Google Delays Third Party Cookie Deprecation: Ad Industry Reaction

Following the ongoing speculation over whether Google’s third-party cookie deprecation would go ahead as planned in the final quarter of 2024, we’ve arrived at the outcome many of us had been expecting. For the third time now, Google has delayed its set deprecation date.

In an official statement, Google acknowledges some of the issues surrounding the eradication of third-party cookies on Chrome, citing feedback from the industry, developers, and regulators. The statement explains that the UK Competition and Markets Authority, which is keeping a watchful eye on Google’s Privacy Sandbox solution, needs “sufficient time to review all evidence including results from industry tests.” The CMA has requested market participants to provide this evidence by the end of June.

Issues with Privacy Sandbox have been discussed widely by the industry. Among these are the concerns that Privacy Sandbox self-preferences Google's ad products, and that its algorithms increase the chances of advertisers bidding against themselves. A standard industry accreditation is also lacking, which makes it more difficult to gauge the solution’s adherence to industry quality standards – an industry accreditation would act as a benchmark for data quality, accuracy, and trust, as well as being a prerequisite for many agencies and brands. Privacy Sandbox’s absence of third-party audits – which are crucial for verifying the security, performance, and accuracy of digital transactions – has also been raised as a very valid concern.

A new timeframe has been set: Google now intends to move ahead with third-party cookie deprecation in early 2025. Although I’m sure we can all agree, this certainly isn’t set in stone. As we fall back into a state of limbo, we explore the ad industry’s reaction to the news.

Individuals’ Privacy Protection Remains Unknown

This latest delay was to be expected, there remains too many unknowns in regards to the protection of an individuals privacy, as well as protecting the democracy of advertising and mitigating monopolisation.

From conversations around the industry it feels very much like business as usual, whereby advertisers, publishers and tech are continuing to build solutions to navigate targeting, measurement and attribution in a world where third party cookies no longer exist.

Fern Potter, SVP Strategy & Partnerships, Multilocal