Google postpones third-party cookie implosion
Google announced the pushback of its plan to phase out third-party cookies. Our Programmatic Director Rob Brett weighs in on the developing date change.
If you’ve been checking in on our blog over the last year, you know we’ve had a lot to say about third-party cookie deprecation. We’ve discussed how it will affect publishers, solutions for the Collective, and even based one of our webinars around the impending deprecation.
So, what does the delay by Google mean for the industry?
In many ways, the delay by Google on the deprecation of third-party cookies comes as no surprise. Rumors and LinkedIn posts were suggesting a delay was very much in the wings. The Privacy Sandbox has struggled with a series of issues in viability, from excessive latency to performance and scalability.
Although frustrating, it really has no change in how many publishers and publishing technologies are working. Like our peers, we have invested heavily in first-party data solutions to standardize how we present inventory and ensure we abide by the complex policies in place, like GDPR, COPPA, or how we process and manage data and consent.
How will it affect us at Publisher Collective?
The important area for Publisher Collective is developing and innovating on things that we can control. Our focus has always been, and will continue to be, about balancing the needs of the consumer and the needs of the advertiser and buy-side. Striking a balance of great content delivered with great advertising opportunities is always evolving and we look to stay ahead of the curve with this innovation.
We continue to focus on driving standardization and continuity in how we label our inventory in the programmatic world. We strive to deliver highly viewable ads with rich metrics for the buying community. We look to deliver these in conjunction with the Coalition for Better Ads, and work closely with our partners to improve SEO, site design, and layouts.
What happens next with third-party cookies?
Even though Google has announced their delay, much of our traffic is already without cookies and we already work very effectively with this. We will continue with all our conversations and embrace new technologies or technical developments.
The delay may be annoying, but the demise of third-party cookies is going to happen inevitably. When it does, the buy side is still going to be looking for great advertising opportunities with great ads and clever functionality. The delay really only means we’ll be better prepared for when the buy side is without cookies and needs that environment to deliver campaigns.
We’ll be sure to keep you up to date on all cookie-related developments (of the third-party variety, not the chocolate chip) so make sure to check out our blog.
If you’re interested in joining the Collective, you can apply here.