Index Exchange Announces Support for Unified ID 2.0

By Index Exchange | Nov 16, 2020

Exchange demonstrates its continued commitment to solving third-party cookie challenges and helping publishers monetize while driving results for advertisers

New York, NY, November 16, 2020 – Index Exchange, one of the world’s largest independent ad exchanges, announced today its support for Unified ID 2.0, a new industry-wide approach to identity with initial development led by The Trade Desk (NASDAQ: TTD). This comes on the heels of a number of identity-related announcements Index Exchange has made this year in their efforts to continue to build solutions for a cookieless future.

Revealed during Index Exchange’s inaugural IX Open Access digital event, Unified ID 2.0 will provide an open-source framework for authenticating consumers in order to create a common transaction fabric for digital advertising. Consumers will retain full transparency and control, with the ability to opt-out at any time. The new identifier will also help buyers maintain addressability against key audiences and support attribution and measurement workflows across multiple platforms and channels, an added benefit as Index Exchange continues to scale its omnichannel capabilities.

“In order to continue to monetize in a world without third-party cookies, be it the decline of the cookie in display environments, or the lack of a cookie in mobile app and connected television, it’s critical that publishers prepare by adopting authentication-based solutions like Unified ID 2.0. We’re looking forward to helping our publisher partners leverage this open-source framework in order to build and maintain trust with their consumer audiences, and ultimately drive results for both publishers and advertisers. This is the direction our industry needs to go, and we’re proud to help bring forth a real, transparent solution for publishers and marketers in the post-cookie era.“
– Andrew Casale, President and CEO, Index Exchange

Publishers can use existing login events they already facilitate to generate the identifier or choose to leverage forthcoming single sign-on solutions (SSO). Clear consent language will be offered by all participating publishers. The language is intended to explain the value exchange and economics of content and media production, something that previously has not been well understood or communicated. For any publisher who implements Unified ID 2.0, Index Exchange will automatically detect and enrich bid traffic regardless of channel, whether it’s mobile, CTV, native, or display.

“This collaboration with Index Exchange is a major step forward in an industry-wide collaboration to develop a better, upgraded alternative to third party cookies. With growing industry support and momentum, Unified ID 2.0 will help preserve the value exchange of relevant advertising on the open internet, while improving controls for consumers.“
– Jeff Green, CEO and Founder, The Trade Desk

Unified ID 2.0 is not exclusive to The Trade Desk, but rather a set of open frameworks being built in collaboration with leading industry associations and partners such as Index Exchange, LiveRamp, Nielsen, and Criteo. The identifier will ultimately be managed by an independent governing body.

About Index Exchange

Index Exchange is a global advertising marketplace where premium digital media companies transact ad impressions with accountability and in real-time. Built on the pillars of neutrality, openness, and the most reliable technology, Index Exchange is the ad exchange that media companies and marketers trust. An engineering-first company, Index Exchange prioritizes investing in hardware as well as bigger and better data centers to safely and independently store and process transactions. Visit Index Exchange at www.indexexchange.com or @indexexchange.

About The Trade Desk

The Trade Desk™ is a technology company that empowers buyers of advertising. Through its self-service, cloud-based platform, ad buyers can create, manage, and optimize digital advertising campaigns across ad formats and devices. Integrations with major data, inventory, and publisher partners ensure maximum reach and decisioning capabilities, and enterprise APIs enable custom development on top of the platform. Headquartered in Ventura, CA, The Trade Desk has offices across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. To learn more, visit thetradedesk.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.