Third-party cookies have been critical to online advertising, credited with fueling its growth over the years, so their demise has been described as the most significant shakeup the industry has seen. “The online industry has been operating and relying on cookies and now all of a sudden after two decades it’s all about to go away,” says MediaCom head of digital Minsun Collier.
“It’s one of those things that we all need to get to. It’s also an opportunity to get best practices into the digital advertising world because some things have been questionable so it’s a great time to pivot and be able to do some really good marketing.”
Third-party cookies, which track users for targeted advertising, are to be phased out by Google in 2022 in the name of user privacy. To keep digital advertising, which is estimated to be worth US$400 billion globally, tracking along there’s been a long list of alternatives from industry players, including Google, Oracle, Liveramp, and more.
The beginning of the end of third-party cookies began in 2017 when Apple blocked the cross-site tracking of consumers on Safari with its Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) tool. Apple is set to turn on its ITP tool by default in late April, with consumers having to opt in to cross-site tracking. Other companies made similar moves, with Mozilla Firefox also turning on its Enhanced Tracking Protection by default on its browser for all users in 2020. In January 2020, Microsoft released a new version of its browser Microsoft Edge with new privacy tools, including a choice for users to choose between three levels of third-party cookie blocking.
Given that Google Chrome has a significant share of the supply of web browsers globally, including an estimated market share of 63% of desktop devices in Australia according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), its announcement early last year that it is phasing out third-party cookies by 2022 spun the industry into a frenzy. And unlike the other big players, Chrome wasn’t giving users the ability to opt in to third-party cookies, instead it was phasing them out completely.
“It’s ultimately a change for good,” says IAB Australia technology lead Jonas Jaanimagi
