Google have announced that their planned deprecation of third-party cookies in Chrome, originally planned for roll out later this year, then delayed to 2025, has now been scrapped. At least for the time being. For now, an alternative has been proposed, putting user choice first.
Pivoting the focus
The third-party cookie deprecation has been a long time coming. The team at Google has been working on it for years in favour of the Privacy Sandbox, a collection of APIs that sought to replace third-party cookie functionality in a more privacy-safe way. This monumental shift away from cookies, however, would have a wider impact on publishers and the open web. Industry adoption of the Privacy Sandbox is ongoing, as vendors test its performance and capabilities, but remains moderate, as the industry is far from having fully prepared for change.
With the background of regulator and market challenges, the Google team has chosen to put the brakes on the deprecation plan, shifting focus to user choice: ‘[Google] would introduce a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing, and they’d be able to adjust that choice at any time.’
Industry relief, mostly
This shift means relief for the industry after panic over potential signal loss, with a lack of viable products compatible with the Privacy Sandbox prepared in time for the original deadline. While the move will be largely favourable, privacy advocates are unlikely to be pleased with the announcement. Indeed, the third-party cookie lives on, and concerns about its usage remain outstanding and unchanged.
Industry reaction has also been mixed, with most favouring additional time for development but also pushing forward towards a more privacy-safe industry future.
The landscape is still shifting
For now, the timelines have relaxed, and the industry can continue to work on privacy-safe solutions and adoption of the Privacy Sandbox at their own pace.
At the7stars, we are far from complacent in response to this announcement. Privacy-centric measurement is still the gold standard of modern advertising. Signal loss remains abundant with other regulatory and technical changes impacting advertisers right now, with more likely to come in future. Advertisers still need roadmaps for privacy-safe solutions to prepare for where the industry is heading.
The importance of privacy-centric marketing is more important now than ever, and advertisers should continue to prioritise their users and privacy as key pillars for long-term growth. The plan for Chrome third-party cookie deprecation might no longer have a due date, but that shouldn’t stop the industry improving the online ecosystem for the better for everyone.
