Adform, the only global, independent, and fully integrated advertising platform built for modern marketing, and Schibsted, the leading Nordic media house, have entered into a strategic partnership to help advertisers succeed with digital marketing now that the third-party cookie has effectively been phased out.

Going, going, gone

The third-party cookie has for many years been the preferred method for tracking user behavior across websites. The method has made it easier to help advertisers and marketers categorize their audience, in order to target their ads in the most efficient way possible. Now, however, this opportunity will soon come to an end.

Over 60 percent of internet traffic is not addressable with third-party cookies

As a consequence of an increasing focus on privacy and security, all browsers, with the exception of Google Chrome, have discontinued the third-party cookie. Chrome is also on the way to a cookie-free future, but Google has, for the third time, chosen to delay the cookie’s demise and will support third-party cookies for another two years.

Irrespective of Google's postponement, the third-party cookie has, in practice, already been discontinued. According to Statcounter, more than half of the internet traffic in Norway comes from browsers that have disabled the third-party cookie. And according to ExchangeWire, 40 percent of Chrome traffic is no longer addressable, as a result of users either turning on strict privacy settings or browsing the web in incognito mode. This negatively affects results for advertisers and publishers and is precisely why a partnership between Schibsted and Adform is important for the entire marketing industry.

The partnership between Schibsted and Adform means that from November, Schibsted will make most of their display inventory available programmatically via Adform's sales platform.

“We are incredibly happy to have Schibsted joining the team,” says Christian Mikkelsen, Director Publisher Sales Northern Europe in Adform. “As one of the very largest and most trend-setting players in Europe, Schibsted will be a perfect partner for Adform. For several years, we have worked hard to create the best local programmatic marketplaces with only hand-picked publishers, and with Schibsted in place we can offer a unique opportunity for advertisers to reach all their target groups in a safe environment.”

Many people buy impressions blindly

In addition to the display inventory, the partnership will see Schibsted make its first-party IDs available programmatically via Adform as well. This allows for first-party data related to these IDs to be made available in Adform's purchase platform, meaning buyers can take advantage of Schibted’s first-party IDs within the Schibsted sites. 

“Browsers without third-party cookies are part of the new everyday life,” says Jan Berthrand Danielsen, Country Manager at Adform Norway. “And without third-party cookies, advertisers often end up buying impressions blindly, to the extent that impressions can be bought at all. With the help of first-party IDs, which have been developed to give publishers and advertisers the ability to drive campaign strategies such as targeting, reach and performance, advertisers now have the opportunity to achieve the results they want, without third-party cookies.”

Increased range and effect, at reduced cost

Adform utilizes the first-party ID to both frequency-control programmatic purchases and to optimize investments using purchasing algorithms. That way, advertisers get back the opportunity to build reach and improve the performance of their ad campaigns.

Marko Milekvist, Head of Marketing, Digital Sales & Media at DNB comments, “DNB already has good experience using Adform’s ID Fusion to control frequency in cookie-less browsers, such as Safari. This has given us the opportunity to both increase the reach of the campaigns, as well as avoiding overexposure via double coverage to an audience we have not previously been able to address. It is therefore great news that Schibsted will now also share first-party IDs so that we’ll see the same benefit with the largest and one of the most important media partners we have.”

This is an opportunity advertisers, such as DNB, have not had on cookie-less browsers during the past four years.

“ID Fusion, which is the name of our solution for activating first-party IDs, has already produced very good results for Norwegian advertisers, says Danielsen. “We were able to clearly verify this in the survey by PwC, where the advertisers achieved an increase in the addressable target group of a whopping 669 per cent and an increase in the click-through rate of 161 per cent. And all at a cost reduction of 65 percent. Now that Schibsted can offer first-party IDs based on our solution, advertisers can expect similar results via Schibsted's many popular websites and newspapers.”.

A natural choice for Schibsted

Schibsted is a Nordic media group which today consists of the three main divisions Nordic Marketplaces, News Media and Next. The group's head office is in Oslo, and currently works with news, entrepreneurship and innovation. Through brands such as Finn.no, VG, E24, Mitt Anbud, Aftonbladet, Svenska Dagbladet and Blocket, Schibsted reaches over three million Norwegians daily and over eight million Swedes weekly.

“At Schibsted, we always strive to be close to our customers and make it easy for them to buy our ad impressions,” says Per Håkon Fasting, Senior Vice President and Head of Advertising and Sales, at Schibsted. “Based on Adform's current position in the Nordic market, it was a natural choice for us to also offer our programmatic inventory in their sales platform. In line with the phasing out of third-party cookies, we've been working with first-party IDs in direct purchases since 2015. And now it's time to take this out to the programmatic market as well. I am convinced that programmatic purchases in cookie-less environments will become significantly more attractive to our advertisers in the future.”

About Adform

Adform is the only global, independent and fully integrated advertising platform built for modern marketing. Its unique enterprise technology – Adform FLOW – harnesses superior user experience and a scalable, modular and open architecture, to enable seamless management of the whole campaign lifecycle. It provides clients with enhanced control and transparency across their advertising operations, including ownership of all data from their campaigns. Since 2002, Adform has developed technology to enhance human/machine collaboration and deliver augmented intelligence, thereby amplifying business results for its clients around the world.