While the ‘what’ of Google delaying cookie deprecation has been largely addressed by now, it is about time to bring up who stands to get most affected out of the many players in this game. For instance, since the cookie deprecation announcement first happened in 2020, publishers, vendors and advertisers are all geared up to ace their first-party data game. Heavy investments went into building first party data stacks and tools. 

Advertisers (even legacy brands) shifted their businesses largely to D2C channels in order to get first-party consumer data. exchange4media had previously reported how FMCG led the investments, as ‘cookie crumble’ picked pace earlier this year. Rajiv Dingra, Founder & CEO of ReBid, had shared that the agency had been approached by FMCG players for a plan to collect approximately 30 million first-party data in the next two years. “They are willing to spend for the same,” he had added. 

Cut to April 2024

Given the immense numbers of stakeholders involved, from Google to publishers to advertisers to the users themselves (whom these changes are actually meant for), there is clearly a need to appeal to the biggest kid on the playground. And above Google are only policymakers, (sorry gods).

According to a digital expert’s LinkedIn post (following the delay announcement), the number of startups that launched alternative solutions to capture and carry consent in an independent manner since 2019 have all burned their cash and have either been shut down or bought over by legacy companies.

Furthermore, noting that the US, EU, and Australia are the biggest arbiters of industry practices in their (and the larger world's) geographies, Preetham Venkky, CDO at DDB Mudra says, for Google, it's all about getting that consensus.

“This move to PSB (Privacy Sandbox) isn't just one step ahead of third-party cookies; it's about 10 steps ahead. It's only natural then for Google to seek the broadest possible consensus for these changes that they are looking to implement. Once these particular policymakers express their satisfaction with and ratify the PSB practices that Google looks to bring about, the company will feel much more confident about rolling them out globally.”

What happened

The so-called ‘demise’ of third-party cookies hits the different segments of the digital advertising landscape, in very different ways. Russhabh R Thakkar, Founder and CEO of Frodoh World agrees.

According to him, the demise of third-party cookies threw a wrench into the well-oiled machine of digital advertising. “While everyone felt the pinch, the pain points differed,” he says.

Experts say that for publishers, the challenge still lies in transitioning from a third-party data crutch to a first-party data cane. 

Thakkar adds that building robust in-house data collection requires investment and strategic planning, but ultimately fosters a deeper understanding of their audience and potentially higher ad value in the long run.  “CTV platforms, for example, had a headstart here, as they often collect valuable viewing data that can be leveraged for more effective ad targeting.”

Vendors, on the other hand, faced and are still facing a more fundamental shift. Their entire ad-tech infrastructure was built on cookies. Now, they're scrambling to develop and gain industry-wide adoption for entirely new solutions like contextual targeting and privacy-preserving identity models.

“Advertisers, used to the laser focus of cookie-based targeting, now grapple with broader contextual targeting and a more probabilistic approach to campaign measurement. However, this can be an opportunity to invest in building direct relationships with publishers, fostering long-term brand loyalty,” Thakkar further explained.

Beyond Borders

For Venkky, it's now about bringing about change at international policy level, in order to bring about change to your desktop browsing.

“The delay isn't just a postponement; it's a wake-up call. It underscores the need for a future-proof ecosystem that prioritises user privacy while delivering effective advertising. The most adaptable players, those who cannot only weather the short-term disruption but also leverage this as a catalyst for innovation, will be the ones who thrive in the post-cookie era,” says Thakkar.

A digital expert from a leading agency shared on his LinkedIn post, “The cookie-less future isn't the whole story, it's just one part of where we're headed in a privacy-first world. Effective advertising is powered by a wide variety of signals, not just cookies.”

An industry source had told exchange4media earlier that some tests that were run in Europe for Privacy Sandbox, didn’t yield very favourable outcomes. “The campaigns that were run using Privacy Sandbox APIs had lower click through rates and the conversion rate per dollar were one to three percent lesser for the test group, as compared to if they did the same thing using third party cookies,” the source had added. 

Back to the future?

As of 4th January 2024, Chrome had started restricting third-party cookies by default for 1% of Chrome browsers. “It may take several days to reach the full 1%,” Google had noted in its announcement. It is the end of April and according to experts, it still hasn’t reached that 1% mark. 

All of these facts beg one question – how serious is the hype around third-party cookie deprecation? We’ll hold that thought for now.