In the latest episode of Datalicious, Carsten Sander and his guests Christian Zimmer (Managing Director of Welect GmbH) and Olaf Peters-Kim (Managing Director and Co‑Founder of Welect) explore why the most valuable advertising signals aren’t calculated: they’re voluntarily provided by users. The focus is on “real-time intent” – a model in which users themselves choose which ads they see – as well as the far-reaching implications of signal loss, which extend far beyond the topic of cookieless advertising. In addition, the three experts discuss how user-centric approaches can strengthen the open web, and take an optimistic look at the advertising industry in 2030.
Topics in this episode:
- Choice-driven advertising and real-time intent: How does an advertising model work in which users select which ads they see – and why is this voluntary data point more valuable than algorithmically-determined audience signals?
- Signal loss is more than cookieless: Why does the loss of targeting data in the digital advertising ecosystem go far beyond the end of third-party cookies – and what role do ad blockers, privacy modes, tracking blockers, and IDFA opt-outs play?
- Advertising impact through self-determination: How do the principles of recency and receptivity influence attention and willingness to buy, when users actively choose an advertisement rather than having it forced on them?
- The open web, walled gardens, and a look ahead to 2030: How can the open web be strengthened vis-à-vis the big tech platforms – and what role do identifier solutions, AI, and user-centric approaches play in the future of digital advertising?
Key takeaways
- The user is the strongest advertising signal. So-called real-time intent – the user’s active, voluntary selection of an advertisement – combines recency, receptivity, and natural frequency capping. No algorithm can capture a person’s situational intent as precisely as their own decision does.
- Signal loss affects around 50 percent of traffic, but only about 20 percent of signal loss is due to the elimination of third-party cookies. Ad blockers, privacy modes, tracking blockers, and IDFA opt-outs collectively ensure that half of all traffic in Germany is no longer addressable. In Switzerland, this figure is as high as 70 percent.
- Non-addressable traffic is not worthless. Choice-driven advertising models open up incremental reach in audiences that are off limits to conventional targeting – with demonstrably higher advertising impact: willingness to buy +17%, liking +36%, message comprehension +35%.
- People remain the key constant: Technologies come and go, but it’s the users who decide which ones prevail. The industry should move away from groupthink and instead embrace user-centered innovation more boldly – using AI as a support, not as a substitute for human behavior.
Chapter overview
00:00 Introduction and greeting
04:47 Presenting the guests and their shared history
10:15 What is Welect? Name, product, and business model
15:37 Signal loss: much more than just cookieless
18:58 People as the starting point of advertising strategy
21:03 How the Ad Chooser works, and the role of AI
28:58 Advertising impact through self-determination: the numbers behind it
30:41 Market overview: identifiers, clean rooms, AI, and the open web
36:24 Voluntary participation in advertising: How does choosing work in practice?
38:31 Founding in Germany and international expansion
44:52 The Datalicious time machine: looking ahead to 2030
54:34 Conclusion and goodbye