by Tanya Fields, COO and Co-Founder of Novatiq
As the digital marketing landscape evolves, telcos are uniquely positioned to tap into a promising new business opportunity.
The ongoing shift away from traditional advertising signals, such as third-party cookies, mobile device identifiers (IDs), and IP hashing, has created a significant gap in the market. Advertisers, agencies, and digital publishers are crying out for IDs that will enable them to continue to reach the right audiences at the right time with the right content, while complying with relevant data protection and privacy laws.
Consumers, meanwhile, want to continue to benefit from personalised digital experiences, without being tracked online. Telco-verification services promise to do just that, creating a safer and more consumer-centric internet while putting telcos at the heart of the digital marketing sector.
What are telco-verified IDs?
Telco-verified IDs are a compelling new form of digital identification that is generated by publishers at the point of use and underpinned by a single source of truth within the telco network, leveraging consented relationships with subscribers. The integrity of telco-verified IDs is rooted in their origin from trusted, regulated entities that are already heavily invested in maintaining high standards of data security and privacy.
The key benefit of telco-verified IDs lies in their ability to provide publishers and advertisers with a privacy-compliant method for engaging with users online. Unlike tracking methods that rely on cookies and other intrusive techniques, telco-verified IDs enable a more secure and less invasive approach to user identification. These IDs can be used across various digital platforms and devices, enabling a publisher/brand specific unified view of a single repeat user, who remains unknown, while adhering to stringent data protection regulations.
Furthermore, telco-verified IDs can enhance the accuracy and relevance of digital advertising, benefiting both consumers and marketers. For consumers, this means receiving advertisements that are more aligned with their preferences and behaviours, minimising irrelevant ad exposure. For marketers, the IDs provide a reliable foundation for creating effective campaigns that are likely to result in higher engagement rates. When combined with the transparency and trust that telcos provide, this improved capability positions telco-verified IDs as a transformative tool in the digital marketing landscape.
Telco-verified IDs in action
Leading telcos worldwide are already deploying telco-verified IDs to create new business opportunities. Examples include KDDI in Japan, which is partnering with Supership, a media company, on a next-generation digital ad distribution platform. With the inclusion of verified first-party telco data from KDDI, the platform creates the first privacy-safe, end-to-end solution in the Asian advertising market.
Over in the Middle East meanwhile, e& UAE is using telco-verified IDs in its own marketing activities and beyond. Using its consented customer intelligence, the telco has been able to invest in programmatic display environments and improve its targeting capabilities. This has led to a 68% decrease in cost and a 12% boost in engagement rates.
In Europe, meanwhile, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, and Vodafone Group have created an “adtech” joint venture offering a telco-verified first-party identifier through the Utiq brand. The service enables publishers to recognise repeat users and brands to address consented audiences.
Building a telco-verification proposition
As other telcos look to secure a share of this exciting market, they will need to make several key decisions about how they build their ID offering. One of the most important questions is around how the service is delivered. If telcos are to realise the opportunities on offer fully, they need to retain complete control of the service, rather than bolting on services provided by third parties. Telcos can guarantee this by taking a service-layer approach, integrating the verification process into the network proper, rather than linking to third-party services through APIs. This way, telcos can leverage innovations from adtech companies while still retaining complete ownership and control of the solution.
Telcos should also think about the scope of the solution. Some approaches only enable identity resolution. While this is important for helping to build first-party addressable audiences, it does not enable telco first-party audiences to be activated in the programmatic supply chain. Advertisers and agencies would likely see the benefit of being able to source a combination of ID resolution IDs, activation IDs and telco addressable audiences from the same provider. Telcos that can deliver both will, therefore, be at an advantage.
Finally, telcos should consider how their technology choices affect the online user experience. Look for solutions that leverage existing consent frameworks to deliver the ID so that there’s no need for additional consent pop-ups, which ad friction to the user experience and risk alienating users.
The key to success in the ID market
As telcos assess the potential of telco-verified IDs, the importance of making the right technology choices and forging the right partnerships cannot be overstated. Success hinges on the ability of telcos to deploy sophisticated, scalable technologies that ensure data integrity, security, and compliance with privacy laws. Equally crucial is selecting partners who not only align with these technological needs but also share a commitment to delivering the best experiences for publishers, advertisers, and end users. By focusing on these critical elements, telcos can successfully launch verification services that not only meet the current demands of digital advertisers but also set new standards for privacy and user experience.
