It’s happening again. Under the premise of privacy, another Tech giant, Google, has scheduled the retirement of the third-party cookie. “Another one?” you might exclaim. Yes, another one.
The simple truth is that the deprecation of the third-party cookie didn’t start with Google. The transition had already begun with legislative actions, such as GDPR and CCPA, and some level of cookie blocking from browsers, such as Safari, Firefox, and Edge.
Progression of Ad Blocking Initiatives
Although advertisers have been cushioned from the blow somewhat because of limited adoption across browsers, the imminent threat of 3rd party cookie blocking in Chrome is a considerable threat to programmatic advertising across the web as we currently know it, as well as measurement and analytics – mainly because 63% of web users worldwide select Chrome as their browser of choice, while 46% of web users select Chrome in the U.S. [1]
[1] https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share
Cookies Demystified
So, what exactly is a cookie? It’s simply a snippet of code that is added to your browser when you navigate to a site. There are two different types of cookies:
[1] https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/a-more-privacy-first-web

- 1st party cookies: these are dropped on a user’s browser by the site being visited. Hence, its name “1st” The cookie can be used for analytics, tracking visitors, remembering user preferences, etc. A good example is when a user navigates to a news site, such as the New York Times. The domain will drop a snippet of code on the user’s browser. When the user returns, he/she will be presented with a more customized experience.
- 3rd party cookies: these are snippets of code from other providers — other than the one being visited. These types of cookies can only be read by the vendor to whom it belongs, and are typically used for cross-site tracking, retargeting, ad-serving, etc.
- Google is developing its own cookie-less solution currently. They are in the process of testing “cohorts (Federated Learning of Cohorts – FLOc),” which are, essentially, users grouped together based on interest as defined by their browsing history, content consumption, etc.
- Contextual and content targeting – while not new in concept, some AdTech companies have made considerable advancements in contextual and content targeting. So much so, that they can aggregate data from hundreds of thousands of Apps and websites in “real-time” to developed intent-based targeting that can be used in the moment for ad campaigns.
- IP Targeting – the transition to IP targeting was well underway before Google ever made its announcement. What’s IP Targeting, you ask? In simple terms, it is targeting an individual based on the IP address of that user’s device. Each connected device has one making it ideal for CTV, Mobile and ABM. If you are thinking that this kind of targeting isn’t “personalized” enough, don’t be fooled. Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), Data On-boarders, and AdTech companies are matching online and offline data to facilitate highly targeted, relevant ad campaigns that resonate with users.
- Geofencing – a subset of IP targeting, geofencing enables users to be targeted within a specific radius of a physical location based on IP address. A good use case for this would be to target attendees at an event to drive them to an exhibitor’s booth (live or virtually).
- Social Advertising – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and many of the social platforms are walled-gardens in and of themselves. By identifying the desired target within these self-contained networks, advertisers can develop highly personalized campaigns that completely by-pass Google.
- Unique Identifiers – just because Google isn’t playing ball, doesn’t mean that the game must stop. AdTech giants have not allowed Google’s March announcement to halt their efforts to move forward with a universal unique identifier. Prominent players, such as TradeDesk and LiveRamp, are actively working to integrate their IDs into DSPs. The reality is that Chrome isn’t the only player in town and if they won’t sign on for the next season, someone else will.
[1] https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/a-more-privacy-first-web