Google’s third-party cookie U-turn

From left to right: Jamie Richards (MediaSense), Jamie Barnard (Compliant) and Ruben Schreurs (Ebiquity).

The cookie deadline may have gone but change is still in the air. Google has promised consumers a ‘new experience’ that allows them to make ‘an informed choice about their web browsing’.

At the same time, the platform will also continue to build out its Privacy Sandbox initiative, with a view to developing privacy-preserving alternatives, although full details of the new approach are yet to be revealed.

The full reasoning for this change of direction remains unclear, but whatever it may be, the decision is now with individual advertisers. Do they continue with previous ways of working, or take the opportunity for a more privacy conscious approach to digital media?

WFA asked three strategic partners for their expert perspectives.

Ruben Schreurs

Chief Strategy Officer, Ebiquity

Google’s decision to maintain third-party cookies by enhancing user control is an important development that raises new privacy issues. This “blanket consent" model – where users are prompted once to allow tracking by selected partners across all websites – likely does not align with stringent privacy regulations such as GDPR, which require explicit, granular consent. Such an approach risks violating privacy laws and undermining consumer trust in digital platforms.

It is important to recognize that the actual percentage of users who will opt into this tracking is likely to be low, mirroring the response to Apple’s app tracking transparency feature. With less than half of users agreeing to tracking, the coverage and effectiveness of third-party cookies will be drastically reduced, even though not explicitly deprecated by Google, leading to a significant impact on measurement and performance. Brands must not be complacent; instead, they should accelerate their shift toward first-party data and explore alternatives such as contextual targeting.

In a landscape increasingly focused on privacy, brands that fail to adapt will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage. Google's decision may delay the transition, but it does not alter the inevitable shift towards a privacy-first digital world.

Jamie Richards

Senior Consultant, Digital, MediaSense

Google’s U-turn is frustrating for many in the industry following years of extensions to what felt like an endlessly looming deadline. While it may feel like a lot of the preparatory efforts are wasted, the opt-in rates from Apple’s rollout of the App Tracking Transparency framework in 2021 (estimated at 16%) serve as a helpful reminder of the long-term sustainability of third-party cookies.

Our recommendations therefore remain unchanged:

1. Continue building first-party data strategies around reliable identifiers such as email addresses.
2. Invest in the appropriate technology (e.g. cleanrooms) to house, manage, and activate this data.
3. Investigate and test non-cookie based targeting, including contextual targeting and identify graphs.
4. Implement cookie-less measurement solutions including server-side tracking (e.g. Meta’s CAPI) and agile measurement methodologies (e.g. MMM).

More broadly, this announcement is a further reminder of the need for advertisers to develop solutions not reliant on tech behemoths, and to remain vigilant to the shifting sands of the various legal cases currently in play in the US, UK and Europe more broadly. We eagerly await the outcome of the DOJ’s ruling on Google’s monopoly in September.

Jamie Barnard

CEO, Compliant

The last-minute reprieve of a cookie once condemned to death changes very little. While the cookie may still have a pulse, it is faint and weakening. Based on past experience, only 10-30% of us will opt in when given the choice, so the shrinking lake of addressable audiences will all but dry up, leaving a small but data-rich stream just big enough to train AI applications and cookieless models.

The real take-away is that despite four years and almost limitless talent, Google has settled on the only viable, reliable long-term solution: consent. When it comes to collection and use of data in digital marketing, the world is moving irreversibly in this direction.

Creative marketers must design consumer experiences that generate first-party data. The new first moment of truth is no longer the choice of one product over another; it is the choice of sharing data or staying anonymous.

To find scale, brands must also tap into high-quality seller-defined audiences by sourcing ad inventory from publishers with higher privacy standards and access to better quality data. By targeting consented, accurate and reliable audiences responsibly, advertisers will enhance the relevance and effectiveness of their campaigns, maximising ROI. Google's hand-brake turn is an urgent reminder that it's time to seek permission, not forgiveness.

There remains a strong consensus among industry experts that third-party data will decrease in importance regardless, and that advertisers should continue to invest in building first-party data strategies.

However, new research carried out by WFA in partnership with Dentsu revealed that while many of the world’s largest advertisers are on the right path, only 10% have a fully-fledged data strategy.

WFA’s report ‘Delivering Data Driven Marketing Success: evolving from third-party data’ identifies the tools and techniques that can be used by companies to support their path towards data maturity.