1. I believe linking say, analytics data with behavioural data, can already be achieved using 3rd party solutions. Is not the whole RTB movement predicated on data sharing via cookie matching, allowing 3rd party and 1st party data sets to be cross referenced and used to target users more accurately? I guess currently more can be achieved with 1st party data and 1st party cookies but am interested to know your thoughts about the potential rise of the cookie matching concept.
2. We have found in the past that the main problem with 1st party adserving is that it is not directly linked to media buying so, in your O2 example, what would O2 serve to someone that is already a customer? Surely it is better for them not to buy that impression at all and for a different advertiser to be served in its place? Of course they could cross sell or up sell but if they are running an acquisition campaign, I would have thought they would prefer to target non-O2 customers only. Is there a way of achieving this using 1st party adserving only?
3. Lastly, Data ownership is a big issue, but is it not more of a contractual one? An advertiser definitely has more control of their data if using their own cookies, but a good contract with a 3rd party can ensure the advertiser gets access to their data in a format that is easy to obtain and re-use. Again I suppose this is reliant on RTB maturing more, but with such a lot of momentum behind it, it's a direction I can see the industry moving towards quite quickly.

It's exciting to see the potential that 1st party adserving puts into the marketplace and it's great for digital advertisers to be thinking more along these lines, but in the long run I see a lot of cross over with RTB and am interested to see if / how the two technologies will co-exist.

1. I believe linking say, analytics data with behavioural data, can already be achieved using 3rd party solutions. Is not the whole RTB movement predicated on data sharing via cookie matching, allowing 3rd party and 1st party data sets to be cross referenced and used to target users more accurately? I guess currently more can be achieved with 1st party data and 1st party cookies but am interested to know your thoughts about the potential rise of the cookie matching concept.
2. We have found in the past that the main problem with 1st party adserving is that it is not directly linked to media buying so, in your O2 example, what would O2 serve to someone that is already a customer? Surely it is better for them not to buy that impression at all and for a different advertiser to be served in its place? Of course they could cross sell or up sell but if they are running an acquisition campaign, I would have thought they would prefer to target non-O2 customers only. Is there a way of achieving this using 1st party adserving only?
3. Lastly, Data ownership is a big issue, but is it not more of a contractual one? An advertiser definitely has more control of their data if using their own cookies, but a good contract with a 3rd party can ensure the advertiser gets access to their data in a format that is easy to obtain and re-use. Again I suppose this is reliant on RTB maturing more, but with such a lot of momentum behind it, it’s a direction I can see the industry moving towards quite quickly.

It’s exciting to see the potential that 1st party adserving puts into the marketplace and it’s great for digital advertisers to be thinking more along these lines, but in the long run I see a lot of cross over with RTB and am interested to see if / how the two technologies will co-exist.