Each month, Street Fight sources expert insights from the businesses in the ecosystem that align with their theme. This month’s theme is 2022 predictions, and Audigent's own Drew Stein was happy to weigh in on his predictions regarding first-party data, personalization, curated ad marketplaces, and retail media.

DREW STEIN: CEO, Audigent
The countdown to the cookieless future continues in 2022. In effect, the next 12 months will bring two major dominant trends – the move toward cookieless identity and dynamic identity platforms, and the move away from open exchange inventory and toward curated marketplaces and exchanges where premium data drives value and performance through the supply path.

This significant shift from open exchange inventory to curated marketplaces will be enabled by stakeholders with incredible first-party data who are allowing data to be actioned through the supply path — not just in private marketplaces, but true curated marketplaces across partners, inventory, and media channels. This move toward robust curated marketplaces with premium data partners offers opportunities for exciting activations, which will drive value and performance in the ecosystem.

My hope is that as the cookie disappears, the advertising industry will prioritize privacy-centric ways of activating data and not just privacy-compliant data collection.