Last week Google announced that it is yet again delaying the plan to abolish third-party tracking cookies – this time until at least 2024. But what does that mean for advertisers and what should you do now?
The protracted death of the third-party cookie in Chrome has been playing out for a few years now. Google first raised the idea in 2019, stating that implementation would begin in 2022, which was then pushed back to mid-2023.
And now they have announced yet another delay, saying that they won’t start phasing out third-party cookies until the second half of 2024.
So, why the change?
There are concerns around Google Topics
As we explain here, there are some well documented concerns about Topics, Google’s replacement for cookies.
Wayne Blodwell, founder and chief executive officer at The Programmatic Advisory, said of Google Topics:
“The only benefit this has for advertisers is that it is slightly better than nothing. For some of the large brand advertisers who want to reach broad audiences, this is something, but for the majority this has no value whatsoever as the category is too broad for their targeting criteria or campaign budgets.”
Google are currently testing their new Privacy Sandbox APIs, and from early August, their trials will expand to millions of users around the globe. As people test these APIs, they say they will listen and respond to feedback on their approach post-cookie.
So what can advertisers do now?
Regardless of Google’s timescales, the death of the cookie is still imminent. Relying on third-party cookies will soon be a thing of the past, so it’s time to take a new approach to targeting customers and attributing ROI to your campaigns.
Working with a programmatic partner like Crimtan will enable you to continue to reach the right customers at the right time, with the right message, throughout the customer lifecycle.
With audience consent and our own proprietary technology, we analyse customer data and behaviour alongside contextual data sources such as geo-location, brand and product intent signals, content interests, weather and even pollen count to inform your advertising strategy in real-time.
We then use the same framework to evaluate the impact of your campaigns, allowing you to measure true ROI and ensuring you reach and engage the audiences you need to achieve your campaign goals.
Whether Topics rolls out as planned and we see the end of third-party cookies on Chrome, or whether they’ll have yet another stay of execution as Google attempts to find an acceptable alternative, our experts can help you navigate the change and ensure your advertising campaigns are still reaching the right target audience, even without cookies.
If you would like to find out how, get in touch today.