With just about 50% of digital ad dollars and 20% of all media dollars spent, the Facebook and Google duopoly is nothing to scoff at. However, there may be a new rival coming to the table to win back more of the media budget. An ad-tech consortium comprised of companies like AppNexus, MediaMath, LiveRamp, Index Exchange, Rocket Fuel, LiveIntent and OpenX are working together to provide what could be the next move closer to people-based marketing within the programmatic industry. People-based marketing developed from Facebook and Atlas saying that with their combined technology, you could target actual humans and not cookies. This type of targeting within the programmatic industry, which is fraught with fraud, is the holy grail of all targeting.

The companies would use their combined technologies and information to help create standard consumer identifiers. This means that across these programmatic channels, you would have the ability to better target the qualified and verified consumers you are interested in reaching. Although it would still be a deterministic-based system, using common identifiers across multiple channels creates a more complete consumer targeting profile.

The consortium has set up a very aggressive deadline to finish the tech specs within the next few months and allow others to start testing the new technology. These companies hope to unlock the ability to target not only across display and mobile, but also across addressable TV, out-of-home, and more.

In addition to better targeting capabilities, this move could also mean greater transparency and privacy of consumer data. The consortium and those who wish to be included within it will be held to strict standards in full compliance with DAA Self-Regulatory Principles.

This affects every level of the programmatic field from SSPs to DSPs, and as more ad-tech companies join the consortium there’s a greater probability that programmatic partners will be capable of winning larger portions of media planners’ budgets. As we learn more about this topic we will be sure to update this article.