Is authenticated web the future of advertising or just another myth?
Universal identifiers (ID) like ‘authenticated web’ have emerged as a potential lifeline for publishers who want to avoid using third-party cookies. However, it is a complex and often misunderstood concept.
At its core, authenticated web involves users verifying their identities—usually by logging in—to access content. This creates a system where publishers can collect first-party data, which is valuable for targeted advertising.
Unlike the open web, where third-party cookies dominate, and publishers have limited control, the authenticated web promises a more direct role for publishers. They could leverage their data to build premium ad marketplaces. However, achieving this requires overcoming significant hurdles, including user reluctance to log in, technical challenges, and regulatory constraints.
The Trade Desk, a significant proponent of this model, argues that even a tiny percentage of logged-in users could make the model viable. Critics, however, point out that this approach has scalability and privacy issues, questioning whether it offers a meaningful improvement over third-party cookies.
Publishers are at a crossroads. While some have successfully built ad businesses using login data, many struggle to achieve the scale needed to attract significant ad spend.
Moreover, ad tech vendors, like The Trade Desk, play a dual role—advocating for the authenticated web while benefiting from its success. This dynamic raises questions about who ultimately controls the narrative and value in this new ecosystem.
The authenticated web offers publishers a path to more significant influence over their data and advertising strategies, but it’s no silver bullet. Success will depend on their ability to navigate identity data challenges, choose the right partners, and balance privacy with monetisation.
The challenge for brands and agencies
Brands and agencies looking to maximise the potential of first-party data from the authenticated web must adopt a strategy beyond simple targeting and cultivate a personalised and reciprocal relationship with consumers.
This approach requires offering tangible value in exchange for user data, such as exclusive content, unique offers and experiences that resonate with each consumer's interests.
For instance, Hiren Kumar, media strategy director for Singapore at Jellyfish, suggests considering a travel brand that uses authenticated web data to enhance customer journeys. Instead of a generic campaign, the brand could offer personalised rewards like loyalty benefits, bespoke travel itineraries, or priority access to discounts based on previous destinations and preferences.
These actions strengthen immediate engagement and foster trust and loyalty, providing deeper insights to drive even more precise future lower-funnel campaigns.
“Ultimately, by turning data-driven insights into meaningful experiences, brands can increase conversion rates while establishing a foundation for long-term customer retention,” says Kumar.
In addition, most brands and agencies' lower-funnel strategies often include ad retargeting. A crucial component of ad retargeting campaigns is identity. If brands and agencies can’t identify the users at the bottom of their funnel, converting them will be more challenging.
All brands and agencies face this challenge now due to the decline of third-party cookies in significant web browsers.
For this reason, brands and agencies should invest in the authenticated web for these lower-funnel strategies to ensure they can maintain the results of their ad campaigns.
However, Michael Sweeney, head of marketing at Clearcode, cautions that many brands and agencies find it challenging to get the data to participate in the authenticated web.
“Many brands don’t collect email addresses; if they do, it’s once a user has purchased something,” explains Sweeney.
“To solve this problem, brands and agencies must devise strategies for collecting this first-party data earlier in the customer journey and using it for the authenticated web.”
The challenge for publishers
Publishers face significant challenges in scaling the authenticated web, impacting the availability and cost of high-quality ad inventory.
One of these challenges is user resistance to logging in, mainly because people grow weary of creating and managing multiple accounts.
Even with single sign-on (SSO) options, which streamline the login process, privacy concerns still deter some users from opting in. This reluctance presents an initial barrier to building a robust, authenticated web.
To succeed, they must implement a comprehensive login strategy and establish incentive programs to encourage users to log in and manage these logins securely. They must also uphold user privacy, ensuring data safety and the ability to unsubscribe if desired.
Managing director of Utiq, Sara Vincent, notes that only 10-15% of the open internet is ever logged in, with variation across publishers. This low rate of authentication presents an ongoing challenge.
In addition, she says publishers must address churn rates. If users log in through one route, like a competition entry, that data might not permit broader marketing or retargeting efforts.
“Relying on logged-in users to grow an addressable audience is challenging, as users tend to be selective about where they log in and often use secondary or unverified email addresses. This limits addressability and reduces the audience size available for advertisers, which generally results in lower CPMs for addressable inventory,” explains Vincent.
“As platforms like Facebook adjust their algorithms, publishers experience fluctuations in traffic, making it essential to maximise revenue per user. This is why reliable user identification has become critical for sustaining revenue and scaling the authenticated web.”
In addition, technical challenges add to the complexity, as publishers need secure systems to handle sensitive data while seamlessly integrating these with existing operations.
With rising privacy regulations, Kumar notes that publishers must also ensure that data handling complies with legal standards. This makes managing authenticated users costly and intricate.
