Yesterday, Google announced that they will no longer be deprecating third-party cookies. This follows many postponements of cookie deprecation within Chrome since their initial announcement in 2020, amid widespread apprehension from the advertising industry.

Image Source: Adweek

tl;dr

Google fully ditching their cookie deprecation plans allows for the continued presence of robust attribution, precise conversion tracking, and a more diverse range of media tactics and targeting options. With that said, this is just one battle in the privacy war and everyone should continue to build their own durable cookieless strategy and solutions.

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What does this mean for advertisers?

Though the imminent threat to third party cookies is gone for now, savvy marketers and publishers have already prepared for its demise by investing in owned and privacy safe targeting and measurement opportunities. Oracle exiting the advertising business this year is proof positive that this is a setback and not “the end”. This setback should not slow the progress of cookie-proofing your marketing activities area given ongoing momentum behind privacy legislation.

To recap our POV from earlier this year, we recommend that marketers continue to do the following:

• Prioritize the gathering and fostering of first-party data: With so many recently implemented restrictions on third-party data, first-party data is imperative as it provides real value to advertisers that own and control their own datasets. What’s more, this data is often the most qualified and accurate, allowing for more effective targeting and personalization.
• Utilize Privacy-Safe Targeting & Measurement: Advertisers should continue to adopt privacy-safe targeting methods like Unique IDs, contextual targeting, and nuanced programmatic supply strategies. They’re also likely to invest more in walled gardens like Meta and TikTok that offer compliant targeting options and robust machine-learning capabilities. These platforms have adapted to the evolving privacy landscape by refining their targeting mechanisms and providing privacy-safe data transfer solutions.

What’s next from Google?

Though the cookies are no longer being removed from Chrome, privacy is still a priority for Google. They’re introducing a “new experience” in Chrome that allows users to customize their browsing experience and privacy settings at any time, and much more easily. This is similar to Apple’s iOS 14.5 update which prompted users to opt in or out of personalized advertising. That iOS change drastically narrowed available data and attribution, and made one thing clear — when given the explicit choice, users will choose privacy. Time will tell if Chrome’s new experience will have a similar effect.

space150’s Take

While we couldn’t predict the suddenness of this development, none of us are terribly surprised. Our own Bryan Feils was quoted twice at Digiday back in December on this topic, noting that Google would need to be the driving force behind any real change, short of new industry regulation. At the time, he rated the likelihood of any real near-term change at a 4 out of 10.

It turns out that many of our clients agree. A leader in digital marketing within the CPG category shared another great quote with us today.

In fact, our preparation for cookie deprecation eased concerns across the team. space150 created an audit matrix and detailed checklist when Apple rolled out iOS 14.5 and for Google’s formerly-planned cookie deprecation earlier this year (we highly recommend brand stakeholders do the same, whether or not we work with them).

One of the spicier takes we’ve found on this issue from Dr. Augustine Fou from FouAnalytics has proved true so far, and we’re pretty closely aligned. That being said, there are a few other potential developments that we’re closely monitoring -

• Privacy regulation continues to evolve at the state and national level. Notably, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Utah, Delaware, Florida, Texas, and Oregon all have recent and significant privacy legislation in place. Marketers are being forced to adapt to a patchwork of different laws due to it. Pending November results, a national standard for privacy is a question of when it’ll happen rather than if.
• Sophistication of artificial intelligence and its application to advertising platforms has grown by leaps and bounds since the initial threat of third party cookie deprecation. It’s no mistake that Silicon Valley tech companies that rely on ad revenue are some of the biggest buyers of AI hardware in recent months. Many see growth in machine learning as an opportunity to offset performance losses in performance marketing caused by cookie loss.