Google abandons plans to phase out third-party cookies

In big news for both digital advertising and online privacy Google has announced it won’t be phasing out third-party cookies.

Google had been working on ways to phase out third-party tracking cookies from it’s Chrome browser for 4 years. The idea was that instead of user’s personal data being shared with hundreds of third-party advertisers, Google would take control and do the tracking within the Chrome browser.

The so-called ‘Privacy Sandbox’ is Google’s initiative to develop technologies that protect privacy while also providing tools for digital businesses. But they’ve faced numerous challenges in developing an acceptable alternative to third party cookies which satisfies all parties involved. The advertising sector has been nervous about the effectiveness of the initiatives and their impact on campaign performance. On the other side of the equation Data Protection Authorities have and raised concerns around privacy and transparency. This very delicate balancing act now appears to have fallen from its tightrope!

Google has now decided to keep third party cookies, but give users enhanced privacy options, which could apply across all their Google browsing. In all of this let’s also remember 3rd party cookies cannot be used in Safari or Firefox.

What does this mean for advertisers and publishers?

Over recent years, enlightened advertisers have been looking to start to diversify their activities to reduce reliance on third-party cookies. Life after cookies

Some advertisers may feel a sense of relief this long-running saga is over (for the time being), and revenue streams which were in question before this announcement now look healthier. But there may also be frustration at the time and effort spent looking for privacy-friendly advertising solutions with limited success.
The Privacy Sandbox will continue to evolve and given time may still yield more benefits for advertisers and publishers, as well as consumers and regulators.

Publishers may see changes in how they monetise their content with ads. The emphasis could shift towards leveraging first-party relationships and potentially new advertising models yet to emerge from Google’s Privacy Sandbox.

What does this mean for consumers?

Consumers are increasingly seeking control over their personal data and how they are tracked online. In our daily browsing we face a plethora of cookie banners of differing types – some far less clear and transparent than others.
Whilst there’s a genuine weariness of cookie banners, there’s also been an increase in users choosing to opt out of cookies used for tracking and ad targeting. We may be set for more of the same in the short term. Although regulators may decide now is the time to start to enforce against non-compliant use of cookies.

Charles Ping, Managing Director, Europe at Winterberry Group says the road ahead is not straight-forward:

“Google’s decision to take a different path on the elimination of third-party cookies is an acknowledgment that this stuff is really hard. Making unilateral changes when you have Google’s level of market dominance will always create winners and losers, and the most recent CMA report demonstrated the journey set out in early 2020 had become a Sisyphean task.

However, the success of the mooted solution to give consumers choice, whilst delivering a degree of “cover” to Google that has been absent in recent times, won’t be plain sailing. We have learnt through many years of data collection statements and through the improving opt in rates in world of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT), that the type of questions asked and how they are actually presented will make a massive difference to the outcome. The devil, as always, is in the detail, but giving consumers choice is, in principle, a great move forward”