A Google-less future also ditches cookies usage
In a move that's left the ad industry buzzing, Google's decision to scrap plans for reforming cookie tracking in Chrome has raised more questions than answers. It's been half a decade since Google first hinted at phasing out third-party cookies, yet we're still far from a cookie-less digital landscape.
The latest announcement comes five years after the initial promise, followed by two delays and a watered-down ambition of an ATT-style prompt. So, it's no surprise that the industry met the news with a collective shrug, labeled as yet another wasted effort by Google.
But James Colborn, VP of Data at Teads, is wary of the industry taking this as a sign to bury its head in the sand. Colborn fears that with the cookie-less Chrome threat evaporating, more organizations might forgo exploring alternatives to third-party cookie tracking.
After all, Safari, Firefox, and Brave have been cookie-less for some time now, and even Microsoft Edge is reportedly testing the deprecation of cookies. Combing through data from Teads, Colborn notes that a whopping 43% of impressions are served on non-Google-based browsers.
This doesn't include iPhone users, who predominantly use Safari, or the privacy-conscious population that actively blocks tracking. In the UK alone, Colborn reveals that a staggering 60% of impressions come without cookies.
Teads operates on a cookie-less-by-default basis, with 80% of its deliveries relying on cookie-less signals. However, the industry as a whole is lagging behind, with cookie-free environments still underutilized.
In the US, for instance, only 15% of programmatic budgets are spent on cookie-less alternatives, eating away at the majority of impressions (80-90%) that are bought programmatically in inventory sources that make up just 30% of all available impressions. This produces an unhealthy dynamic, according to Colborn.
Colborn isn't crypto-cookie, though. He's merely pro-balance. While acknowledging that advertisers and publishers just want to reach the right audience and create great content, respectively, he believes the focus has veered too much toward finding replacements for third-party cookies instead of addressing the reasons behind their demand.
As concerns about user privacy intensify and regulations become stricter, digital advertisers must adapt by embracing alternatives like first-party data collection, cohort targeting, contextual targeting, and consent management platforms. These methods prioritize privacy, transparency, and user experience while maintaining the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
So while the cookie saga between Google and the ad industry may have taken a fresh twist, it's far from the end of this dance. Companies will need to steer clear of complacency and continue exploring privacy-compliant alternatives to ensure their marketing strategies remain effective in the ever-evolving digital landscape.
- Despite the news that Google has scrapped plans for reforming cookie tracking in Chrome, the need for privacy-compliant alternatives in the digital advertising industry remains crucial, as user privacy concerns intensify and regulations become stricter.
- As Teads operates on a cookie-less-by-default basis and more users access the internet without cookies, it's essential for businesses to embrace alternatives like first-party data collection, cohort targeting, contextual targeting, and consent management platforms to maintain the effectiveness of marketing campaigns while prioritizing privacy, transparency, and user experience.
