Welcome to the latest edition of the Future of TV Briefing, specifically tailored for Digiday+ members! You can expect this in-depth update every Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET. Find out what’s new in the world of streaming and TV, exclusively for you.
Get ready for this week’s Future of TV Briefing, where we delve into the ongoing need for the CTV ad industry to rethink its reliance on the IP address when it comes to tracking mechanisms.
The warnings are loud and clear for the CTV ad industry — it’s time to reconsider using IP addresses for audience tracking before things start to go awry. Companies, including the likes of Apple and Google, are already scaling back on the collection of IP addresses. Additionally, with some privacy laws categorizing IP addresses as personal information, and the potential for inappropriate tracking of children, it’s time to reevaluate strategies.
According to Jerel Pacis Agatep, an attorney specializing in practice innovation at law firm Gunderson Dettmer, using IP addresses for tracking is a high risk. As per Agatep, the potential of IP addresses being considered a means of tracking children puts it in violation of children’s privacy law. With the household-level cross-device tracking enabled by IP addresses, tracking children becomes a real possibility. Absence of legal examination only adds to the concern surrounding the usage of IP addresses for tracking.
Companies continue to take preventive measures to ensure they do not inadvertently contribute to IP address tracking. For example, Future Today makes sure that the data passed on any requests is anonymized, particularly on HappyKids, a kids-focused streaming service. Co-founder Vikrant Mathur underlines the significance of avoiding mishandling data.
Watch out for our upcoming video essay in January, where we will further explore the implications of using IP addresses against kids’ privacy.
Still not convinced of the implications? Here’s a real example: A health care client of Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners had been reliant on IP addresses to manage and attribute campaign performance. However, the increasing number of privacy lawsuits has nudged companies like this one to move away from IP address tracking.