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We come to you with breaking news about cookie crumble: earlier this week, Google announced a major shift in its approach to tracking online ads. Here it is, straight from the corporate behemoth’s mouth:
Instead of deprecating third-party cookies, we propose to 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.
Is this a huge deal? Does it change everything? Was all the time you spent thinking about Google cookie deprecation a waste of your one wild and precious life? Sort of, not really, absolutely not. Let’s talk about it!
First, let’s make sure we’re all clear on what’s happening: our assumption is that cookies will still disappear for many (if not most) Chrome users at some point in the near future. The difference is why they’re disappearing: rather than Google removing them in a top-down way, Google will prompt users to reject them.
For an idea of how this will play out, think back to Apple’s 2021 introduction of App Tracking Transparency. Remember this?
Starting with iOS14.5, Apple allowed iPhone users to opt out of in-app tracking – and +95% of them did.
Without a replacement technology, it became a lot harder for platforms like Meta to build audiences and report on ad performance. That had a huge impact on ad performance: our 2022 Benchmarks study saw the CPD from social ads more than double relative to the prior year.
We should expect something similar here. The most likely outcome is that most, if not an overwhelming share, of Chrome users will opt out of third-party cookies – which means that advertisers who remain unprepared for cookie loss will suffer major disruptions.
This is a great time to recall that the shift from third-party cookies is much bigger than Google. After all, more than a third of browser traffic is already cookieless (because of Safari and Firefox):
Browser support itself is only part of the problem: the bigger factor is that cookies don’t work in a lot of environments where people go online. Cookies can’t track people across multiple devices (such as a laptop and smartphone) or in an environment that isn’t a traditional browser (such as a smartphone app or internet-connected TV). Those limitations necessitated a shift, even if the browsers had retained support.
All of that’s to say: the industry is already settled on replacing third-party cookies, and is making steady progress toward that goal. Google’s announcement might reduce some time-sensitivity to the shift, but it’s unlikely to change the fundamental outlook.
For what it’s worth: an industry narrative seems to be forming that Google’s announcement is less about their allegiance to third-party cookies, and more about buying time for their specific cookie replacement, Privacy Sandbox. Rollout of the Privacy Sandbox has always been rocky, and this year it’s come under intense criticism from testers and UK regulators. The long-term question is less “will cookies go away?” (they will!), and more “what will replace them?” The answer could be Google Privacy Sandbox, but there are several other leading contenders, such as RampID and UnifiedID2.0. (Confused by all the jargon? Check out our recent webinar, where we do our best to demystify the landscape.)
Looking ahead, we still encourage nonprofits to move toward cookie-agnostic ads programs. Specifically, that means sharing back hashed first-party data (such as email address) to your ads partners (such as Google and your DSPs): that data can be used to create identifiers that replace third-party cookies for audience-building and reporting. We also advise asking three key questions about your program:
- What’s your approach to cookieless reporting, and what are your benchmarks?
- What impact is cookie deprecation already having on revenue? (It’s probably affecting your program in more ways than one!)
- Does your media plan need to shift, as well as your approach to web tactics?
We have a lot of thoughts on all three of those questions, as well as the ethics and effectiveness of advanced data sharing – more than we can get into here! Instead, we recommend reviewing our previous post on this topic (it’s detailed, but in a fun way!), as well as that recent webinar that we keep hyping. 😎
That’s what we have for now: needless to say, we’ll keep watching this space (and keeping all of you updated). In the meantime, get in touch if you have thoughts on cookie deprecation, gripes about Google, or cookie recipes (especially that last one).
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Sarah Coughlon is M+R’s Director of Advertising Technology. She lives in Chicago with her two goofy rescue dogs: when she’s not thinking about ads (or the dogs), you can usually find her biking around the lakefront, cooking an elaborate meal for her friends, or loudly evangelizing about women’s sports.