Yahoo Launches ID-Less Audience Solution for Web

Yahoo, the premier global media and technology company, today announced the launch of Next-Gen Solutions for the web, an advanced contextual targeting solution that uses machine learning and real-time data signals to provide omnichannel targeting and buying across non-addressable inventory in the Yahoo DSP. In combination with Yahoo’s cookieless identity solution, Yahoo ConnectID, Next-Gen Solutions for the web is the first in the market solution of its kind – designed to support the future of identity. 

As the ad ecosystem moves away from browser cookies and app advertising IDs, advertisers and publishers need solutions that help reach consumers in relevant and meaningful ways. In fact, today, 30% of ad opportunities are without advertising IDs, with more than 75% of all ad opportunities expected to be identity-less by 2024.  

Yahoo first launched Next-Gen Solutions for in-app environments in the summer of 2021, enabling audience reach and monetization independent of mobile app IDs. Today, the solution is available across the web for publishers that have adopted Yahoo ConnectID. In early testing, the Yahoo DSP increased spending on publishers’ non-addressable supply by over 25% when publishers adopted Next-Gen Solutions. Global ed-tech leader Chegg, specifically, saw an 86% increase in Yahoo DSP spend on its non-addressable supply. For advertisers, Next-Gen Solutions powers a near 40% increase in incremental reach on non-addressable web inventory. 

“Yahoo’s integrated approach is addressing identity’s biggest challenges,” said Iván Markman, Chief Business Officer at Yahoo. “Respect consumer preferences and create a better value exchange, maintain advertiser and publisher relevance and reach, and support a thriving open web ecosystem.”

Key differentiators for Yahoo Next-Gen Solutions for the web include: 

• Direct Consumer Relationships: Using machine learning, Next-Gen Solutions targeting models are trained on data signals from direct consumer relationships across Yahoo’s owned and operated platforms. Over 900 million users visit Yahoo’s sites every month, making it the third-largest internet property in the U.S.

• Yahoo ConnectID Signals: Next-Gen Solutions audiences work without identity, but Yahoo’s algorithm uses a sample of identity-based traffic from publishers who have adopted Yahoo ConnectID to be able to infer audience characteristics. Over 12,000 publisher domains like BuzzFeed, The Arena Group (formerly Maven), CafeMedia, Chegg, and Newsweek have adopted Yahoo ConnectID, and over 1,200 advertisers are directly activating their first-party data with the solution.

• Beyond Contextual: Context alone will not drive the most relevant reach for advertisers. That’s why Yahoo’s Next-Gen Solutions considers a mix of real-time data signals received on a bid request, including content, but also weather, device type and time, among other signals.

• Privacy First: Next-Gen Solutions was built with consumer privacy in mind. No user profiles are stored with Next-Gen Solutions, nor does it rely on ID-based cross-site tracking. 

“Adopting Yahoo ConnectID has proved to be a great move toward a more privacy-conscious and efficient spend for advertisers while enabling our publishers to receive maximum value from their audiences,” said Paul Bannister, Chief Strategy Officer at CafeMedia. “Now, in combination with Next-Gen Solutions, we’re able to continue to keep privacy at the forefront and support successful advertising campaigns for advertisers and publishers.”

“As we prepare for a cookieless ad landscape, advertisers need solutions that help them reach and gain insights into non-addressable environments,” said James Kanak, Associate Director, Digital Activation at OMD. “Yahoo is providing a unique purview in deciphering the future signals of advertising. They are delivering key insights into various actions, including CPM variance between addressable and non-addressable inventory.”

“Content is a crucial element to audience creation, let alone it’s insufficient,” continued Markman. “Our testing has proven that contextual signals contribute less than 50% to the inferred audiences’ accuracy. This means that if you only rely on content, you’re missing out on the opportunity to get audiences with a high level of accuracy that the rest of the real-time data signals offer.”