What is Digital Identity? Decode it with Innovid’s New Cheat Sheet

Digital advertising is going through an identity crisis.

In the past few years, identity has become both an ingredient and a source of truth for marketers. In the US alone, marketers are spending upwards of $19 billion annually on third-party audience data and data activation solutions. However, as the industry grapples with looming topics like third-party cookie deprecation, consent management macros, and even forced opt-in for mobile tracking, it’s more important than ever for advertisers to adopt identifiers that work across media yet keep regulatory risk low.

The need for identity mapping is easy to understand. Without a sense of identity, advertisers lose their ability to accurately map the reach, frequency, and relevance of their messages. They lose the ability to measure ROI. Wrapping your head around all that identity mapping entails, though, is another matter entirely. 

Enter Innovid’s Decoding Digital Identity Cheat Sheet: your go-to resource for navigating the subject. Download it here and keep it in your back pocket so you’ll always be ready to have an informed conversation about the intricacies of identity. But first, let’s go over the basics.

Broadly speaking, these are the main questions to consider when thinking about identity:

What is digital identity?

Simply put, digital identity is an electronic file containing personally identifiable information (PII). This can be anything from your date of birth to your biometric data.

What makes up digital identity?

It’s important to understand the types of data signals you’re working with. Are they probabilistic or deterministic? Where did they come from? For future-proof identity resolution, marketers must have the ability to match on all manners of identifiers.

How is digital identity mapped?

Currently, identity is matched using identity graphs: a matching table that links a user, device, or household to all the devices they use, generating one ID. Keep in mind that each type of identity graph -- user-level, device-level, and household -- has its trade-offs. 

When is digital identity used?

Identity is used throughout the entire campaign lifecycle, and it’s important for marketers to look for a partner who can provide them with a unified pre, mid, and post-campaign ID or one who integrates with other solutions to create a full-funnel view.

Why is it important to ensure digital identity is used with consumer privacy in mind?

Privacy has become as important as identity when it comes to creating digital experiences that promote brand loyalty. Consumers are increasingly aware that their data is being collected to shape these experiences, and it’s crucial that they also understand why that happens and be given control over how much they’re comfortable with sharing. Operating with their consent is the only way to build trust and earn loyalty.

Where do we go from here?

Everyone wants to solve the identity problem, but sometimes it seems there are more questions than answers. What we can be sure about is that in a post-GDPR, CCPA, and COPPA world, we can expect a shift from tracking by default to privacy by default.

Now that your gears are turning, download our Decoding Digital Identity Cheat Sheet to dive further into the what, how, when, who, and where of digital identity. You can also contact our team or visit our solution page to learn about how Innovid is tackling the challenge.