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The end of cookies will act as a chance of redemption for the publishing industry that could not keep pace with the initial digital boom, HT Media Group CEO - Digital Business Puneet Jain said during the virtual launch of the dentsu-e4m report on Tuesday. He was talking to exchange4media Editor Naziya Alvi Rahman on the growing importance of news publishers as the era of third-party cookies comes to an end.

The end of cookies is a very large event for the digital advertising industry as the cookie has been an integral part of user targeting. As a publisher, I feel it is our chance to redeem ourselves; the digital boom came so fast that a lot of us werent prepared. This time around, the transition into the cookie-less world is happening gradually and that gives us ample opportunity to redefine interest targeting in future, he noted.

Jain feels that most heritage publishers who have been able to devise a strong digital presence and tech stack will be benefiting immensely from this transformation. Publishers are well-placed because we have the scale. In fact, our user footprints are very much akin to any big social media platform or digital entity. We get a tremendous amount of contextual and behavioural data that could be a goldmine for advertisers.

Realising that first-party data is going to be the backbone of digital advertising in the post-cookie world, Jain highlighted that HT Media Group has invested significantly in not only collecting relevant data but also strengthening its tech stack.

Over the last couple of years, we have significantly invested in our product and tech stack. Last year, we built our very own AI tech stack, which makes us one amongst the very few media houses in the country to have such in-house capabilities. It has significantly helped us in personalising the content feed for every user and to collect and leverage the data generated to increase engagement.

On being asked about the range of solutions that publishers provide the advertisers with, Jain said, There are two parts to this: one is exploring user identity through PPID (publisher-provided identifier) and integrating this first-party data with the advertisers first-party data, enabling them to integrate the two for highly contextual and targeted ad campaigns; the second is integrating common user identifier via third-party ID consortiums without using cookies.

He concluded the chat by saying that contextual data would play a key role in shaping digital advertising in the post-cookie world. We will be able to deliver audience-based performance campaigns by controlling the frequency and position of ads. This will give the publishers their rightful place in the post-cookie times.

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Media houses with strong tech stack to benefit in the cookie-less world: Puneet Jain - Exchange4Media