Why is this happening now?
Q
A
It knows which way the wind is blowing. The rising tide of privacy advocacy is swelling and becoming political, legislators and governments are leaning heavily in favour of consumer privacy, and those who compromise privacy are being hit with huge fines.
In the eye of this storm are third-party cookies scooping up vast amounts of consumer data. And those with the intent can easily find out more about an individual than the individual remembers about their private digital habits.
In 2019, Google sensed the change of direction and announced that its goal was to make the web ‘more private and secure for users.’ It later announced it would withdraw support for third-party cookies in the Chrome browser. Initially slated for 2022 it is now due to happen in early 2023.
It’s estimated that up to 5,000 data points can be gathered on any one individual based on their online activities, whether it's third-party cookies or mobile apps tracking a user’s movement.
As awareness has grown about the extent of anonymous data gathering consumers are understandably demanding greater privacy, transparency, and choice over how their data is used and want to put an end to what are seen as privacy invasions.
And the industry has begun riding this horse:
These changes will shackle the ability of websites and apps to anonymously gather data and track users.
New, more privacy-focused alternatives will likely take the place of third-party cookies and app-based tracking
It's fair to say the market is currently in a state of flux and it will take time for new standards to be established because of the ever-growing need for transparency
Businesses are going to need to think outside the box to find new and creative ways to target and reach their audiences.
For instance:
Is there any consented data on existing customers that can be used to target them with a relevant offer or message?
Can a brand offer potential customers enough value to want to register an email with it?
Like it or not the open web is shifting to a more privacy-focused ecosystem, one in which consumers understand the value of their data and increasingly have the option of allowing their data to be used for advertising and marketing.
Businesses are also going to need to update the way in which they track the performance of their campaigns. This could mean moving to a different analytics system or upgrading to privacy-first platforms, such as GA4, which can function without cookies.
We recommend that businesses review and be aware of their user consent strategy.
Consent criteria can vary from country to country, due to GDPR and other existing privacy regulations, which in turn impacts measurement data.
Around two-thirds of the global browser market share is attributed to Chrome, that is 64% for the year from April 2020 to April 2021, according to statcounter.com
Safari and Firefox, with 19% and 4% of the market respectively (statcounter.com), are already blocking third-party cookies
As a result, 87% of the global browser market will no longer support the use of third-party cookies
It’s hardly surprising then that in the face of the big browser block the digital ad industry is making its own big changes to its ecosystem, to protect user privacy.
