Google backtracks on cookie deprecation, and advertisers look to the open web

Welcome to the July edition of Spotlight, your monthly digest of what’s making news in the world of digital marketing and adtech.

What we have for you today: Google decides it won’t deprecate tracking cookies after all, publishers stall on the shift to digital, and the EC comes down on “pay or consent” business models.

Google rows back on cookie deprecation in Chrome

After years of sliding deadlines and prolonged uncertainty, Google has finally decided that?it won’t deprecate cookies?in Chrome after all. Instead, Chrome users will be able to make an “informed choice” on cookies and adjust their consent settings accordingly. Meanwhile, Google plans to roll out its Privacy Sandbox as a privacy-preserving alternative.

What does this all mean? Ultimately, not all that much. The overarching direction of travel for digital content is for privacy-first approaches that continue to deliver personalised customer experiences. Poll after poll shows that consumers are more savvy than ever about invasive tracking cookies, and it is more than likely that most will not opt-in when given the choice by Google. This will render tracking cookies next to useless for programmatic advertising.

When Apple made its advertising ID on iOS opt-in, just 27% of users decided to do so. If users drop off at the same rate, we can expect cookie addressability to plumet from 35% on average today to less than 10%.? The Privacy Sandbox, meanwhile, will prove a poor alternative. Figures from Criteo suggest that?publishers would lose 60% of their ad revenue?to Google unless changes are made to the way the Sandbox works. Google’s market share would therefore rise from 24% to a near monopoly of 83%.

Following Google’s announcement, it’s clear that publishers and advertisers should maintain a focus on using alternative identifiers that preserve web users’ privacy while delivering the levels of personalisation they demand and do not cannibalise the publisher revenue.

Publishers play the waiting game

While Google back tracks on its plans for tracking cookies, publishers are largely sitting back and waiting to see how things pan out. Research from Digiday shows that?fewer publishers today?source most of their revenue entirely from digital channels than they have in the past. Rather than look to the privacy-first future and aim to enrich their data, building privacy-first addressable audiences, and drive revenue growth, many publishers are falling back on legacy channels. This is the wrong approach to take, and organisations that press ahead with change will ultimately command greater market share.

The good news is that there is strong demand from advertisers for publishers to do just that. With the walled gardens falling foul of the EU’s digital regulations and the price of advertising on these platforms skyrocketing (see Apple’s 30% fee for advertisers looking to boost Facebook or Instagram posts on iOS devices), advertisers are?increasingly eyeing the opportunities?available on the open web. Publishers that can provide privacy-centric audiences at scale will reap the rewards. What’s more, with?major third-party data marketplaces?coming under pressure, now is the perfect opportunity for publishers to once again rise to the top of the data ecosystem and provide the addressable audiences advertisers are crying out for.

Balancing privacy with usability

In the UK, the legislative programme got underway with the King’s Speech, which outlined the new Labour government’s planned bills for the term of the next parliament. Digital regulation is front and centre, with a “Digital Information and Smart Data Bill” high on the agenda. The?focus of the bill?seems to be on enabling the sharing of data to facilitate economic growth in a smoother and more secure way. The proposed bill plans to promote smart data portability, where the sharing of data is encouraged to improve service delivery and innovation without compromising on privacy. Novatiq’s own story, and the development of our privacy-first IDs for digital advertising shows that these two aims can be met and will in the long run create better digital services.

Consent wins out over subscriptions

One thing is becoming increasingly clear: as far as privacy protection is involved, digital platforms cannot simply do away with advertising-funded content and ask consumers to pay for content instead. At the beginning of July, the European Commission stated that Meta’s “pay or consent” advertising model is in breach of its Digital Markets Act. This?preliminary view from the EC?is that users who do not consent “should still get access to an equivalent service which uses less of their personal data,” in this case personalised advertising. There can no longer be any doubt: publishers need to focus their efforts on delivering high-quality, consent-driven audiences to power the personalised digital advertising that consumers demand.

More from Novatiq

Novatiq.com had had a revamp! Swing by our new pages and check out how we can deliver powerful?identity resolution,?audience addressability, and?audience activation?services for publishers and advertisers that have privacy at their heart. And if you’re looking for a deep dive into the topic of audience activation then check out?this new telco case study?, here you can see how we helped drive a 68% marketing cost reduction and a 12% improvement in campaign engagement rates.

Novatiq has also landed a couple of in-depth thought leadership articles in the press. Swing by?CIO Influence?and learn more about how telcos can implement telco-verified IDs as a new revenue stream. You can also take a look at?Advertising Week?and discover why telcos need to keep a close eye on what’s happening with tracking cookies.

As always, you can also learn more by reading our latest blogs. This month we are looking at the art of targeting and reaching anonymised audiences?in a world with fewer tracking cookies.