IAB Tech Lab Summit: Mathieu Roche of ID5

Summary

Marketecture Podcast Summary: IAB Tech Lab Summit with Mathieu Roche of ID5

Podcast Title: Marketecture: Get Smart. Fast.
Episode: IAB Tech Lab Summit: Mathieu Roche of ID5
Release Date: November 25, 2024
Hosts: Ari Pipero and Eric Franchi
Guest: Mathieu Roche, CEO of ID5
Podcast Link: marketecture.tv

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Introduction

In this episode of the Marketecture Podcast, hosts Ari Pipero and Eric Franchi engage in an insightful conversation with Mathieu Roche, CEO of ID5, during the IAB Tech Lab Summit. The discussion centers around the evolving landscape of digital advertising, the critical role of identity solutions, and the future-proofing strategies that ID5 employs to navigate regulatory and technological changes.

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The Significance of "Nothing Will Be the Same"

Timestamp: [00:30]

Ari Pipero opens the discussion by referencing the conference theme, "Nothing Will Be the Same," probing its meaning for Mathieu Roche and ID5.

Key Points:

• Mission Statement Interpretation: Mathieu views the theme as a reflection of ID5's mission to revolutionize digital advertising by moving away from outdated identification methods.
• Historical Context: He highlights that ID5 was founded seven years ago with the foresight that privacy regulations and platform changes would necessitate new user recognition methods.
• Vision for the Future: Mathieu emphasizes that the industry is transitioning to more scalable and privacy-compliant identification systems, marking the beginning of a new era in advertising.

Notable Quote:

“The future will never be the same because we'll be using better, more scalable, more privacy compliant methods to recognize people and power advertising.” — Mathieu Roche [01:23]

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Understanding ID5: Overview and Purpose

Timestamp: [01:33]

Ari asks Mathieu to elucidate the basics of ID5 for listeners unfamiliar with the company.

Key Points:

• Core Functionality: ID5 creates unique identifiers that enable brands and publishers to recognize users across various platforms, thereby powering targeted advertising.
• Importance of Identity: Identity is fundamental for targeting, measuring, and optimizing advertising campaigns, distinguishing digital advertising from traditional linear methods.
• Legacy Identifiers: The industry has historically relied on cookies, IDFAs, Google Ad IDs, IP addresses, and device IDs—all of which are being deprecated or fall short in compliance and user transparency.
• ID5's Solution: By building an abstraction layer that integrates user consent and compliance, ID5 offers a robust infrastructure that simplifies the complex technical and legal landscape for its clients.

Notable Quote:

“Identity is really a fundamental layer that supports all digital advertising on the web.” — Mathieu Roche [02:00]

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Future-Proofing Identity Solutions

Timestamp: [03:04]

Ari inquires about how ID5 ensures its solutions remain relevant amidst ongoing changes.

Key Points:

• Adaptive Framework: ID5's infrastructure is designed to handle new laws and regulations seamlessly, adjusting ID generation methods as required (e.g., shifting from opt-out to opt-in frameworks).
• Abstraction Layer Benefits: Clients can rely on ID5's stable infrastructure without worrying about the underlying complexities, allowing them to scale effortlessly.
• Global Compliance: ID5 proactively incorporates regional regulatory changes, ensuring global applicability and compliance.

Notable Quote:

“We handle that complexity and those changes. If a new law passes, we're able to embed them into the ID.” — Mathieu Roche [03:07]

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The Evolving Landscape of Advertising Identity

Timestamp: [05:00]

The conversation shifts to the broader implications of identity beyond web-based advertising.

Key Points:

• Cross-Platform Relevance: Identity is not confined to cookies or web browsers; it's essential across all channels, including TV, mobile apps, and emerging media.
• Non-Web Challenges: Different platforms present unique challenges, such as unstable IP addresses on TV or limited consent options with mobile app identifiers like IDFAs.
• Comprehensive Infrastructure: ID5 aims to provide a universal identity solution that spans all advertising channels, ensuring consistency and reliability in user recognition.