“If login adoption remains low, the result could be a constrained supply of high-quality, consent-based ad inventory, potentially driving up costs,” explains Kumar.
“However, this scarcity might work to an advertiser’s advantage; authenticated inventory becomes a premium asset, valued for its quality, compliance and targeted reach.”
What should advertisers do?
One of the most significant changes introduced by the authenticated web has been the relationship between publishers and ad tech vendors. When third-party cookies were available on all major web browsers, ad tech vendors conducted user identification.
Now that third-party cookies are less available, publishers play a critical role in passing on their users' identification to ad tech vendors, making publishers the identity gatekeepers.
The term ‘premium inventory’ traditionally refers to inventory on a website's high-traffic places, such as at the top of the home page. While this is true for most publishers, many advertisers view premium ad space as an identifiable inventory.
“As it’s getting harder to identify website users, publishers and advertisers must redefine the definition of premium inventory to ensure they’re on the same page. Ultimately, publishers and advertisers should aim to show the right ad to the right person at the right time for the best price. Whether this can be achieved through the authenticated web or other means shouldn’t matter,” explains Sweeney.
The premium nature of authenticated web inventory naturally results in higher costs. However, advertisers can justify the higher costs of premium authenticated web inventory by partnering with technology solutions that enhance the scale of identifiable or authenticated audiences.
Authentication does not always require users to log in, as there are technologies that allow publishers to achieve high levels of addressability comparable to logged-in users without needing personally identifiable information.
For publishers, this scalable addressability increases the opportunity for monetisation. It enhances the value of their sought-after premium inventory, offering advertisers an effective way to maximise ROI in these high-quality environments.
“Advertisers can leverage storytelling and emotionally engaging campaigns to elevate the quality of interactions, turning each premium impression into a meaningful brand experience,” explains Kumar.
“These narratives can strengthen brand affinity and make higher investments worthwhile when paired with the precise targeting of authenticated inventory offers. Additionally, reserving premium inventory for exclusive products or time-sensitive offers creates a sense of urgency and exclusivity that encourages immediate action. This approach is efficient for high-stakes campaigns or product launches where capturing a focused, engaged audience is crucial.”
In addition, A/B testing across premium placements is essential to optimise ROI further. Experimenting with messaging, creative formats, and calls to action allows advertisers to fine-tune strategies for maximum engagement and conversions.
By tracking metrics such as engagement and conversion rates on these premium sites against baseline data, brands can directly assess the value delivered by higher-cost placements.
“The authenticated web's brand-safe, trusted nature enhances brand perception. By positioning ads in these environments, advertisers can strengthen long-term brand equity, making premium investments a strategic asset that pays off in sustained consumer trust and loyalty,” adds Kumar.
A potential cookie replacement in the future?
While there are varying opinions on the effectiveness and privacy benefits of the authenticated web, industry stakeholders, particularly publishers, should conduct thorough due diligence when evaluating third-party identity solutions to determine their actual value beyond simply replicating the issues of third-party cookies.
Key steps include asking potential partners specific questions about their privacy practices and data use, such as: Is the solution compliant with all applicable privacy regulations in its operating regions? Has it been independently validated for data privacy compliance? Does the solution genuinely deliver on its promises regarding data privacy?
“Regarding the consumer, these stakeholders should also ask: Can consumers easily locate, control, and manage their data? Is it clear where their data resides and who has access to it?” says Vincent.
“Reviewing case studies, externally verified results, or testimonials that validate the technology’s effectiveness is also a good way to stay current on solutions. In addition, stakeholders should consider the potential for “integration fatigue,” assessing whether implementing multiple ID solutions could strain resources or complicate workflows.”
Adtech platforms like Onetag also tap into first-party data providers, universal IDs, semantic data, and tools like Google’s Privacy Sandbox. Given the limited reach of authenticated logins on most news sites, the platform sees the potential in combining these methods to offer a holistic, cookieless solution.
Moreover, Keith Arrowsmith, Onetag's global product marketing director, says sell-side curation provides a powerful route for activating these options at scale, offering more addressability than traditional demand-side approaches alone.
“We view these combined strategies as the way forward in a world where authenticated consent can’t reach every user,” says Arrowsmith.
“The key for stakeholders evaluating third-party identity solutions is to consider them within the broader framework of cookieless tools rather than as standalone fixes. It’s about assessing how these solutions contribute to user privacy and targeting effectiveness without replicating third-party cookies' drawbacks.”
Ultimately, Sweeney says the easiest way to assess whether an identity solution works is to test it. However, he cautions all industry stakeholders that they will need to understand the unique challenges of using universal IDs, one of the main ones being scale.
“Although universal IDs are the closest alternative to third-party cookies, they don’t provide the same scale and aren’t as easy to create,” explains Sweeney.
Also publihed in: Human Algorithm
