CMOs: Cookie demise leaves data strategy half-baked

Marketing chiefs have at last woken up to the inevitable demise of the third-party cookie but, despite having had years to prepare, the vast majority now fear their data strategies will be unable to keep pace with market demands.

So says a new study released by Blis, part of T-Mobile Advertising Solutions, which reveals that confidence within the digital advertising ecosystem is under pressure.

With over 70% of web traffic now cookie-free, a massive 95% of UK marketers expressed significant concern over how long their current data strategies will remain viable.

The research, conducted for Blis by Sapio Research, quizzed 200 senior UK marketing decision makers about alternative solutions to ease the pressures caused by cookie deprecation.

It found that respondents were highly sceptical; over 4 in 5 (82%) stated that a lookalike or expanded audience is only as good as its foundational seed data.

Among their key concerns, three-fifths (59%) cited data accuracy as their biggest audience targeting obstacle, ahead of cross-platform consistency (45%) and signal loss or user privacy challenges (39%).

Meanwhile, almost 7 in 10 (69%) stated that single-channel, siloed data sources leave a fragmented and insufficient view of the customer journey, and fewer than half (48%) of those surveyed claimed confidence that their existing audience inputs meet their standards for accuracy.

Despite these pressing concerns, the market sees a clear path forward from this cookieless signal uncertainty. Over 4 in 5 respondents (82%) agree that teleco data has the potential to become an essential signal for future omnichannel targeting, and nearly 3 in 5 (59%) rate accuracy and quality as its primary benefits.

To prove this real-world impact, Blis ran side-by-side campaign tests across five UK audience segments: Travel & tourism; Health & fitness; Food & restaurants; Music & movies; Clothing & fashion. A control group using standard campaign targeting was compared to one which included telco-verified data signals within the targeting parameters. Every category saw a statistically significant increase in category affinity of between 38% and 155%.

It is claimed that telco data provides real signals, such as app usage and movement patterns, drawn at scale straight from the mobile network, without relying on cookies or device IDs. It inherently overcomes many of the challenges identified by marketers in their current data strategies, often based on traditional, outmoded data sources.

Blis chief revenue officer Charlie Smith said: “Data accuracy is not optional in the evolving digital landscape. This research makes it clear: signal loss is a significant and urgent issue for many of the UK’s most influential marketers. The vast majority are very aware that traditional data sources just aren’t fit for modern marketing purposes.

“As modeling and automation play ever greater roles within digital, they can only ever be as good as their foundational seed data. The opportunity presented by trusted telco data, especially provided through an omnichannel DSP like us, is simultaneously reliable, privacy-first, and highly actionable. This study demonstrates it can deliver exceptional precision and, crucially, outcomes.”

The full research findings are available through a new whitepaper “Well Connected: How telco data performs against the UK’s biggest audience targeting challenge” available to download on the Blis website>

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