For years, multiplayer gaming was confined to a single console. If I wanted to play Goldeneye with friends, we all had to be in the same room. Then came online gaming, which connected players across the globe. But there was still a catch—if I’m an Xbox guy and my friend is a diehard PlayStation fan, playing together meant one of us buying an extra console–unlikely then, unlikely now. Today, cross-platform gaming has broken down these barriers, letting anyone team up regardless of whether they’re a console or PC gamer.
The same principle applies to data clean rooms. Too many are built with "skin in the game," locking you into their specific identifiers, media channels, or cloud infrastructures. When your collaboration partner uses a different system, it forces them to revamp their entire setup, increasing cost, time, and complexity—not to mention adding layers of legal and contractual paperwork. This stifles both innovation and true collaboration. To unlock the full potential of data partnerships, clean rooms must be neutral, independent, and interoperable.
Let’s explore these limitations and why embracing neutrality is the key to leveling up.
Identity lock-in
Many data clean rooms tie their clean room functionality to an owned and operated identifier and centralized identity spine. This “skin in the game” creates silos where collaboration becomes challenging and limits freedom of choice. No identity provider has 100% coverage, and businesses should have the flexibility to use their preferred ID solution—or none at all. When one party relies on a different identifier, reconciling data becomes cumbersome, adding inefficiencies, unnecessary costs, and hidden fees for services like ID resolution, match tests, data transfers, and storage. Worse, being locked into a universal identifier means losing control over addressable reach—especially in an industry where no single replacement for third-party cookies has been decided and likely never will be. Just as gamers couldn’t play together if they’re locked into different consoles, businesses struggle to integrate datasets that don’t speak the same language.
Modern data clean rooms should be identity agnostic. They must enable companies to collaborate regardless of the identifier and provide robust tools to bridge mismatched identities. This approach allows each party to continue using their native systems—or tap into a network of ID and identity providers to test and learn which partner is best for them—ensuring a transparent, interoperable data ecosystem that fosters true, cross-identity control and collaboration.
Cloud storage constraints
Another common limitation is cloud lock-in. Some data clean rooms are designed to operate exclusively on a particular cloud platform. This dependency forces companies into a specific infrastructure, which can be restrictive, costly, and even competitive to their own business. If your collaboration partner uses a different cloud service, it often means expensive data migration fees or custom development work to bridge the gap. The lack of interoperability can slow innovation, much like being forced to use an outdated operating system in a fast-evolving tech landscape.
Modern data clean rooms must be cross-cloud. They should enable seamless collaboration without requiring companies to completely rearchitect their existing data infrastructure. Rather than forcing partners to rebuild their systems to align with a single provider's specifications, a genuinely agnostic clean room integrates smoothly with various cloud environments. This approach minimizes cost and technical hurdles and allows businesses to focus on driving innovation and unlocking actionable insights from their data.
Media channel limitations
The third major limitation is media channel lock-in, which is especially prevalent in walled gardens. When a data clean room is tightly integrated with a specific advertising or media platform, it creates significant challenges for marketers by restricting how they can analyze and activate their data.
First, it forces marketers to rely on the media owner to grade their own homework—meaning they must trust the platform’s self-reported metrics on reach, performance, and delivery without independent verification. This lack of transparency limits their ability to make truly data-driven decisions.
Second, media lock-in prevents holistic, cross-channel analysis. Marketers cannot measure performance across the entire customer journey or compare effectiveness across different media environments. Without the ability to run cross-domain attribution or unified media analysis, they lose critical insights that could optimize their media strategy.
Most importantly, it removes control and increases risk. To conduct any form of attribution or closed-loop measurement, marketers must often send their proprietary customer data and conversion outcomes directly to the media owner. This raises significant privacy concerns and places valuable first-party data in a platform with its business interests, limiting how the marketer can use it elsewhere.
A genuinely independent data clean room should not be limited to a single media owner or ecosystem. Instead, it must enable collaboration across multiple media environments—allowing marketers to maintain control of their data, run cross-channel analysis, and ensure transparency in measurement without being locked into a single provider’s framework.
The hidden risks of add-on clean rooms
The limitations of many data clean rooms aren’t accidental—they stem from being add-ons to providers whose core business isn’t data collaboration. Cloud, identity, and media companies build clean rooms to reinforce their primary offerings, whether driving cloud storage adoption, pushing a proprietary ID system, or strengthening media lock-in. These clean rooms aren’t neutral; they serve their providers first. And if the service is free, rest assured you’re paying for it elsewhere—through hidden costs, limited flexibility, or loss of control over your data strategy.
Because these clean rooms are extensions of an existing business model, they come with built-in biases. A cloud provider’s clean room might lock users into its storage infrastructure. An identity provider’s solution may require reliance on its ID framework, even if it doesn’t fit all use cases. A media platform’s clean room may prioritize its own inventory, limiting cross-channel analysis. In each case, collaboration becomes less about true interoperability and more about reinforcing a closed ecosystem.
Even more concerning, these add-on clean rooms often compromise the very thing they claim to protect—privacy. They tend to inherit the default security measures of their parent platform rather than being built with privacy at the core. This can lead to unnecessary complexity, increased risk of user error, and compliance challenges. Effective data collaboration demands built-in privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) such as differential privacy, secure multi-party computation, trusted execution environments (TEEs), and federated learning—capabilities many add-on solutions lack or treat as optional extras.
To unlock the full potential of data collaboration, clean rooms must be independent, neutral, and purpose-built. A clean room should empower businesses to integrate the best cloud, identity, and media solutions—without being tethered to a single provider’s ecosystem, forced into unnecessary costs, or exposed to avoidable risks.
Leveling up collaboration
Just as the gaming world evolved from isolated, console-bound experiences to a vibrant, cross-platform ecosystem, the future of data clean rooms hinges on neutrality, independence, and interoperability. To truly unlock the potential of collaborative data strategies, we must break free from the limitations imposed by proprietary and legacy systems.
Imagine a gaming universe where every player, regardless of their device, can join the same battle royale or team up for a co-op mission without restrictions. That’s the future we envision for data clean rooms—a seamless, collaborative space where technology serves the players (or data partners), not the other way around.
It’s time to drop the "skin in the game" and level the playing field for marketers and media owners alike. By embracing collaboration technologies that work seamlessly across platforms and data sources, you empower your teams to craft high-performing, targeted campaigns that truly reach your audiences. No longer confined by rigid, proprietary systems, you can unlock creative strategies and innovative solutions—just as gamers thrive in an open, cross-platform ecosystem. In a world where success hinges on agility and precision, the power to engage your audience without compromise is a win for everyone involved.
