AI represents an ongoing focal point for ad tech companies, driving continuous innovation. Simultaneously, the industry faces increased scrutiny from privacy regulators and discerning customers seeking transparency regarding their data usage. In this blog post, we delve into the intersection of AI and privacy regulations.
Google's AI-powered features for enhanced data measurement
Google has long integrated AI into its advertising platforms. With impending cookie deprecation and increasing privacy regulations, Google introduces intelligent measurement features to sustain accurate reporting for advertisers. We focus on 3 such features in our post, namely:
- YouTube’s auto-tagging in Display & Video 360
- Enhanced attribution in Campaign Manager 360
- Enhanced conversions, available in Google Ads and Google Marketing Platform
Feature 1: YouTube’s auto-tagging in Display & Video 360
YouTube auto-tagging feature, is a setting that can be easily implemented in Display & Video 360. This feature enhances attribution signals for conversion measurement by appending a Google Click Identifier (GCLID) parameter to landing page URLs when users click on ads. What follows is the precise attribution of conversions to YouTube ad clicks, even without 3rd-party cookies. By using GCLID appended to landing page URLs, advertisers can effectively track and attribute conversions, ensuring precise measurement and optimization of their YouTube advertising campaigns. Learn more here.
Feature 2: Enhanced attribution in Campaign Manager 360
Enhanced attribution in Campaign Manager 360 improves attribution signals across the Google Marketing Platform, particularly for display and video inventory. By appending a DCLID value to landing page URLs when users click on ads, this feature enables accurate tracking of click activities. However, note that DCLID availability may vary based on application settings, and it’s not accessible on click trackers where publishers have limited consent. The enhanced attribution setting can be quickly set up within Campaign Manager 360 in the floodlight configuration settings. Learn more here.
A note from Google on YouTube’s auto-tagging and enhanced attribution feature
Attention full-stack users of the Google Marketing Platform: If you are not running any YouTube campaigns, Google suggests turning off YouTube auto-tagging while keeping enhanced attribution enabled for proper traffic source attribution. Enabling both YouTube auto-tagging and enhanced attribution results in the traffic from display campaigns in Display & Video 360 being attributed as Google Ads.
Feature 3: Enhanced conversions, available in Google Ads and Google Marketing Platform
Enhanced conversions optimizes conversion measurement and bidding without 3rd-party cookies. By securely sending hashed first-party data, such as email addresses, it ensures accurate online and offline attribution. This privacy-conscious approach enables advertisers to recover unmeasured conversions and enhance campaign optimization. Easily implemented via Google Tag, Google Tag Manager or the Google Ads API, it offers flexibility and compliance. Learn more here.
The Driving Role of AI in Privacy-Compliant Advertising
Notably, AI’s role goes beyond just filling gaps from cookie changes to ensuring privacy-compliant advertising. Transparency and user consent is still crucial in digital marketing. Marketers should use AI-driven ad tech solutions to build trust with consumers and practice ethical data handling.
Conclusion
Navigating the relationship between AI, privacy regulations, and the downfall of 3rd-party cookies in ad tech is going to be challenging but feasible. To be durable, companies must embrace AI-powered solutions for data measurement while adhering to evolving privacy regulations.