As The Cookie Crumbles; Navigating Google’s Cookie Deprecation

Introduction

In the ever-shifting landscape of online advertising, Google phasing out cookies for 30m Chrome users in Q1 2024 has provided yet another roadblock for brands. With Chrome being the browser of choice for nearly two-thirds of internet users globally, advertisers face a seismic shift in the way they track user behaviour. But what are the solutions for advertisers? Especially those who don’t have millions of dollars/pounds/euros of ad spend to throw at the problem?

The Beginning of the End for Digital Tracking:

Third-party cookies have long been the cornerstone of online advertising, enabling advertisers to track user behaviour, deliver personalised content, and measure the effectiveness of their campaigns. However, with privacy concerns on the rise and increased scrutiny on data practices, Google announced their intention to gradually eliminate third-party cookies; starting with 1% of users in early 2024 and expanding to all users by Q3 2024. With over 60% of internet users using Chrome, Google have caused a seismic shift in the digital advertising ecosystem.

Whilst it wouldn’t be a surprise if these dates slipped, businesses that heavily rely on third-party cookie tracking face significant challenges in maintaining the level of personalization and targeting they’ve grown accustomed to. Here’s some of the ways that this “Cookie Apocalypse” can effect marketers;

Targeting: marketers previously relied on data from third-party cookies to create more personalized digital advertising. Now this will become a much greater challenge as marketers rely on first-party data.

Visibility: one of the main advantages of third-party cookies was that they allowed marketers to track their customers’ behaviour across multiple websites and devices. Without cookies, this capability has gone, meaning a much more limited view on user behaviour and the ability to track campaign performance.

Media Measurement: many digital marketers relied on Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) approaches to understand the performance of their digital media performance. Without the data provided by third-party cookies, MTA as an approach for media measurement becomes increasingly difficult and can lead to false data and poor optimisations. We’ll explore the different measurement options open to retailers in a follow up blog.

Conclusion:

Ready to Learn More?

Are you ready for the cookieless marketing revolution? If you want to understand more about how you can utilise their first-party and platform data to make more data-driven strategic decisions in a cookieless world,book a meeting with Optsi today.

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