Dive Brief:

• Ad tech company The Trade Desk is launching its own audience ID solution, the Unified ID Solution, Adweek reported. The solution comes in addition to similar offerings from the Advertising ID Consortium and DigiTrust, which was recently purchased by the IAB Tech Lab. 
• Unified ID Solution aims to create a common currency to streamline the matching system that demand-side platforms, data management platforms (DMPS) and supply-side platforms (SSPs) undergo. Since each have their own individual cookies, current systems can trip-up workflow processes and negatively impact consumer experience, Tim Sims, The Trade Desk's SVP of inventory partnerships, told Adweek.
• DMP Lotame and SSPs Rubicon Project and SpotX have said they will work with Unified ID Solution, with hopes that it will help them streamline workflows. 

Dive Insight:

The Trade Desk is a leading programmatic ad buying platform that has been growing quickly. The latest news suggests that the company sees an opportunity to expand its offerings with a solution that could help marketers better track media views across the internet, something that has traditionally been cumbersome, hindering brands' efforts to optimize and scale up integrated strategies. With several players already onboard, Trade Desk's solution has the potential to attract more marketing dollars to the platform at a time when budgets are in flux as Amazon's growth here brings a new sense of competitiveness to digital advertising and as more brands bring programmatic in-house. 

AT&T-owned App Nexus recently pulled out of the Advertising ID Consortium, along with Media Math. The programs are working to reduce marketers' reliance on Facebook and Google and create more equality in the digital ad space. As Google and Facebook control more than half of digital marketing spend, marketers are attracted to the platforms for their broad reach and expansive data sets that allow for audience targeting in a "walled garden," or singular ecosystem. 

Marketers are looking for better measurement tools for their digital campaigns and more precise ad targeting at scale. Many are turning to programmatic ad buys, which offer precision, automation and efficiency. By 2019, 67% of all digital display ads will be programmatic, reaching an estimated $84.9 billion, according to Publicis Groupe Zenith.