Our Media Exec, Cait, takes a look at the recent news that third-part cookies aren’t going to be phased out…

Have you ever wondered how ads seem to follow users around the internet? The answer lies in third-party cookies.

Imagine browsing a website selling sunglasses and checking out some stylish aviators. You don’t buy them yet but move on to a news channel or a different website. Suddenly, you start seeing ads for similar aviators and sunglasses on the other websites you visit, even though you never searched for them there. 

Here’s how third-party cookies made that happen:

1. When you visited the sunglasses website, the site placed a first-party cookie on your device to remember your browsing activity within the site (e.g., viewed aviators). 
2. The sunglasses website also uses a third-party cookie on your device which is like an invisible advertising service that tracks your general browsing behaviour. 
3. As you visit other websites, the same advertising service can access the third-party cookie it placed and see your interest in sunglasses. 
4. The advertising service uses this information to show the users targeted ads for similar aviators and other sunglasses on other websites, even though they never directly searched for them there.

Third-party cookies have been a fundamental tool in the digital advertising industry for over two decades, and after an announcement Google made in 2020 that third-party cookies would be phased out, a new announcement has just been made that third-party cookies will officially remain. 

In early January a test was conducted as part of the Google Privacy Sandbox initiative where third-party cookies were removed for 1% of Chrome users, or approximately 30 million people. The test results were not released but Privacy Sandbox Vice President, Anthony Chavez, emphasised that transitioning to a cookie-less browser would require “significant work from many participants and will have an impact on publishers, advertisers, and everyone involved in online advertising.” He also noted that the company has plans for “additional privacy controls” such as the addition of IP Protection to the browser’s Incognito mode. In contrast, Firefox disabled third-party cookies in 2019 and Safari in 2020. 

Third-party cookies were under scrutiny because they amass enormous amounts of personal data from users that is sent, traded and sold in the digital advertising industries, often without their consent or even their knowledge. Reasons like these are what led to the original decision for them to be phased out. 

Mostly Media’s View – 

The industry is rightly frustrated by the uncertainty from Google in whether third-party cookies will remain or be phased out, however, for advertisers there are pros to them remaining. 

First, adverts can be personalised and stay relevant to the user which is useful for more precise targeting. Secondly, site visitors will have a better user experience as websites can remember user preferences and login information, for example. Finally, user analytics will help website owners understand how users are interacting with their site, which can help improve its performance. 

We aren’t surprised by this reversal and are pleased to have some clarity from Google on the immediate future and their position on privacy for the remainder of 2024.

Credit: Caitlin Blue, Media Executive 

(Image: Shutterstock/MOLEQL)