Google has announced its plans to deprecate third-party cookies have been permanently put on ice. While many industry insiders anticipated further delays, the finality of the tech giant’s decision appears to have caught digital marketers by surprise.
Anthony Chavez, the VP of Privacy Sandbox at Google stated, “We are proposing an updated approach that elevates user choice. Instead of deprecating third-party cookies, we 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”.
Google’s Privacy Sandbox is an initiative designed to enhance user privacy choices while still facilitating digital marketing services. Squaring the circle of these two concepts with workable solutions appears to have been a bridge too far.
In light of Google’s move, we asked APMA members for their views on Google’s announcement:
Lee-Ann Johnstone, Founder, Affiverse
“Google’s abrupt U-turn on third-party cookies has left the digital marketing industry now in a state of flux – again. The whiplash on decisions and uncertainty, particularly for SMEs who rely heavily on stable, predictable frameworks for their marketing strategies creates hinderances on everyone’s resource and budgets to plan effectively for change. It’s clear that we must now prioritise adaptable and resilient marketing strategies that can weather these changes. While privacy concerns remain a priority, this decision gives the industry more time to develop and implement effective alternatives that balance user privacy with marketing efficacy.”
Stephen Davis, Head of Performance, Finder
“Whilst this might feel like a major U-turn from Google, you can’t help but feel this isn’t the end of the story. What will the user opt-in look like? Will this still effectively kill off the cookie? What we do know for sure is that a lot of money has been invested to adapt to the changes Apple & Google set out, which again demonstrates the massive influence both companies have over the digital marketing ecosystem. The industry will have to (again) wait with bated breath as Google makes up their mind.”
James Little, Group Commercial Director, TopCashback
“As an industry, we have already moved away from using third-party cookies other than perhaps as a failsafe. Google is not the only browser out there and it’s imperative that advertisers, agencies, networks and publishers work together to ensure that tracking is always working the best it can, and that isn’t relying on third-party cookies. Lets not let this change take away from the work that the industry is doing to “crack” tracking as the conversation is still every bit as important as it was before this announcement.”
Elliot Myers, Founder, The Affiliate Marketing Adviser
“We’re encouraged to see Google make this decision; however, it has cost businesses time and money to prepare for a change they would likely have known they’d reverse course on some time ago. This doesn’t instil much faith in future Google overhaul-type updates and will always beg the question: Will they follow through?”
Mark Andres, Director of Merchants, Finfare
“Google’s decision to maintain third-party cookies in Chrome is a prudent move, providing advertisers and publishers with crucial additional time to adapt to an evolving landscape. Despite having had ample time to prepare, many advertisers are still not ready for the shift. By delaying the deprecation of third-party cookies, Google helps to minimise disruptions to revenue streams and operational workflows, avoiding the potential chaos of a rushed implementation of Privacy Sandbox APIs. This delay also alleviates immediate panic, offering a sense of stability amidst ongoing regulatory scrutiny.
“However, this extension carries the risk of creating a false sense of security, potentially reducing the urgency to find and implement alternative solutions. Third-party cookies are not sustainable in the long term, as privacy concerns grow and regulations tighten. The industry must remain proactive in seeking alternatives and developing new solutions to future-proof business models. This delay should be viewed as an opportunity to innovate rather than an excuse to maintain the status quo. Monitoring and testing developments in the Privacy Sandbox will be essential for maintaining resilience and adaptability in an ever-changing digital landscape.”
John Vickers, Head of Client Service, Affiliate Future
“While Google has finally clarified its stance on third-party cookies, Affiliate Future continues to recommend all advertisers migrate to server to server tracking, and if this isn’t possible immediately, then first-party cookies as a stop-gap. If an advertiser is unable to use either tracking technology, then we need to have a clear migration plan. The war on cookies is not over – Apple Safari via ITP and Mozilla Firefox both block third-party cookies so publishers still need to have reliable tracking to ensure they are paid across all browsers and devices.”
Steven Brown, Chief Executive, Moonpull
“With many changes by regulators or ‘big tech’, the affiliate sector has for the last few years been caught in the cross hairs of bigger initiatives relating to privacy, whether it relates to user consent or deprecation. The headline is Chrome deprecation is dead (although it’s very much alive on Safari and Firefox) whilst barely beneath the surface of the announcement is that something materially similar is on its way, but we’re not sure when. Therefore, now is not a time to breathe a sigh of relief but for affiliate marketers to double down on being first party only and take control”.
Adam Ross, CEO, Awin
“The chaos created by Google’s flip-flopping and indecisiveness on this topic illustrates how beholden the digital ad industry is to the whims of one company. Their original third-party cookie deadline was actually useful for the affiliate industry in eradicating outdated legacy tracking setups, so this isn’t particularly welcome news. Nevertheless, we will continue to push hard for fair, measurable and accurate 1st-party tracking solutions as a way to differentiate our industry from other digital ad channels.”
