Amazon signs on to The Trade Desk’s cookie alternative

By signing on as a private operator, campaign run through AWS will now be easier and more secure.
By Josh Kolm
June 23, 2022

The Trade Desk got a big boost for its UID 2.0 ad targeting alternative after signing on Amazon Web Services as a private operator.

The partnership, announced at Cannes Lions on Wednesday, allows AWS to act as a private operator of UID 2.0. Private operators are companies The Trade Desk has signed on to help marketers directly integrate their first party data with publisher data, if they house it with the operator in question.

Other private operators include IPG and InfoSum.

UID 2.0 is one of several cookie alternatives that have been in development since Google announced it would be ending support for third-party cookies, and aims to be an alternative to Google’s own Topics for ad targeting.

It uses UID2 “tokens,” identifiers representing a user’s identifiable information, such as an email, but is never shared between partners, have their value changed every time they are used and constantly refreshed to ensure ad targeting is completely anonymous and the tokens are not misused. These tokens, proponents say, let advertisers anonymously match ad opportunities with their own first-party user data while keeping consumer information protected.

By signing on as a private operator, UID 2.0 is now much easier to use for ads run through AWS, as it no longer will require an intermediary to generate the tokens.

Private operators must also ensure that data is stored, shared and integrated in a privacy-safe way. In Amazon’s case, it uses a technology it calls Nitro Enclaves, which create environments that protect and securely process sensitive data, as well as allow advertisers to anonymously match ad opportunities with their own first-party user data.

The Trade Desk opened testing for UID 2.0 to Canadian companies last fall. Rogers, Kijiji Canada and Comscore were among the companies that signed on to participate in the initial test, while the Canadian offices of companies that tested or signed deals in other markets also participated, including adtech firms Index Exchange and Magnite, as well as Publicis, Omnicom and IPG’s Kinesso.