Permutive, a privacy-first infrastructure platform for publishers and advertisers, is on a mission to rebuild digital advertising around first-party data. At Possible 2025, Co-founder Joe Root explained why moving beyond identity isn’t just a privacy necessity but a performance opportunity brands can't afford to ignore.

Speaking from the event grounds, Root outlined how AI, publisher partnerships, and top-of-funnel strategies are reshaping the advertising landscape faster than many realize.

At Permutive, AI has already delivered tangible gains for publishers. By analyzing historical campaign data, the platform can now recommend real-time optimizations that once took months of manual work.

Beyond speed, AI is enabling a fundamental shift: moving away from static consumer profiles toward real-time behavioral and contextual signals. This is opening new doors for relevance without relying on personal identifiers.

Root outlined three pillars for a post-cookie world:

Historically, advertisers leaned heavily on identity-based targeting. But as privacy regulations and consumer opt-outs accelerate, those models are hitting a ceiling. Publisher first-party data, once overlooked, is now emerging as a richer, more scalable source of relevance.

Root explained that publishers capture vast amounts of behavioral data, from the content users engage with to real-time interaction patterns. AI, he said, is finally making it possible to process and activate these signals effectively at scale.

Root warned that advertisers’ addiction to identity is eroding performance. With only about 30% of consumers still trackable via cookies or IDs, advertisers are competing for a shrinking audience, driving up CPMs and CPAs while diminishing overall results.

Instead, he advocated for closer collaboration with publishers to activate first-party signals higher up the funnel. Root pointed to Sky’s results in the UK as evidence: doubling of sales and halving of CPAs after reorienting toward publisher partnerships and early-intent signals.

As brands rethink top-of-funnel engagement, the industry is also placing greater emphasis on proving true incremental outcomes. Solutions such as Fospha, which specialize in outcome-based measurement and incrementality testing, are helping marketers quantify the full impact of these early-stage investments beyond traditional last-click models.

Retail media remains a high-growth channel, but Root cautioned that inventory constraints are forcing networks to evolve.

Beyond solving inventory pressure, Root emphasized that expanding into top-of-funnel engagement will be critical for retailers seeking to unlock larger brand budgets. Building relationships earlier in the consumer journey puts publisher collaboration firmly at the center of retail media strategy.

For Root, the most significant shift underway isn’t simply the rise of AI or retail media. It’s a fundamental reset in how the industry approaches consumer data and advertising performance.

He pointed to the gradual move away from identity-based targeting, accelerated by AI’s ability to enable new, privacy-safe models of buying.

Root’s advice to brands navigating this transition was clear: build deeper partnerships with publishers, move beyond legacy identity strategies, and prioritize signals that align with consumer privacy while still delivering measurable outcomes.

Independently Created. Not affiliated with POSSIBLE.

ClickZ is a ClickZ Media publication in the Events division