Me. Now you. The Blockchain hole.
The many practical uses of the technology to various industries such as real estate, travel, energy and health care are astonishing.
But one of interest to our industry is its potential influence to online advertising. And like many conversations, it starts with data.
The applications of Blockchain technology in advertising will help target audiences better, share data, make users safer and more private, and democratise who controls the data that the industry relies on.
For online advertisers, data is a precious commodity
Through our online browser habits, we leave crumbs of data behind revealing patterns in our shopping, search history and social media posts, likes and comments. Blockchain can distribute this data to an entire network, whereas it was once kept on secure company server and put up for sale to bidders with a relevant interest.
Blockchain functionality gives users more control, and puts the value of their data exclusively in their hands, but this decentralised system could benefit the advertisers as well. They would have access to immense shared pools of relevant data, already vetted by other participants and proven with the chain, making ad targeting much more accurate and cost efficient. Blockchain’s irrefutable, ledger-like system is a perfect tool in the hands of agencies who are tasked with a data first mindset in reaching and engaging the right audience.
The next technology to add into a programmatic offering
Instead of paying upfront for ad space targeting fashion, for instance, the advertiser can use Blockchain technology to target those who have expressly stated (with their data-sharing preferences) that they are interested in such an interest. The game will no longer be based on inferred data, but on hard data and continue to make it possible for advertisers to only buy an impression should the target fulfil certain parameters. This by all means is not a new way of targeting and buying online ad space, but using the Blockchain technology will add fuel to the fire.
Watch this space. Yet to make a big impact yet in New Zealand, we can expect Blockchain technology to influence how we as advertisers target an audience in the future.
What actually is Blockchain? I found this video helpful in explaining the distributed ledger technology.
