Cookie deprecation called off

After sending publishers and advertisers into a cookie panic at the announcement Chrome would be nixing third-party cookies in 2020, Google announced yesterday that the third-party cookie would be permitted to stay. Plans to rid the web of the third-party cookie have stalled permanently, which means publishers and advertisers that were unprepared for the cookie shift can now rest easy.We’ll explore what Google’s announcement means for publishers and the programmatic industry as a whole, and we’ll check in with some key Publisher Collective stakeholders to get their thoughts on the update.

What’s happening to the Sandbox?

The Sandbox is sticking around! Users are being given the power to opt in or out of the collection and usage of third-party cookies. So while there’s still a lot that needs to be ironed out in the Sandbox, and adoption of Sandbox remains low among publishers and advertisers, users will ultimately be the deciding factor in how relevant the Sandbox remains.

What does this mean for my site?

Any good ad network will already be looking at other options to ensure partner revenue remains steady throughout industry changes. At Publisher Collective, we’re always working on different ways to reach users via safe methods like anonymized audiences and first-party data.Rob Brett, our Programmatic Director, is optimistic. “Google's announcement comes as no real surprise. But the demise of cookies is still very much happening, albeit at a slower rate. There is still a vast amount of cookie-free inventory and the regulations will only tighten around tracking and how cookies are used, so this is still very much business as usual.”

How will this affect the programmatic industry?

In truth, many industry experts have predicted the Chrome cookie collapse was too aspirational. With that being said, there have been some targeted solutions and tech meant to tackle the eventual elimination of third-party cookies. Advertisers and publishers might not invest more cash into testing and implementing this tech, but as third-party cookies will likely still slowly disappear, there’s value in these tools. It doesn’t hurt that there’s also ad inventory that’s already moved away from cookies, so marketers and advertisers still have a pool of data to play with.If you’re a Publisher Collective Partner, rest assured that we’ve got you covered when it comes to cookies. “[We] committed to investing heavily in first-party data solutions to better understand our Partners' sites,” says Brett. “The majority of the open web is funded by advertising, and ensuring we bring relevant advertisers to our consumers while respecting their preferences is still core to our approach.”We’ll follow this news as it unfolds. For updates and other industry news, check out our blog. You can follow us on X, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.