The trends range from more machine learning to a shift in the privacy conversation

With tech giants set to crack down on cookies and third-party trackers in the coming months, the ad-tech industry is in for some major changes.

IBM Watson Advertising has bet that artificial intelligence and anonymized behavioral insights will play a central role in that post-cookie future. The company has rolled out a series of product releases this year that aimed to lessen marketers’ reliance on personal data.

In a new report this week, Sheri Bachstein, global head of IBM Watson Advertising and The Weather Company, laid out some predictions for how those changes may take shape in the year to come, from a ramping up of discussions around consumer privacy to what a post-Covid-19 new normal might look like.

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