When competitors join forces. How a single account gives media a better fighting chance against large online platforms

After Switzerland and Czechia, Slovakia is also considering creating a nationwide ID solution to strengthen its local digital market.

Big publishing houses have been focused on gathering first-party data for the past few years. The efforts have accelerated when Google announced the phaseout of third-party cookies a couple of years ago.

That is no longer happening, but the urgency of gathering more audience data and offering better targeting has remained, and one might say it is having a beneficial effect on the media landscape.

Building sustainable digital business models is at the center of what we do at FatChilli, and we are happy we were invited into a working group for a unified advertising ID for the Slovak digital market by IAB Slovakia.

Switzerland and Czechia are leading the way

Other countries around us have already moved forward. Czechia launched Czech Ad ID in 2022, and Switzerland introduced OneLog in 2019. The feedback from publishers, agencies, and users has been overwhelmingly positive.

These examples show that a unified advertising ID is not only a technical upgrade. It is a strategic shift that strengthens the entire ecosystem.

A unified ad ID is a privacy-safe, hashed identifier created from user data such as an email or phone number. It allows advertisers to reach audiences across platforms and devices without sharing personal information.

For publishers, it brings one clear benefit: better targeting. Logged-in audiences can be reached more accurately. Campaigns perform better because ads are shown to people with relevant interests.

Engagement increases, conversions improve, and advertisers see a stronger return on their spending. Everyone benefits: publishers, agencies, advertisers, and ad-tech partners.

The example of the Slovak media market

Slovakia is behind Czechia when it comes to a unified ad ID, for a simple reason. Several local mainstream publishers, such as Denník N, SME.sk, and others, focused primarily on subscriptions during the Covid period, and subscription growth was strong.

Today, subscriber numbers have stabilised, which means advertising based on high-quality data will remain crucial for many media companies.

If such a market wants to stay competitive with global platforms, a change needs to happen at scale, with trust built in.

A shared ID can transform a fragmented local inventory into a single, premium product that attracts budgets that would otherwise go to the large online platforms.

A unified ID also strengthens the local market, improves monetisation strategies, and builds trust with audiences.

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