What Does Google’s Recent Cookie Deprecation Decision Mean for Publishers and Advertisers?

Google shook up the digital world by revealing that it would no longer be proceeding with cookie depreciation. As you can imagine, everyone has an opinion on this — some are positive, while others are negative.

But what does the decision to stop cookie depreciation mean for publishers and advertisers?

We’ll answer this in our guide, though let’s first look at what this update means and why Google has chosen to implement it.

Google’s Announcement

For the past four years, Google has been working on the Privacy Sandbox, an alternative to third-party cookies. The overall goal was to phase out third-party cookies, but issues with the system — as well as critical feedback from industry professionals — have meant the Privacy Sandbox has faced numerous delays.

As a result, Google announced on July 22, 2024, that it was updating its policy on cookie depreciation. The announcement stated, “Instead of depreciating third-party cookies, we would introduce a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing, and they’d be able to adjust that choice at any time.”

In other words, third-party cookies are here to stay.

If you read the announcement carefully, you note there’s no guarantee of third-party cookies going forward. Google is simply giving users control over whether they want to keep third-party cookies on their browsers. Theoretically — if every user opted out of third-party cookies — they’d be gone forever.

However, the big thing to take from this announcement is that Google isn’t actively moving ahead with the depreciation of third-party cookies for the foreseeable future. It will continue to work on the Privacy Sandbox while this happens, addressing all of the significant concerns experts and users have. The main reason why this is happening is due to the Privacy Feedback — recent testing showed that adopting it with cookie depreciation could lead to a 60% revenue loss for publishers and advertisers.

So, consider the pause on cookie depreciation a stop-gap measure until Google can figure out how to improve the Privacy Sandbox for everyone.

What does this mean for Publishers?

Google’s decision to stop cookie depreciation is positive for many publishers. Did you know that 75% of publishers heavily rely on third-party cookies to generate revenue? The continued use of third-party cookies means publishers can uphold current revenue models and continue making money through targeted advertising.

At the same time, they’ve been given more time to change and adjust strategies. Most publishers still believe that Google will remove third-party cookies at some point. This announcement merely delays the inevitable, but it’s beneficial as it allows publishers to find new ways to collect data and target audiences while still earning revenue from third-party cookies.

The critical point to note is that first-party data should remain a priority. This is information publishers collect directly from their customers or through customers interacting with the brand. Collecting this data can help publishers target audiences with suitable ads like third-party data does through cookies. It’s wise to spend the time while third-party cookie depreciation is on hold developing ways to collect and utilize first-party data.

One such approach is through the development of “walled gardens.” This is an ecosystem where the ecosystem provider controls everything — tech companies like Google and Meta use this already. They can control all of the data within this ecosystem and limit what’s available to external publishers. As the industry shifts towards first-party data as a priority, publishers should develop their own walled gardens. Create controlled environments that let you gather, analyze, and leverage data effectively while maintaining and respecting user privacy.

What does this mean for Advertisers?

Advertisers will benefit from Google’s decision on cookie depreciation. Maintaining third-party cookies means user behavior can easily be tracked, and adverts can be suitably tailored to the right people. The more targeted the adverts are, the higher the chance they have of being clicked on and generating revenue for everyone involved.

Targeted ads remain 46% more effective than untargeted ones, so you can see why the lack of third-party cookie depreciation would be welcome in the advertising realm!

Nevertheless, advertisers should still prepare for cookie depreciation. You’ve likely been doing this for years, and it shouldn’t stop. The announcement is not a permanent decision to keep third-party cookies but rather a temporary solution until the Privacy Sandbox is tweaked and finalized.

Plus, even with cookie depreciation on the back burner, the update still allows users to opt out of third-party cookies. Advertisers will still need to work on cookieless solutions such as first-party data, AI, or data cleanrooms. We’ve written about data cleanrooms before, and they offer a safe and private way of aggregating user information. Feel free to learn more by clicking the link above.

First-party data AI is where you leverage artificial intelligence to spot trends or contexts within first-party data. You can take a data set and use AI to fill in the gaps or create a persona to learn more about the customer and where their interests lie, making it easier to develop targeted adverts.

Conclusion

To wrap things up, Google recently announced that cookie depreciation is no longer happening. Instead, users can opt out of third-party cookies within their Chrome web browsers. The most critical thing to note from this update is that there are NO guarantees that third-party cookies will stay around forever. It should be viewed as a temporary update, and publishers and advertisers must stay on track to identify cookieless solutions. You have more time to research and test new ideas. First-party data is still the biggest priority, and time/money should go into developing solutions to access and understand this data type.

Originally posted on ADvendio.com on 29th August 2024.