Group Nine Launches First-Party Product In Wake Of Cookie Apocalypse!

In a fitting response to the impending disappearance of third-party cookies, Group Nine Media launched a first-party data solution called – ‘ In-GeNuity’, earlier this month. Group Nine is the publisher of Thrillist, NowThis, Seeker, The Dodo, and PopSugar. 

Situated in New York, Group Nine Media is an American digital media holding company, and its latest product – In-GeNuity – is useful in matching brands with users based on content preferences. So, this first-party data solution will bring together a pizza enthusiast and a pizza delivery service. 

Ashish Patel, the Chief Insights Officer at Group Nine, said – 

We can say, here’s a segment of Papa John’s, here’s everybody that watched 30 seconds of a Thrillist pizza video over the last six months and we think that they’re a better audience to download your app.

Integrated with Group Nine’s G9 direct response, In-GeNuity allows direct-to-consumer brands to utilize the company’s first-party data archive, and then send targeted ads to consumers through Group Nine’s Facebook and Instagram handles. Some of the DTC advertisers that have worked with G9 Direct include Casper, Freshly, Discover Plus, and Fi. 

With the In-GeNuity, Group Nine joins the vast club of brands and publishers who are looking to future-proof via their first-party data.

Ashish Patel got into a conversation with AdExchanger and was asked why the company chose to build a first-party data platform. Patel said that all the publishers are making such an effort in response to a “ cookie apocalypse” and the third-party tools going obsolete. He said that Group Nine is in a good position to offer unique audience segments in a way that if a user has read five or more pizza articles on Thrillist, or has watched a video pertaining to pizza for more than 30 seconds – then Group Nine can direct these people to a Pizza company. 

Content preference, according to Patel, is the key point in In-GeNuity’s logic. 

On being asked how the demise of third-party cookies is changing clientele demand, Patel said – 

They’re asking for more retargetable data back. It’s table stakes at this point. We always thought that if you come to us and we hand you an audience segment that you’ll never come back. The sensitivity around that sharing has decreased from the publisher side, and the demand from the advertiser side has increased.

Patel also threw some light on how In-GeNuity will fit into the larger strategy with G9 Direct. He said that Group Nine Media want to start to incorporate and implement segments from In-GeNuity across all their activities, like top-funnel branded content work. The aim is to get that to a more targeted consumer at the top of the funnel, which should work for them and their partners. 

In-GeNuity seems like a good response to prevailing times of the collapse of third-party cookies and will re-energize consumer experience.