What is Protected Audience API?

With the cookieless era standing just around the corner, user privacy legislation getting stricter, and Intelligent Tracking Prevention growing smarter, marketers are looking at alternative ways to target their audiences. Since the cookie deprecation agenda is set, it’s about time you try alternative audience-targeting solutions to soften the blow for your business before things change drastically.

⚠️UPDATE: Google announced that it will no longer pursue its plans to phase out third-party cookies. Instead, the company will introduce a new solution: a one-time prompt that allows users to set their preferences, which will apply across all Google browsing experiences.

The Privacy Sandbox and its associated APIs are a privacy-centered solution from Google intended to substitute cookies. In this post, we will explore the Protected Audience API's purpose, role, benefits, and challenges.

Let’s start with figuring out what Protected Audience API is.

As part of the Privacy Sandbox, Chrome proposed Protected Audience API (previously called FLEDGE) — an in-browser API that lets advertisers and ad tech companies show interest-group targeted ads without relying on third-party cookies while protecting users from cross-site tracking.

The Protected Audience API (PAAPI) is an on-device ad auction that serves remarketing and custom audiences without cross-site third-party tracking. It uses interest groups to let sites show relevant ads to their users.

The image below shows the lifecycle of Protected Audience API.

Let's imagine a situation: a user visits an online clothing store and shows interest in a particular jacket style but doesn't make a purchase. Later, when the user browses the internet, the Protected Audience API can enable the browser to display ads from that clothing store, specifically highlighting jackets or related items, without relying on third-party cookies.

Or here’s another use case: a user researches flights and hotels in a specific destination but doesn't book immediately. The Protected Audience API could later facilitate the display of ads for travel deals or hotel offers in that destination while the user is browsing other websites. This approach would be based on the user's demonstrated interest but done in a way that respects their privacy and avoids cross-site tracking.

Protected Audience API flow looks like this:

• The user interacts with the site that wants to advertise its products.
• Browser joins an interest group.
• User visits other sites that display ads.
• Ad auction is run on the user's device. The most desirable ad based on seller code is chosen.
• A winning ad is displayed.
• The auction outcome results are reported.

And if you're looking for specific API methods and parameters:

• Buyers guide for joinAdInterestGroup() and generateBid().
• Seller's guide for the Protected Audience API runAdAuction()
• Buyers guide to reportWin() and sellers guide to reportResult()
• Troubleshoot the Protected Audience API

This is how Protected Audience API works. Now, let's see why we need it.

Protected Audience API allows advertisers to understand user behavior better and show users more relevant ads than ads based solely on the website content (contextual targeting).

With cookies being phased out soon, websites won't be able to track users across different sites for much longer. Since ad targeting has been relying on cross-site tracking for so long now, there is a pressing need for a privacy-friendly solution like Protected Audience API.

Below are the most significant benefits of Protected Audience API:

• Enhanced user privacy and data protection. PAAPI allows advertisers to take a massive step towards user privacy-centered advertising. This solution lets brands personalize their communication with users without sharing their data with third-party services.
• Improved targeting accuracy for advertisers. PAAPI lets advertisers target and place their ads better, which leads to improved engagement rates and higher returns of investment.
• Compliance with data protection regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA). One of PAAPI's undeniable advantages is its compliance with user data privacy regulations. By design, it complies with legal standards and is intended to help maintain user trust and protect sensitive information.

• It is available only for Chrome users. For now, it looks like only Chrome will use PAAPI, so users of other browsers will not be able to benefit from it — at least, not soon.
• Technical complexities in implementation. To implement PAAPI, you must dedicate a part of your team and resources to it. It’s a complex solution that requires expertise and effort to set up, master, and fine-tune.
• One of PAAPI's top challenges is balancing ad effectiveness with privacy concerns. This technology aims to improve advertisers' targeting accuracy while ensuring robust data protection.
• Potential limitations in audience segmentation and targeting accuracy. Some constraints in precisely segmenting audiences can affect the overall effectiveness of advertising campaigns.

PAAPI has its benefits and challenges, just like any other tool. The question is whether it’s worth trying despite the possible downsides. So far, the answer is positive — PAAPI is a solution you should explore.

Where do cookies stand in the PAAPI horizon? Third-party ones are going down, and first-party ones are shining new and bright. First-party cookies are crucial in effectively integrating and utilizing the Product Advertising API.

Here's what first-party cookies do:

• Manage user sessions: first-party cookies keep track of user sessions by storing session IDs. Users can stay logged in while moving through different pages of a website.
• Personalize user experience: 1st-party cookies remember user preferences and past interactions, which helps the website recommend products or show relevant ads.
• Track website activity: you have full information about page visits, time spent on the site, and interactions with product listings. This data helps improve the website's content and layout.
• Ensure consistent interactions: when using PAAPI for product data or recommendations, these cookies make sure all requests are part of the same session, providing a smooth experience.
• Enhance security: you can prevent cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks and securely store session information, helping websites follow data privacy rules when using PAAPI.

It looks like first-party cookies are getting the spotlight in the scope of PAAPI and beyond. At the dawn of third-party cookies, we recommend you look into first-party-centered solutions now. You can read about strategies for collecting and using first-party data on our blog.

Publishers must work with their SSPs to start testing. To enable Protected Audience, you must upgrade to the latest version of Prebid and incorporate the fledgeForGPT module, necessitating some configuration adjustments. Additional integration methods are currently under development and will be accessible soon.

One thing is sure: moving tracking and advertising to the browser is a drastic change that one needs to prepare for. A good way to do this is to do your research, explore PAAPI documentation, and educate yourself about it.

PAAPI is a vital development in the digital advertising ecosystem. This solution offers a future-oriented, privacy-centered method of targeting the audience and displaying the most relevant ads without violating user data privacy.

Benefits of PAAPI include enhanced user privacy, improved targeting accuracy for advertisers, and compliance with data protection regulations. Challenges of using PAAPI include technical complexities in implementation, potential limitations in audience segmentation and targeting accuracy, balancing ad effectiveness with privacy concerns, and availability only for Chrome users.

PAAPI shifts our attention to first-party data even more. First-party cookies play a crucial role in effectively integrating and utilizing PAAPI. We recommend switching to server-side tracking if you want to get the most out of your first-party data before the cookieless era rolls in. We’re happy to help!