Over the past few years, marketing leaders have been gearing up for the inevitable 'Cookieless Future'. Safari was the first to bid farewell to cookies back in 2017, with Firefox following suit shortly after. Google initially announced that Chrome would also move away from using cookies by the end of 2021, but later postponed the timeline to 2023, and then again to early 2024.
These decisions were prompted by the growing awareness among consumers regarding tracking and a rise in privacy concerns, leading Google to outline their strategy for creating a privacy-focused future for digital advertising.
However, as of Monday 22nd July, this decision has now been overturned and Google look set to keep third-party cookies.
Google Set to Keep Third-Party Cookies
Google has announced that they have decided to retain third-party cookies, allowing them to continue operating within the Chrome browser beyond the previously set mid-2024 deadline. While Google remains dedicated to developing their "Privacy Sandbox" as an alternative for serving cookieless programmatic ads, the appeal of this for marketers and advertisers may be limited as cookies remain a viable option.
The news also came alongside first results from the Privacy Sandbox, with tests showing that the platform was less effective at retargeting, but showed strong scale of spend and return on investment metrics.
The tech-giant's decision to shelve their cookieless plans has come with, in their own words, an updated approach to elevating user choice. This update would introduce more, and perhaps more importantly an ongoing choice for Chrome users on their web-browsing.
What Are Third-Party Cookies?
Third-party cookies gather information about online users, which marketers use to enhance audience segmentation, conversion tracking, analytics, and other marketing strategies. These cookies are monitored by websites not directly visited by the user, analysing online behaviour to tailor advertising towards the individual.
When a user visits a website and agrees to cookies, brands can use the user's online history to tailor advertising towards them through methods such as retargeting, personalised ads, and cross-site tracking.
Expert Opinion on Google's COokie Changes
Director of Strategy and Performance Alex Copping believes that the backlash Google faced from their advertisement and publisher stakeholders proved to be too significant for them to press ahead with their plans, so they have found a way to backtrack.
"The 'impending' cookieless future has fuelled everything from comprehensive thought leadership to agency kitchen chatter over the past few years, so to see this U-turn from Google has inevitably caused a bit of bemusement across digital."
How Google's Cookie Decision Impacts Marketing Leaders and Customers
."For marketing leaders, you'd be forgiven for reaching for the champagne as it means the threat of third-party cookie depreciation is significantly reduced, allowing previous successful targeting capabilities to continue to thrive."
"Alternatively, you may also be concerned that the plan of controlled depreciation is preferable to a gradual collapse with the changes to consent mode and enhanced conversions. Google's next moves will show whether the cup half full or cup half empty perspective proves to be correct."
"As for customers, things will remain largely as they are now. Consent remains important and cookie policy will be tightly managed, but pending this consent being granted, users can still expect to be served tailored ads that follow their interests and online profile."
"What remains to be seen is where the Privacy Sandbox goes from here and whether Google still intend to 'meaningfully improve online privacy' going forward."
Moving Forward With Third-Party Cookies
Google's choice to keep third-party cookies has created various responses and reflections among marketing leaders and customers. While this decision may offer reassurance to certain individuals, it also prompts further inquiries about the direction of online privacy.
While the continued existence of third-party cookies may bring a sense of relief for the time being, there are still various factors to carefully consider and questions to explore as we navigate into the future.
Want to find out more on how this impacts your current marketing efforts? Get in touch with our expert team today.
