Two Thirds of Marketers Say Walled Gardens Are Major Block to Improving First-Party Data

By PRNewswire On Oct 19, 2018

68% of Marketers Say That Walled Gardens Do Not Provide Enough Data to Effectively Analyse and Measure Campaigns

Research commissioned by Sizmek has uncovered concerns around how “walled gardens” (closed platforms such as Google or Facebook) can be major roadblocks to helping brands evaluate data, with 68% of marketers saying walled gardens do not provide enough data to effectively measure campaigns.

The study, which surveyed over 500 decision-making brand marketers across Europe and the US, also found that two-thirds (66%) of marketers believe walled gardens are a major barrier to improving first-party data. 65% also agreed that they do not provide enough insight to make comparisons with other channels or partners. Without having access to cross-site performance data, brands are over exposing their audiences and reducing the ROI from their media spend.

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Many marketers, therefore, want more and better insight into their data, with 83% listing this is a critical or high priority over the next 12 months. When asked which insights marketers found the most valuable, “understanding audience behaviour” was the most valuable (92%), followed by “informing overall strategy” (88%) and “viewability” (87%).

The GDPR is another factor driving the pursuit of data ownership; 77% of marketers expect their audience targeting and objective, third-party measurement to be constrained as a result of the new regulation.

To better improve the ROI from their digital media spend, marketers are looking to integrated data management platforms (DMP) and demand-side platform (DSP) systems, with three quarters (75%) listing integrated technology as either a critical or high priority in the coming year. Nearly nine out of 10 marketers (88%) say they want to own the data created from their campaigns.

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“It’s becoming increasingly difficult for marketers to navigate a complex digital ecosystem, particularly improving their campaign effectiveness or increasing the efficiency of their media spend,” said Joshua Koran, Managing Director at Sizmek. “This is one of the reasons Sizmek is offering marketers simple, transparent control over the first-party data generated from our ad server and offering an integrated ad platform to help reduce the time required to better match content to consumers. This puts marketers in the driving seat, giving them and their agencies the tools they need to programmatically execute their campaigns to achieve superior return on their ad spend. Put simply, if you own your data, you’ll own your future.”