“We now intend to begin phasing out third-party cookies in Chrome in the second half of 2024.” This is the most recent update from Anthony Chavez, Google’s VP of Privacy Sandbox. Once again Google pushes back cookie depreciation. With it now slated for the second half of 2024, this decision has the industry skeptical about when, and if, this will become a reality. Rose Sumrall, Director of Programmatic & Social Media for Underscore, shares her thoughts on Google’s latest update.
With the launch being continually pushed back, the question is, does it matter? Most see the delay as beneficial to publishers but advertisers who heavily rely on retargeting strategies will also benefit – think retailers/e-commerce. Why is the delay not such a big deal? At this point, Chrome is the last major browser to still leverage cookies for ad targeting.
Today, over 45% of the internet has already gone cookieless, with this figure rising. While this delay allows Google to invite developers (aka publishers) to be beta testers of its new Privacy Sandbox — cookieless technology it hopes to replace cookies with — the more likely cause is that Google’s revenue is largely derived from its ad services division. With the full dissolution of cookies, these numbers will begin to look much different. Thanks to walled gardens like Amazon, now the third largest seller of ads, and Facebook, Google cannot afford to lose ad share revenue.
This is likely a move to protect Google’s bottom line. And based on current trends, this will continue unless the beta tests of its Privacy Sandbox tech are a big success. Furthermore, we recognize this could cause confusion for some, but Underscore’s Media team is here to help you navigate these changes as you build your strategies – reach out to us today, here.
Read the original article from Adage here, and look out for the fully-fledged POV we’re soon to release. It will dive deeper into some of the key tools and tactics you can use to stay ahead of the third-party cookie deprecation curve.
