Amazon launches Ad Relevance, its own post-cookie solution

The news: Amazon is launching its own cookieless tracking alternative called Ad Relevance, the company announced at Cannes Lions. The tracking solution will be available via Amazon’s demand-side platform.

• Ad Relevance “uses the latest in AI technology to analyze billions of browsing, buying, and streaming signals in conjunction with real-time information… to serve [customers] relevant ads across devices, channels, and content types without needing third-party cookies,” Amazon wrote in a blog post.

The post-cookie race: The end of third-party cookies on Google Chrome and stricter privacy regulations around the globe are ushering in a new era for digital advertising. Google’s attempts to launch its post-cookie solution, Privacy Sandbox, have been perennially delayed (most recently by UK regulators), allowing competitors to slide into the void.

• Several post-cookie solutions are now on the market and actively in use; The Trade Desk’s Unified ID 2.0 has been adopted by Disney+ and Hulu.
• Amazon Ad Relevance is limited to the company’s demand-side platform, which means Amazon is sticking somewhat to the walled garden format that is showing signs of falling out of favor with marketers. But its enormous ecosystem spanning retail and video gives its closed ecosystem more appeal than smaller competitors.
• Privacy Sandbox may have been delayed again, but it has enjoyed some wins. Last month, Yahoo said it was able to run successful prospecting campaigns using Privacy Sandbox—a type of ad campaign that critics said the Google initiative would struggle to provide.

Our take: The looming transition to post-cookie ad solutions is one of the largest windows of opportunity in years for competitors to seize on Google’s digital advertising market share. Amazon’s plunge into the market could help it solidify new relationships with advertisers in an uneasy time and is likely to boost its already surging ad revenues.