Adform says that for the first time in a test market, more first-party ID impressions were recorded than third-party cookie impressions.

In several markets — including the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway and Denmark — advertisers have not only gathered important insights around the use of first-party IDs but seen improved results in cookieless environments such as on Safari.

The advertising platform says that advertisers and publishers continue to work towards the industry’s cookie-free future, despite Google Chrome's decision to delay the elimination of third-party cookies.

It adds that in Denmark, an important milestone was reached in June and July 2021 when, for the first time, media spending on first-party ID-based impressions overtook third-party cookie-based impressions.

Participants in the programme include:
  • Vodafone United Kingdom
  • Vodafone Germany
  • American Express Nordics
  • Coop
  • Telenor Nordics, and
  • Mercedes Norway.
These test runs are helping marketing managers, who are under increasing pressure, to prepare their teams and future-proof the value chain, says the platform.

Adform's co-founder Jakob Bak says, "The truth is that many global brands are not doing enough to prepare for life without third-party cookies. Publishers have proved to be ready and now we need to get the brands on board too. This is why it's so important to launch these pioneering trials. We're pleased to have world-leading publishers and brand partners taking part."

Recent data from Adform showed that adoption of first-party IDs is growing in key European markets, with the majority of publishers already sharing IDs in the bidstream.

Already, in many markets, cookie-free browsers account for nearly 50% of traffic. The switch will have a significant impact on publisher revenue and campaign performance in any case.

Bak says, "The goal of the programme is to provide brands, agencies and publishers with important knowledge on how they should change their media-buying, planning, execution and underlying KPIs to work in a first-party environment."

"The previous 2022 Chrome deadline triggered the transition to first-party IDs and increased the availability of first-party data. But the focus has now shifted back to winning on Safari and Mozilla, as well as other cookieless environments like In-App, CTV and Audio. Fortunately, the required technology and adoption of this by publishers has progressed far enough for large scale campaign executions," Bak adds.

Richard Kanolik, programmatic lead at Vodafone United Kingdom, says, "It's fundamental that, as a brand, we accumulate insights about what specific impact the loss of third-party cookies will have on our advertising ecosystem."

"Thanks to Adform's data, which has highlighted that publishers are primed for the post-cookie world, Vodafone is excited to be one of the brands participating in First-Party Now to kickstart our readiness for 2023, and demonstrate to the industry that we can still achieve great results, by using first-party IDs," adds Kanolik.

Emma Narving Vendala, marketing manager at AMEX, says, "With the imminent cookie-less future, we at Amex Nordics are excited to be part of the programme as a first step in the right direction to stay ahead in our performance tracking post the change. We’re looking forward to learning more about how we’ll navigate the future advertising ecosystem."

Danny Hopwood, global SVP and head of global paid media at Omnicom Media Group, says, "First-Party Now fits well into how we are approaching the cookie challenge, so we are participating on a couple of key accounts and markets."

"We selected those based on which (markets) are the furthest ahead in terms of adoption and capabilities and look forward to gathering crucial results and insights into the trial campaigns," concludes Hopwood.

For more information, visit www.adform.com. You can also follow Adform on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram