I've been immersed in the world of data for over a decade, and I can honestly say that the current landscape is the most dynamic I've ever witnessed. Our panel discussions at last weeks D_Coded events in Sydney and Melbourne, "navigating signal loss and signal gain," confirmed that we're at a crossroads. As the familiar paths of third-party cookie data crumble, a whole new world of opportunity is emerging.

It wasn't long ago that marketing teams relied heavily on third-party cookies to track customer behavior and target our ads. But as privacy regulations tighten and consumer concerns grow, we are seeing those signals weaken. It has been a wake-up call for the market, forcing marketers to rethink existing approaches to digital marketing. At News, we have long invested in first-party data collection and building direct relationships with our users. This shift wasn't easy, but it has ultimately strengthened connections with our audience, the insights available, and given more control over our data. This is future-proofing our insights and embedding privacy by design into all advertising solutions. The resulting data network has fuelled secure data science practices, maximised insights for advertisers and ensured readiness for evolving regulations.

Our panel discussion revealed that we're not alone on this journey. Businesses of all sizes are grappling with the loss of traditional signals and seeking new ways to understand their customers. The good news is that the tools and technologies available today are more sophisticated than ever, allowing marketers to gather valuable insights in a privacy-conscious way.

Our topic, "navigating signal loss and signal gain," might have seemed a bit technical at first glance, but it turned out to be a fascinating look at how businesses are adapting to some pretty major changes.

Here's the gist of what we covered:

Signal loss: This is a fancy way of saying that some of the traditional ways we've collected data (like third-party cookies) are becoming less reliable. Privacy regulations and consumer preferences are a big part of this.

Signal gain: But here's the exciting part! There are new ways to gather valuable data, like zero-party data (information customers willingly share with you) and first-party data (data you collect from your own interactions with customers).

Our panellists, all experienced leaders in the data field, had some really insightful takes on this. We heard about the importance of building trust with customers so they'll share their data with you. We also talked about the need to get creative and find new ways to track what customers are doing and what they want.

A few key takeaways from our discussion:

• Be customer-focused: Data strategy isn't just about collecting numbers; it's about understanding your customers better.
• Embrace the change: The data landscape is evolving, and we need to be agile and open to trying new things.
• Data is an asset: If you treat your data with care and use it wisely, it can be a powerful tool for growth.
• Privacy compliant data sharing wins big: Journey Beyond tested sharing data with News through a "clean room", which matched 60 per cent of customers and improved results by over 150 per cent compared to regular ads. This showed how partnerships and collaboration can overcome fears of sharing data, if properly explained.

My personal reflection on the panel is that it's an exciting time to be in the data world. Yes, there are challenges, but there are also incredible opportunities for those who are willing to adapt and innovate.

I encourage you to take some time to explore these ideas. Think about how the changing data landscape affects your business and start developing a data strategy that puts your customers first.

Remember, data is just information. It's what we do with that information that really matters.

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