About the project

Use of first party data for targeted offers

Our client is an international media company that operates various news and information portals and apps.One source of revenue for these offerings is the programmatic display of personalized advertising via networks from Google, Criteo and other well-known ad tech companies.

However, with the abolition of 3rd party cookies, cross-page tracking has become more difficult for many advertising networks, meaning that advertising can be less precisely targeted and therefore advertising revenue may fall.

We recognized early on that this trend could be counteracted by an in-house solution based on first-party data that not only delivers targeted advertising, but can also supplement our own product range with additional digital offerings.

The challenge

Platform for 1st party data to increase sales and user loyalty.

Our goal was to design and develop a solution that would both cushion the loss of revenue due to lower advertising income and lay the foundation for the targeted evaluation of our own user data (1st party data). the solution had to be performant, be able to react flexibly to requirements and scale for new portals and API consumers.

// Collection and standardization of 1st party data for cross-platform user recognition

// Analysis of user behavior via machine learning, natural language processing (NLP) and defined rules for creating target groups

// Development of a specialized ad server that plays advertising based on the determined target groups, which keeps 100% of sales in-house in direct sales

// Conception and development of further business cases to increase sales, user engagement and loyalty

User data collection and analysis

Collection and standardization of 1st party data for cross-platform user recognition

Analysis of user behavior

Analysis of user behavior via machine learning, natural language processing (NLP) and defined rules for creating target groups

Development of use cases

Development of a specialized ad server that plays advertising based on the identified target groups as well as other use cases that contribute to the company's goals such as “higher sales” and “more user engagement”.

Our approach

Our Approach & collaboration

Our common goal was to develop a data protection-compliant alternative to previous tracking solutions that could be used by all in-house portals and apps. The solution should not only compensate for the loss of revenue due to lower advertising income, but also serve as a cornerstone for the targeted evaluation of own user data (1st party data) The solution had to be performant, be able to react flexibly to requirements and scale for new portals and API consumers.

First, we reviewed all portals and apps across all divisions with regard to existing user data and developed a strategy for collecting and storing this data centrally. We then prototyped and evaluated various options for efficiently evaluating the collected data in order to assign users to target groups. The result is a multi-level architecture consisting of collectors, workers and APIs that communicate with each other via a message bus and are able to collect, analyze and provide several million requests per day via API.

After the technical conception, we developed a multi-cloud solution from AWS, Google and OCI services in short sprints, which is able to collect and analyze several million interactions per day and make them available via APIs.

After the solution was completed, we provided an API that allows any portals and apps to query and use target group segments of their visitors in compliance with data protection regulations.

This not only enables the personalized display of advertising, but also opens up a whole range of new business cases that contribute to corporate goals. For example, news can be displayed in a personalized way and content such as events and offers from local businesses can be displayed to specific target groups.

Impressive project successes

Increased revenue and user engagement through privacy-compliant analysis & use of cross-platform first-party data

In an extensive pilot phase in 2022 and 2023, we demonstrated the effectiveness of this tracking technology with our client's first customers and incorporated feedback from advertising partners into further development. The solution has been generally bookable since 2024 and - according to the first customers - is a strong local alternative to the global players.

#SCALABILITY

2 Mrd.

Interactions analyzed

#USER BINDING

✔

Maximum knowledge of own users

+42%

CTR

Collaboration in the future

Ongoing optimization and connection of new data sources

In the continuing partnership, Johnny Bytes will continue to develop the solution and integrate new interfaces that can be used wherever there are opportunities for our customer to use 1st party data to improve sales, user engagement or loyalty. In a next step, advertisers will have direct access to the solution and can not only advertise their offers directly with a booking app, but also create suitable advertising material supported by AI.