Amazon is testing a Clean Room data technology to help advertisers gain better insights

Retail giant Amazon is developing clean room data technology that could improve measurement and data for ad campaigns to help its advertisers better understand the impact of their spend on consumer behavior. The technology will help shine more light on previously undisclosed advertising performance metrics. The news was first reported by AdExchanger, which cited sources familiar with the product. Although Amazon did not comment on the development, sources familiar with the matter said the solution could be launched early in 2020. It is currently running in closed beta.

The idea is similar to other clean room technology offerings, like Google’s Ads Data Hub (ADH) or Facebook’s enterprise data-sharing service, which enable advertisers to measure campaigns or mix their first-party data with platform user data, without exposing individuals to targeting or analytics. Their clean rooms mix aggregated user information with first-party customer data from marketers, giving advertisers deeper insights into their campaigns as the e-commerce platform grows into the third-biggest digital ad platform. The adoption of clean room data is partly being driven by the new EU general data protection regulation (GDPR) on data protection and privacy scandals like Cambridge Analytica’s and the call for greater transparency.

The term “clean room” first originated from the manufacturing industry. It is used in reference to a room, laboratory facility or secure environments utilized as a part of specialized industrial production or scientific research, including the manufacture of pharmaceutical items and microprocessors.

The term was later adopted in advertising industry in 2017 when tech giants like Facebook and Google opened their large advertising inventory data and share customer information with brands, while still maintaining strict controls. clean rooms are places where walled gardens like Google, Facebook and Amazon share aggregated rather than customer-level data with advertisers, while still limiting the number of ads audiences see.

Amazon clean room service will provide a way for brand marketers or agency representatives to sit down with reps from Amazon, Google or Facebook to gain insights into targeting consumers based on specific behavior using data from both parties. But when they leave the room, each will part without taking the other’s raw data with them from the table. The clean rooms ensure that the number of ads audiences see is limited.