It’s official, Google is not killing off cookies.
After almost 5 years of back and forth and growing apprehension surrounding impending cookie deprecation, Google surprised the industry by announcing via a blog post that it will keep third-party cookies in its Chrome web browser and instead opt for more user-informed controls on data regulation.
Let’s rewind a bit.
Cookies, or third-party trackers, are often used for targeted advertising and have been a sensitive topic, especially due to concerns over user privacy that sprang up with the rise of programmatic and biddable media.
Online advertising was once limited to contextual and browser data. But as technology accelerated, adtech companies started increasing their use of third-party trackers to help target audiences with more precision.
While this was beneficial for advertisers, it also gave rise to concerns about how data was being collected and used, which then led to a number of legislative changes around the world– most notably General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in California.
So, what does it mean that Google has changed its mind?
On one hand, for marketers, it’s good news that years of carefully curated audiences and targeting will not be affected just yet.
But on the other hand, Google’s game of “will they, won't they” has led to a number of improvements in data authentication and started the pendulum swing towards more reliable and effective signals like first-party data, data clean rooms, and ID-based audiences.
Google was also one of the last-standing keepers of cookies—with other browsers like Safari, FireFox, and Microsoft Edge, and certain channels like CTV and apps, already cookieless—so there were plenty of reasons for well-rounded marketers to seek out alternatives.
For Stagwell Marketing Cloud, the good news is that we have all kinds of options, and none of this is taking us by surprise.
As the industry and regulations surrounding data and control continue to shift, SMC is taking care to future-proof our tools so we never need to sacrifice precision while continuing to meet industry standards.
Consider CUE, for instance, SMC's audience insights platform. The fraught drama around a cookies-or-no-cookies Google landscape has long had us planning contingencies so that we could thrive no matter the outcome.
CUE’s 80MM+ data universe, which has long been cookie-based, will remain preserved while work on CUE 2.0 will continue, empowering agencies and advertisers with an ID graph solution, and linking clients with first-party data from publishers and brands alike.
First-party data has already begun to take over as the new industry currency and marketers can now access safer and more holistic data to reach a more precise audience.
Meanwhile, cookies continue to offer support in a secondary capacity—as a marketer, they’re nice to have, but the sky certainly won’t fall if they go away.
