There is one more concept, and arguably the most important one. Having your own relationship with the users, who either login to your service, or give you their descriptions (data) willingly is the best and most reliable and future-proof way of doing business.
This applies to all participants in the ecosystem – publishers, networks, marketers, agencies, everyone should be able to explain to consumers why they are participating in the value chain and convince a part of them to interact directly.
User 1st party data can also be shared downstream if the users agreed to it. Publishers who know the gender and age of their subscribers might choose to share the two attributes rather than a hashed email, to enable targeting while preserving privacy.
The IAB is working on standards for sharing 1st party data this way, and first drafts are being published. We predict this will play a much bigger role in the future ecosystem than currently recognized.
Remember the first two years of your Facebook Wall filled with hundreds of quizzes designed to capture your data? Expect a cambrian explosion of new interactive ad formats that will be eager to get to know you.
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