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In the immortal words of Britney Spears: “Oops, they did it again.”
No, we're not talking about the US government agreeing to divest from TikTok. It's possible, but so far away that it doesn't stop people from investing every penny into it.
We're talking about the latest whoops from Google. Last week they postponed the phase-out of the third-party cookie for another year.
So we turned to Robert Rose, CMI's chief strategy advisor, who fell for Google's announcement that 2024 would be the end of third-party cookies. Watch this video or continue reading:
Yes, I fell for their nonsense. I thought they were serious when they started cookie removal for some Chrome users as part of a trial. But Google seems determined to make me look stupid.
When I think about it, my relationship with Google is like Britney's song. “You are playing with my heart… I lost myself in the game. They said, 'You think I'm in love… I'm not that innocent.'”
Well, this time let’s get to their excuse and what it means for marketers.
Google is postponing the demise of cookies
If you've been following along, the update on the “disappearing” third-party cookie is that it's not actually going away.
Last week, Google – for the third time in as many years – delayed the death of the third-party cookie in its Chrome browser. And the advertising industry's move away from monitoring-based programmatic advertising has become more difficult again.
In The Privacy Sandbox, Google writes that it “recognized that there are ongoing challenges related to reconciling diverse feedback from the industry, regulators and developers, and will continue to work closely with the entire ecosystem.”
In other words, everyone is mad because they think what Google produces is too self-serving. So – spoiler alert – Google hopes to do it in 2025.
Considering where they are now, that's very unlikely.
Complaints and increase in sales
Last Friday, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced Google's update efforts. The British government organization acts as a watchdog for Google's Privacy Sandbox. It's trying to figure out to what extent Google will benefit more than anyone else from eliminating third-party cookies. So they've had a lot to say over the years of Google's update efforts.
Most recently, the CMA update listed nearly 80 concerns, about twice as many as just a few months ago. His concerns focus primarily on Google's apparent manipulation of third-party deprecation so that the company can keep the first-party data in its ecosystem and use it as it sees fit.
Consider that Alphabet, Google's parent company, also announced last week that it was cutting its profits. Sales increased and the company paid its first dividend. Key to this success was advertising revenue across the ecosystem, particularly from YouTube.
Therefore, Google wants to ensure that the use of the third-party cookie does not affect the way Google makes money.
The CMA calls for the brakes to be put on. Other advertising groups are saying, “Wait, let’s figure this out again,” and advertisers are also eager to pump the brakes. So Google is happy to pull over to the side of the road and sort out the problem.
What's next?
So what happens? Nothing.
The last time I wrote about this, I reported on research that found 58% of marketers believed the phase-out of cookies would be delayed until 2025, and many did nothing to stop the planned disappearance.
They were right about the first part.
It could be that Google delays the elimination of third-party cookies again by two to three years and surveillance advertising will continue to play an important role for the foreseeable future.
Anthony Katsur, CEO of IAB Tech Lab, said: “This delay should not be an excuse for the digital advertising industry to be complacent.”
But somehow it does. It's clear that Google and the industry will not be prepared for the end of third-party cookies next year because of the many hurdles.
Here's the thing, though. Media companies aren't waiting for Google to make the move. You quickly secure first-party data to develop better data and monetization strategies. They switch to cookie-free solutions for advertising. Some brands are starting to adopt more first-party data solutions to ensure their own capabilities are clear.
I'm still a big fan of preparing with your own first-hand data answers because it's a smart strategy.
But right now I can't get Brittany's song out of my head: “It may seem like a crush, but that doesn't mean I'm serious 'cause I'm losing all my senses, that's just so typical of me.”
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
Create your very own Auto Publish News/Blog Site and Earn Passive Income in Just 4 Easy Steps
