MAID vs Cookie-Based Targeting – What’s the Difference?

Digital advertisers have long relied on cookies to track users and serve relevant ads. But as cookie deprecation accelerates and mobile usage dominates, a different identifier has become central to audience targeting – the Mobile Advertising ID, or MAID.

If you run digital campaigns, understanding the difference between MAID-based and cookie-based targeting helps you make better decisions about where your budget goes and how accurately you can reach the right audience.

What Is Cookie-Based Targeting?

A cookie is a small text file stored in a user’s web browser. When someone visits a website, the site drops a cookie that tracks their behavior: pages visited, time spent, actions taken. Advertisers use this data to build audience profiles and retarget users across the web.

Cookie-based targeting has powered digital advertising for over two decades. It works well in desktop and browser environments where users consistently access the same sites on the same device.

Key Limitations

• Cookies are browser-specific. If a user switches from Chrome to Safari, the tracking breaks.
• Third-party cookies are being deprecated across major browsers. Google has announced the end of third-party cookies in Chrome, which still holds a dominant share of browser traffic.
• Cookies do not work in mobile apps, which now account for the majority of digital media consumption in India and globally.
• Users can delete cookies, block them, or use incognito mode, all of which disrupt tracking.

What Is MAID-Based Targeting?

A Mobile Advertising ID (MAID) is a unique, resettable identifier assigned to a mobile device by its operating system. On Android devices, this is called the Google Advertising ID (GAID). On iOS devices, it is called the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA).

Unlike cookies, MAIDs exist at the device level, not the browser level. This means they persist across apps, making them effective for tracking user behavior within the mobile ecosystem.

What makes MAID-based Targeting Different?

• MAIDs work across mobile apps, not just browsers.
• They allow advertisers to build audience segments based on real-world signals: app usage, location data, purchase behavior, and more.
• MAID data can be layered with demographic, psychographic, and behavioral data to create precise audience profiles.
• In markets like India, where over 90% of internet users access the web via smartphones, MAID-based targeting provides broader and more accurate reach than cookie-based methods.

Cookie vs MAID: A Quick Comparison

How Persona 360 by Kentrix Enables Precise MAID-Based Targeting?

Persona 360 is a digital audience targeting platform built by Kentrix that uses MAID data to help brands reach the right users at scale.

Rather than relying on browser cookies, Persona 360 works with first-party and third-party MAID data to build audience segments based on actual mobile behavior. This includes signals from app usage patterns, location footprints, purchase intent, and demographic attributes.

What Persona 360 enables:

• Audience segmentation by behavior: Brands can identify and target users based on what apps they use, where they go, and what they buy, not just what website they last visited.
• Geographic precision: Persona 360 integrates location intelligence to layer geo-signals with audience data. This means a brand can target users who have visited a specific catchment area, a competitor’s store, or a particular pin code.
• Multi-platform delivery: MAID-based audiences built in Persona 360 can be activated across programmatic ad platforms, enabling reach across thousands of apps and mobile environments.
• India-relevant data depth: Persona 360 is built specifically for the Indian market, with audience data that reflects the diversity of Indian consumer behavior across tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 cities.

For brands running campaigns in India, where mobile is the primary screen and cookie-based tracking is increasingly unreliable, Persona 360 offers a more durable and accurate path to audience targeting.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a cookie and a MAID?

A cookie is a browser-based identifier stored on a user’s device when they visit a website. A MAID, or Mobile Advertising ID, is a device-level identifier assigned by the mobile operating system. Cookies track browser activity; MAIDs track behavior across mobile apps. In a mobile-first environment, MAIDs provide more consistent and reliable tracking than cookies.

What is Persona 360 by Kentrix?

Persona 360 is a digital audience targeting platform developed by Kentrix, an Indian SaaS based GTM platform. It uses MAID-based data to help brands build precise audience segments based on mobile behavior, location signals, demographic attributes, and purchase intent. Persona 360 is designed for the Indian market and enables activation across programmatic advertising platforms.

Which is better for mobile advertising – cookies or MAIDs?

For mobile advertising, MAID-based targeting is more effective than cookie-based targeting. Cookies do not work inside mobile apps, which is where most digital media consumption happens in India. MAIDs operate at the device level across apps, making them a more accurate and persistent identifier for mobile audiences. Platforms like Persona 360 by Kentrix are built around MAID data to deliver precise targeting in mobile-first markets.

Can MAID data be combined with other data types for better targeting?

Yes. MAID data becomes more powerful when layered with additional signals. Persona 360 combines MAID data with location intelligence, demographic data, behavioral signals, and purchase intent data to create multi-dimensional audience segments. This combination allows advertisers to move beyond simple retargeting and reach users based on who they are and what they are likely to do next.