By Scott Kozub, VP of Product Management, Experian
As Oracle exits the advertising business, the industry is confronting a significant shift. Oracle’s suite of tools—built through a series of key acquisitions such as Crosswise, BlueKai, Datalogix, and Grapeshot—has been foundational for many marketers, data providers, and platforms. With Oracle’s departure, these stakeholders are now facing the challenge of finding reliable alternatives to maintain their data-driven strategies.
While this transition may appear daunting, it also presents a unique opportunity to reassess the audience and identity solutions that have become critical for advertisers, agencies, publishers and platforms alike. In this transition, it’s also an opportunity to adopt solutions better suited to a future where adaptability and interoperability are paramount.
Oracle’s legacy: The sum of its parts
Oracle’s advertising business was a complex assembly of various technologies and acquisitions, rather than a singular, monolithic entity. Over the years, it absorbed and integrated assets like Crosswise, a cross-device identity graph; BlueKai, a leading data management platform; Datalogix, a specialist in offline purchase data; and Grapeshot, known for its contextual targeting capabilities. These elements combined to create a powerful, yet intricate, offering for advertisers, data providers, and platforms.
However, it’s important to recognize that much of Oracle’s success was driven by the external data it utilized. For instance, Oracle’s automotive audiences were heavily reliant on third-party data, which means that many of the audiences marketers relied on are still available from their original sources, now under different banners.
What this means for advertisers and agencies
For advertisers and agencies, the most immediate consequence of Oracle’s exit is the loss of access to its syndicated audiences and onboarding services. These audiences were deeply embedded in many marketing strategies, especially in sectors like automotive, where high-quality targeting was critical.
The good news is that these audiences aren’t vanishing; in many cases these were already built on top of audiences from different data providers, and these other parties are still very much in business. Marketers can still access the same data that powered their successful campaigns, ensuring a smooth transition with minimal disruption to their targeting precision and overall campaign effectiveness.
Opportunities for data providers
For data providers who used Oracle’s marketplace as a key distribution channel, the closure of this marketplace presents a short-term challenge but also a longer term opportunity to test out new marketplaces. The BlueKai marketplace was a significant hub for third-party data providers, enabling them to reach a wide array of advertisers.
With this avenue now closing, data providers must seek new channels that offer similar reach and effectiveness. New marketplaces are emerging that aim to fill the void left by Oracle, offering distribution to key destinations and providing data providers with continued access to advertisers who require high-quality, third-party data.
Additionally, alternative onboarding solutions are emerging, particularly in areas like TV and digital, ensuring that the loss of Oracle’s services does not leave a significant gap.
Addressability and liquidity for platforms
Platforms that depended on Oracle for third-party data and audience onboarding are now facing a reduction in their ability to address specific audiences and thereby make their inventory attractive and accessible to buyers. Oracle has been a major partner to these platforms, which is why they are actively seeking replacements for capabilities.
Openness will be a major part of the criteria in the search for those replacement partners. Providers that emphasize connectivity and collaboration over control are stepping up, offering platforms the tools they need to maintain and even enhance their addressability and audience engagement. This approach not only ensures continuity but also opens up new possibilities for innovation and growth in a landscape that is increasingly focused on interoperability.
Moving forward: Embracing connectivity
As the industry moves beyond Oracle’s exit, there is a critical opportunity to rethink the reliance on closed ecosystems. Rather than replacing Oracle with another tightly controlled environment, stakeholders should consider partnering with providers that prioritize openness, interoperability, and connectivity. This shift can foster a more collaborative and innovative industry, where the emphasis is on flexibility and adaptability.
Oracle’s departure marks the end of a significant chapter in the advertising business, but it also heralds the beginning of a new era—one where the industry can choose partners that are not only capable but also future-proofed and aligned on a model of connectivity and collaboration.