Google rolls back cookie deprecation. What now?
By Dane Buchanan, Chief Data & Analytics Officer
Well, who had Google U-turning on cookie deprecation on their 2024 Marketing Bingo card? We certainly didn’t.
In their latest blog post, published on July 22nd, Google announced “A new path for Privacy Sandbox,” which aims to provide consumers with an “informed choice” regarding their web browsing on Chrome. They indicate that this choice can be adjusted anytime, giving users more control over their privacy. However, they point out that this is still under discussion with regulators and that they will engage the industry as the rollout progresses.
Google also stressed the importance of providing developers with access to privacy-preserving alternatives and reiterated their commitment to investing in the Privacy Sandbox to enhance both privacy and utility. Alongside this, they have announced additional privacy controls for IP Protection within Chrome’s incognito mode.
Yes, we, too, echo the collective sigh of exasperation from our industry. The cookie deprecation saga feels like an endless cycle of ‘will-they, won’t-they’.
What Does This Mean for Advertisers?
The 369-word blog post from Google is the only concrete information we have at this time. The crux of it is that Google will now offer consumers a choice, but the specifics of this choice remain unclear. There are numerous potential scenarios, ranging from default opt-in to Privacy Sandbox, opt-in by choice, prompts, etc.
If Google follows a similar path to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT), the cookieless future will remain largely unchanged. Around 70-80% of Apple users have opted out of tracking. If Google adopts a similar approach to Apple, then it’s safe to assume we’ll see similar opt-out rates on Chrome. This means that the cookieless future is still imminent, just under the guise of protecting consumer choice.
While we agree that consumer choice is a good thing, complex choices are not. When we open our phones or computers, most of us don’t want to think about tracking and measurement—we want a safe, easy-to-use environment. We hope the conversations between regulators and Google result in a consumer-friendly privacy mechanism and not one that gives the “appearance of privacy” (e.g., making opting out of tracking difficult to find or understand).
Ultimately, at the very least, cookies have been given a temporary reprieve. However, it’s important to remember that cookies were never as effective as they were believed to be, a comment echoed by many commentators over the last four years.
Moving forward
We’ll likely be in this cookie limbo for a few more years. We advise continuing to build your cookieless measurement framework to future-proof media measurement. Focus on incrementality measurement and solutions such as Media Mix Modelling (MMM) and Geo-lift Testing. These methods protect you from future changes and are a more effective way to measure the true, holistic impact of your media activity on and offline and optimize your media budget to maximize growth. Even with this latest announcement, there is still an opportunity for advertisers to ensure their measurement tactics will set them up for the future.
Contact us to speak to Dane Buchanan and the Data, Analytics, and Tech team.
Further Reading
Future Proofing Measurement. Media Mix Model Myth Busting
Top Five Growth trends for marketers
Building a Unified Measurement Framework
Watch our Future Proofing Measurement Video series.
Interested in finding out how we ensure holistic media measurement for clients? Watch a series of videos from the Data & Analytics team explaining various elements of their approach to media measurement.
