementation, I am a bit reluctant to speculate too broadly. However, I thought it would be useful to present some thoughts on the potential reasons for this shift and its impact on consumer privacy.
Google’s proposed advertising ID seems to be motivated by the following factors:
- The increasing number of consumers blocking 3rd party cookies. Recent studies indicate that consumers are increasingly concerned about their privacy online and as many as 20% have blocked browser cookies. I suspect this figure will rise as privacy issues continue to capture public attention.
- The trend of advertisers moving to non-cookie based identifiers (e.g. browser fingerprinting).
- To avoid missteps along the same lines of Apple/Safari.
- The increased pressure to offer advertisers ‘enhanced’ cross-device tracking capabilities like they already do with google analytics.
- The tension (and lack of progress) in the Do-Not-Track negotiations–specifically, the Digital Advertising Alliance’s (DAA) recent abandonment of the process. (Google is a member of the DAA.)
Ashkan Soltani 