2025 is here, and with the start of a new year, it’s traditional to make resolutions for how to improve in the year ahead. With so much change happening across the digital ad industry, it can be challenging to know where to focus. That’s where Tech Lab comes in. We’ve identified four key resolutions we recommend the industry embrace to drive growth and success in 2025 and beyond.
- Upgrade your Content Taxonomy Version. Now.
At our December I Want my CTV event, nearly a 3rd of respondents to a Slido survey said they were still using the long-deprecated Content Taxonomy 1.0!! Tech Lab has made it easier to upgrade with a proposal of how to upgrade guidelines, and a mapping file! Not only will this reduce complexity and friction when working with different partners across the supply chain, but it also standardizes the Genre field in OpenRTB which will make it significantly easier and faster to scale Connected TV transactions with DSPs, and to improve contextual targeting, creating more tailored campaigns. Resolve to review the OpenRTB release and the associated updates to Tech lab Taxonomies and create a plan for upgrading and mapping once it’s released to production on January 30, 2025.
- Take Privacy Regulations seriously
With 11 more states (of the 19 total states that have passed regulations) going into effect within the next year, privacy is no longer just a Europe and California concern. And not all the regulations are the same. It’s critical for all participants in the supply chain to invest in being compliant. In addition to the Global Privacy Platform standard that added support for 10 more states in 2024 and updates to the MSPA US National String, IAB Tech Lab also released a Privacy Taxonomy and finalized the Data Deletion Request Framework, with more to come for that standard in 2025. Make sure you are not setting yourself up for a costly fine in 2025, by resolving to map out your workflows and areas of risk for your organization. And if you want to get involved in setting priorities in this area, you can join the Privacy and Rearc Commit Group (PRCG).
- Use an Ad Creative ID in all your video campaigns to save time and money
Using an Ad Creative ID for your campaigns is a game changer for everyone: Publishers, technology vendors, advertisers, agencies, and consumers. Tying different formats of a creative to the single ID improves attribution, ad performance, enhances frequency capping, and reduces operational effort. The Ad Creative ID Framework (ACIF) makes it easy to exchange these values in your VAST tags, and the ACIF API released in December, provides a way to automate ingesting information about the Creative ID from the registration vendor. Resolve to work with your partners to pass this crucial attribute throughout your workflows in 2025.
- Invest in understanding ID-less solutions and PETs
Addressability is only going to get harder, despite the stay to full deprecation of the 3rd party cookie in Chrome. The full impact of user choice on signal loss is unclear, but using what happened with Safari and other browsers as a guide, it will be significant. As such, investment in new approaches are strongly encouraged. ID solutions may be one approach, but more advanced Privacy Enhancing Technologies, cryptography, and ID-less Solutions are likely going to be crucial to creating consumer and regulator trust. The full solution may not be ready in 2025, but experimenting and testing should begin sooner rather than later, and not simply be dropped to the bottom of the priority list because of Google’s pivot. Resolve to at least create a plan in 2025.