Daniel GonzálezRecently Google, through the vice president of its Privacy Sandbox solution Anthony Chavez, published its intentions not to abandon third-party cookies and instead to implement a new experience in Google Chrome so that users can make an informed decision regarding their privacy. A priori it is expected that Google Chrome will allow users to choose whether they prefer to be measured through cookies or through Google’s Privacy Sandbox. There is no way of knowing exactly which technical solution we should stick to in order to properly measure and personalise our marketing campaigns in the future.
This news has come as a surprise to many, but for others it has been an expected decision, as Google has delayed the removal of third-party cookies several times and so far there was no clear path under which marketers should act. However, I have noticed a common conclusion among many professionals: “we will be able to continue using cookies without inconvenience”. I consider this view to be hasty, and perhaps far from reality, and although this article only reflects my personal opinion, what is undeniable is that we are all facing a scenario of great uncertainty.
Can we really rely on third party cookies?
The short answer is “No”. Even if Google Chrome continues to support third-party cookies, we simply cannot continue to base our marketing measurement on cookies alone. To be honest, although Chrome has a majority market share, it “only” reaches 65% across all devices (Source: Statcounter), i.e. 35% of users already use a different browser. Also about 32% of users use an adblocker at least occasionally. And to further substantiate this information, we know that the positive consent rate for cookies is only 31%. These figures alone bring us to a conclusion that is difficult to accept: there is already a significant percentage of users who are not measurable through a cookie. Does it really matter that much whether or not Chrome supports third-party cookies in our decision-making?
It is not something alien to the big technology companies, creating audiences solely with cookies is a useful mechanism, but insufficient by today’s standards; Meta allows you to create audiences using personal data, Google Ads talks about the value of First-Party Data in marketing strategies and they have even published tools such as“Data Manager” to facilitate the use and activation of this type of information. We even have technology vendors dedicated almost exclusively to the use of personal data in advertising. If cookies were enough, no one would have invested in the development of these solutions.
Google’s announcement is by no means a change in the strategic direction that any investment in marketing technology should follow. Google Chrome is but one part of the huge machinery behind the measurement of campaign results. Machinery in which different actors such as organisations, companies, regulators and governments are involved.
What does this announcement really mean?
Uncertainty, that is the real meaning of all this, unfortunately there is no simpler way to put it on the table; now marketing teams have no clear north on how to invest technical (and legal) efforts in the measurement needs of their campaigns. Even more so when it can be suspected that Google’s decision is not encouraged by a more privacy-friendly Internet for users, but rather a necessary response to the observation that international regulators are making on Google .
In my view, Google has the difficulty of being a dominant player in the market, and this makes its decision more than just a technical one, it is also a political one, and perhaps it is precisely this that has led it to be so ambiguous and indecisive in its next steps.
In any case, we can stick directly to the numbers, at least 40% of users are no longer possible to impact efficiently using cookies alone, regardless of whether Chrome uses third-party cookies or not, the shift towards the use of personal data under transparent consent schemes is inevitable. That should be the way forward from now on.