Notable Quote:

“Identity is not a cookie thing; it's a fundamental principle for advertising.” — Mathieu Roche [05:45]

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Privacy and Compliance in Advertising Technology

Timestamp: [04:13]

Mathieu delves into the nuanced relationship between privacy, anonymity, and data protection regulations.

Key Points:

• Privacy vs. Anonymity: He clarifies that privacy regulations do not equate to anonymity. Instead, they focus on transparency and user control over data usage.
• Regulatory Principles: Core principles include notice and consent, where users must be informed about data handling and given the choice to opt in or out.
• Long-Term Regulatory Stability: Mathieu predicts that data protection regulations will maintain their foundational principles for the foreseeable future, ensuring that solutions like ID5 remain relevant.
• Embedding Compliance: ID5 integrates transparency and control directly into its infrastructure, allowing clients to adhere to complex regulatory requirements effortlessly.

Notable Quote:

“Privacy as defined by regulation is not anonymity. Data protection regulation says notice and consent, notice and control.” — Mathieu Roche [04:13]

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Conclusion

In this episode, Mathieu Roche provides a comprehensive overview of ID5's role in the future of digital advertising. Emphasizing the importance of robust, privacy-compliant identity solutions, he explains how ID5 is positioned to navigate the evolving regulatory landscape and technological advancements. The discussion underscores the necessity of reliable user recognition across all advertising channels and the pivotal role identity plays in effective digital marketing.

Final Note: Ari Pipero and the hosts express their gratitude to Mathieu for his valuable insights, highlighting the importance of such discussions in shaping the future of advertising technology.

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Additional Information

• Subscribe to Marketecture Podcast: Stay updated with new episodes every Friday and in-depth vendor interviews every Monday by visiting marketecture.tv.
• Join the Community: Engage with other industry professionals in the vibrant Slack community by applying at adtechgod.com.

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

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[Ari Pipero]

Hi, I'm Ari Pipero here with the Advertising Forum and the IB Tech Lab at the International Summit. I'm happy to have Matthew Roche from ID5 with me. Matthew, thanks for being here.

[Matthew Roche]

Morning, Ari. Thanks for having me.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Ari Pipero]

So the name of this conference is Nothing Will be the Same. What does that mean to you and to ID5?

[Matthew Roche]

Oh, wow. It feels like it's our mission statement. You know, we started ID5 to replace legacy identifiers, right? Cookie IDs, IDFAs, et cetera, et cetera. But it was really seven years ago, and already seven years ago we thought the future was not going to be the same because privacy regulation platform changes would force us to adopt new ways of recognizing users. So that's been a longer transition than most people expected, but it's definitely a transition. And so the future will never be the same because we'll be using better, more scalable, more privacy compliant method to recognize people and power advertising. And I like to think that today is the beginning of it all. Right?

[Ari Pipero]

The beginning of the future, end of the past. So for those of us who aren't that familiar with ID5, you have sort of a global footprint of IDs. Tell us the basics about what it is.

[Matthew Roche]

Yeah. Our job is to create IDs to help brands and publishers recognize people, to power advertising. Right. Advertising relies on the ability to recognize customers so that you can target, you can measure, you can optimize the delivery of campaign. That's what makes digital more valuable than linear, for instance. Right. Because you know who you're talking to, you can optimize the way you talk to them and you can measure the outcome. All of that relies on the ability to recognize who you're talking to. So identity is really a fundamental layer that supports all digital advertising on the web. We've been using cookies in mobile apps, we've been using IDFAs and Google Ad IDs in TV, we're using IP addresses, we're using device IDs. So there's all sorts of legacy identifiers that have been available that have been powering this industry of ours for the past 20 years. And all of them are either slowly being deprecated by their owners, the browsers, the controller os, et cetera, et cetera, or they're not built to pass the bar of compliance in terms of transparency, in terms of control, for users to say opt in, opt out, all of those things are not really baked into those Legacy identification method. So IDFI's job is to reinvent this infrastructure. We've rebuilt it from the ground up with a notion of availability across all platforms, across all channels, and a notion of compliance, embedding the user consent into the idea itself, so that we've created this abstraction layer that sit on top of a complex technical environment and a complex legal environment. Right.