Corin Ward, Head of Technical Client Management, TradeDoubler
“Google’s decision to not depreciate third party cookies is good news overall for the affiliate industry, benefitting user journeys that cover multiple platform touch points (browser / apps) and giving display partners the ability to have visibility from Chrome. It is important however the industry continues to raise awareness to advertisers on tracking best practice as all other browsers have moved passed third party cookies, with the likes of Firefox and Safari releasing default specific tracking prevention modes.
Rob Longmate, Head of Partnerships and Insights, Genie Ventures
“Google’s removal of the third party deprecation isn’t massively surprising as they have pushed it back so many times over the years. There is an obvious benefit to tracking accuracy in the sense of keeping more fallback methods means a continued presence of more tracking. But as an industry, I think a deadline has allowed businesses to rally and put a lens on the matter, one of which has benefitted us at Genie. Personally, I think we need to continue to have tracking and consent at the top of every conversation, particularly in the affiliate world where we’re already in the middle of GA4 discrepancies and continued Apple privacy masking.”
Ian Sims, Founder, Rightlander
“If nothing else, this serves as a timely reminder that relying on any one, single 3rd party technology or platform for an essential part of your offering can put your entire business model at risk”.
Anthony Clements, Managing Partner, Adtraction
“From a partner marketing perspective the use of third-party cookies has reduced significantly over the past decade. Very few partner marketing programs rely on third-party cookies for tracking, so the short-term impact on performance of tracking is negligible. It will be interesting to see whether this move by Google has longer-term implications for how cookies are viewed by legislators and privacy advocates. Ultimately Google still seem to be saying the Privacy Sandbox project will be maintained, and their deadlines for sunsetting third-party cookies have just come too soon for it to be properly adopted. But it may also be a sign of downward pressure; from both revenue and also from regulators. Third party cookies remain important for GA4, a product that has come under a lot of scrutiny by our industry and beyond. This could be a sign that these products still fundamentally need third-party cookies, which is an interesting juxtaposition with partner marketing, where the industry has faced serious mis-reporting by GA4.”
Ben Smye, Head of Marketing, Global Savings Group
“This isn’t hugely surprising given how many times Google postponed the deprecation of third-party cookies, and for us it doesn’t change a lot. Regardless of what Google does, we still believe it is prudent to move away from using third-party cookies for tracking and will continue to encourage our partners to do so. From our analysis, the vast majority of companies have done this already anyway.”
Jules Bazley, CEO, PartnerPilot.ai
“With the challenges that plans for third party cookie deprecation have created to digital marketing, it’s not a huge surprise that Google have changed direction here. Whilst this has been ‘announced’, I very much doubt that this will be the end of the chapter and there are no guarantees that this will get past the CMA. As an industry, we have a responsibility to do better in self governing and ensuring that tracking integrity continues to improve to ensure that our industry continues to flourish in the years ahead.”
Angela Ballard, Senior Director Product Development, CJ
“This announcement from Google creates some uncertainty, because it’s not yet clear what an “updated approach that elevates user choice” will look like in implementation. We have some models we can look to, like the Storage Access API and Apple’s App Tracking Transparency in iOS, both of which prompt users to allow third-party tracking. Privacy laws like the GDPR have also created a model that prompts users for consent, which gives us some insight into how user choice can impact our ability to see customer shopping journeys and reward publishers. It’s important we remember that Safari and iOS devices make up a significant portion of global web traffic, not to mention Firefox and Edge browsers, all of which have deprecated third-party cookies entirely.
With all of that in mind, our path forward looks to be the same one we’ve been on, focusing on privacy-first solutions that leverage consumers’ first-party data relationships with publishers and advertisers. As Chrome continues to release updates, we’ll continue to provide our clients with guidance that puts them in the best position to succeed in this channel.”
Ernie Collings, Senior Product Manager, Partnerize
“Despite Google’s announcement, the importance of getting your affiliate tracking in order remains unchanged. Safari and Firefox have already released cookie-blocking technology that targets both third-party cookies and, more recently, first-party cookies. Additionally, accurate attribution in Google Chrome will vary based on the preferences of individual users. Therefore, marketers that have not yet eliminated reliance on cookies are already at risk for broken, inaccurate tracking. Partnerize supports advertisers in future-proofing their tracking by providing a range of tracking solutions–optionality that allow marketers to meet the needs of their unique businesses when it comes to level of technical implementation effort, control over the consumer experience, and ongoing reliance on development resources.”
Jason Codrington, Client Services Director, Scale Digital
“Google’s delay on third-party cookies provides advertisers with more time to build a future-proof strategy. We recommend focusing on first-party data and server-to-server tracking, prioritizing user privacy, and developing adaptable marketing tactics and exploring new partnership types. Over 95% of our brands now have server-to-server tracking and all our new clients integrate on a server-to-server basis. Collaboration across the industry is key to finding sustainable solutions for a privacy-centric future.”
