CES was back in full-swing following two years impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cognitiv was on the ground at the world’s most influential tech event to hear leaders discuss the biggest trends and latest news impacting the industry. Unable to make it to Vegas? Here is a recap of the key talking points that stood out to me during the event.

Cookieless advertising

Yes, this is still top of mind for advertisers and marketers given Google’s latest delay on third-party cookies. These talks will once again come to the forefront throughout 2023 as the adtech and martech industries push for innovative ways to target consumers sans cookies. We discussed its success in conforming to this transitional era with top industry leaders at CES, focusing on their use of deep learning algorithms to effectively target users in a cookieless environment to predict emerging trends and outcomes.

First-party data measurement

In addition to the rising cookieless landscape, advertisers discussed new ways to measure first-party data on platforms, such as CTV, where measurement has been a topic of contention. Advertisers collectively agree that measurement of first-party data needs to change in order to successfully reach new customers and continue improving media spend. The implementation of artificial intelligence and deep learning into measurement can help the industry adapt to meet the full scope of advertisers’ performance and optimization needs. This topic of conversation will continue to be at the forefront this year as the industry continues this transition.

The metaverse

This was arguably (one of) the hottest topic at CES, but there are still a lot of questions and claims being made on the specifics of this new digital frontier. New positions are being created a la Chief Metaverse Officer pointing to how serious many companies are taking this but it is clear: no one quite knows what to do with it yet. Despite the lack of concrete blueprints, it is an exciting time as this emerging technology is taking form.

Final takeaways

What do we make of the continued discussions surrounding the cookieless future, first-party data measurement and the metaverse? The common throughline is the importance of testing as these innovations continue to develop a roadmap. CES is the place to celebrate and introduce innovations that influence every industry, with an emphasis on “introduce.” The more our industry comes together to discuss the best path forward for these areas, the closer we’ll be to solving.