[Ari Pipero]

That's changing. So how is it future proof? How do we know?

[Matthew Roche]

Well, we handle that complexity and those changes. Right? So if, when a new law passes in the US or in Japan, or like new requirements come, we're able to embed them into the ID and say, you know what? I'm taking a silly example, because it doesn't happen like it was opt out, it's becoming opt in. The way we generate ID will change to reflect this. But as a user, as a platform, using the ID5 infrastructure, if you get the ID, if you can use the ID, it's because you are allowed to use the ID. We take care of that complexity. We create that abstraction layer so that the technical and the legal complexity are abstracted and our clients can leverage our infrastructure at scale without being worried about, oh, is that a device that I can use an ID for? Is that a. Is that a. Is that a cookie? Is that a mate? Is there something else? No, it's an ID5 stable ID5 infrastructure that you can, that you can build on top of.

[Ari Pipero]

You just said ID4. What's ID4?

[Matthew Roche]

No, no, no, I said ID5. Sleep at the top.

[Ari Pipero]

Okay. I thought you were branching out.

[Matthew Roche]

No, no.

[Ari Pipero]

So, speaking of the future, what could you prognosticate for us a bit about this whole space about identity, privacy, et cetera?

[Matthew Roche]

So from a privacy standpoint, it's interesting because a lot of people consider privacy as anonymity, effectively. Right. I don't want to be recognized. Privacy as defined by regulation is not anonymity. And when you look at what's happening on social media in particular, anonymity is not necessarily where we want to go into. Right. So data protection regulation says notice and consent, notice and control. Right. Like you have to tell me what you're going to do with my Data. Right. And you have to give me a choice to opt in or opt out into that transaction. Right. That's what all regulations all over the world are based on. Might be more stringent than others. Some say you've got to tell me and allow me to opt out. Others say you've got to tell me and ask me to opt in. But basically it's the same principles. We're not going to change kind of the basics, the parameters of the data protection regulation for the next 20 years or so, because this is what the, this is what the, the past 20 years have led us to, and there's no reason for that to change. So how do we. So the question is, how do we comply with those transparency and those, and those, and those control requirements, which again, is something that we can embed. So that's from a privacy standpoint, then technically, how do you actually make it happen? Right. And we have to work in a world where device signals are being limited. And so it's a question of scale. The more device you see, the more signals you get, the better you will be at predicting that. This is your phone that I'm seeing right now on CNN after having seen it on the IBM website. And so if IBM wants to retarget you, they can use that.

[Ari Pipero]

I now it's moving into TVs, right?

[Matthew Roche]

It's moving every. I mean, identity is not a cookie thing, right? Identity is a fundamental principle for advertising. Again, when we're talking about addressability, measurement, frequency capping, all of those things are not web thing. They're advertising things, right? So the web has been the visible part of the iceberg because we've had a very pressing need to replace cookies that are already not available on about half of the devices that connect through a browser. So the pain is more obvious there. But it exists everywhere, and it exists on tv, where we're using IP addresses. Not very stable, not necessarily very safe from a data protection standpoint in mobile apps where we've been using IDFAs that require consent to Apple, which isn't always available. So those technical and regulatory challenges exist on all platforms. And ID5's position is not to be just a cookie replacement, it's to be an advertising identity infrastructure for all channels globally.

[Ari Pipero]

All right, well, that was great. So on behalf of Advertising Forum and IAB Tech Lab, thank you so much for being here, Matthew.

[Matthew Roche]

Thank you for having me.

[Podcast Host]

Thank you for listening to the Markitecture podcast. New episodes come out every Friday and an insightful vendor interview is published each Monday. You can subscribe to our library of hundreds of executive interviews at Markitecture tv. You can also sign up for free for our weekly newsletter with my original strategic insights on the week's news at News Market tv. And if you're feeling social, we operate a vibrant Slack community that you can apply to [e-mail] don't.