By Jason Probert, GM, Digital Services MTN South Africa

As third-party tracking cookies and mobile advertising IDs become obsolete or opt-in, the pressure is mounting for publishers in South Africa to pivot towards more reliable and privacy-compliant methods of collecting user information to power their advertising business streams. 

The Holy Grail is to unlock a 360-degree view of user preferences, behaviours, and needs gathered through a holistic view of their interactions across multiple devices and websites. Such information would enable publishers to deliver more personalised content and advertising, enhancing user engagement, and ultimately, maximising ad revenue. 

In a world where traditional advertising signals are weakening, this goal can only be achieved with the effective use and enrichment of first-party data, which offers a treasure trove of insights directly gathered from user interactions. 

Fragmentation and privacy: The challenges of first-party data

However, leveraging first-party data in this way comes with some significant challenges, primarily due to the fragmented nature of the digital environment. Users typically access content across a variety of devices and platforms, from smartphones and tablets to desktops and connected TVs, each contributing to disjointed pools of data. This fragmentation makes it challenging for publishers to consolidate disparate data sources into a single, coherent profile that accurately reflects the user’s interactions and preferences.

What’s more, the disparate nature of first-party data sources presents a challenge for publisher customers: the brands and agencies looking to advertise on their sites. Publishers collect and format their data differently, resulting in a lack of standardisation that complicates the process of buying ads at scale. Agencies and brands must, therefore, often invest additional resources to reconcile these inconsistencies, which can hinder the additional resources to reconcile these inconsistencies, which can hinder efficiency of advertising and limit the scope of their campaigns.

Adding to these complexities are the stringent privacy laws that govern the collection and use of personal data. In South Africa, regulations such as the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI) sets strict guidelines on how data must be handled, prioritising user consent and transparency. These regulations require publishers to walk a tightrope of legal obligations, making it essential to ensure that any data collection and processing methods not only comply with the law but also maintain user trust. It is largely for this reason that technologies previously used by publishers to build user profiles, such as tracking cookies and mobile advertising IDs, are falling out of favour.

Leveraging telco-grade intelligence to enrich publisher data

Fortunately, new innovations in adtech and approaches that leverage telco network capabilities are set to solve this data dilemma for publishers. In South Africa, MTN Ads is leading the charge, with a new publisher user recognition service that it is launching in partnership with Novatiq.

The MTN Ads verified ID draws on our network intelligence to enable publishers to recognise visitors to their website or application and identify return visits irrespective of the devices they use to connect. Using the MTN Ads verified ID, publishers can verify both authenticated and unauthenticated users on the open web or in app. Importantly, each identifier is unique to the publisher, which means that they can safely create their own consented first-party audience data. The approach also removes the risk of automatically losing the consent of users that opt out when asked by other publishers.

The benefits of the MTN Ads user recognition service

The MTN Ads verified ID enables publishers to resolve identities on the open web and in-app and build rich and scalable audiences for advertisers. Importantly, the user recognition service ensures privacy compliance for publishers by leveraging anonymised network intelligence that never leaves the telco firewall, thereby bypassing the need to store or process personal user data. This method aligns with stringent data protection regulations by prioritising user consent, ensuring that publishers can safely enhance their data monetisation strategies without compromising privacy.

Another benefit is that the verified ID helps level the playing field for publishers. Using the MTN Ads verified ID for addressable audiences, publishers large and small will be able to activate their first-party audiences effectively and at scale, giving them an opportunity to compete with the walled gardens for advertising revenue. What’s more, it does so while improving the user experience: consumers will benefit from more relevant advertisements and promotions, improving the overall stickiness of publisher sites. 

Sustainable data monetisation

The ability to build and utilise comprehensive user profiles not only drives more effective advertising and content strategies but also establishes a publisher as a desirable partner for advertisers. This results in a beneficial cycle: better personalisation leads to higher engagement, which in turn attracts more advertisers, thereby increasing the publisher revenue potential. In a fast-changing advertising ecosystem, all publishers should activate the MTN Ads user recognition and addressable audiences verified IDs to their toolkit to future proof their advertising businesses and keep their users happy.