When you look at sneakers or any other product in an online store, those same sneakers will probably haunt you for several days on every page you visit. This happens thanks to the third party cookiesa type of file used to track user activity on the Internet. Have you ever wondered what would happen if these types of cookies ceased to exist overnight?
Growing concerns about privacy have caused some major technology companies to rethink their use. Without going any further, Google itself proposed ending them in 2019, an announcement that turned the entire advertising industry upside down. To this day, third-party cookies are still with us, but their future is in question and there are already companies preparing for a future without them.
An unfinished promise
To understand the current panorama we have to go back to August 2019, when Google made public its intention to stop using third-party cookies in favor of more user-friendly alternatives. Taking into account that Google Chrome is the most used browser in the world, it is not surprising that the announcement set off all the alarms in the advertising industry.
Thanks to cookies, companies collect information about users’ interests, the web pages they visit and the way they interact with each page. Logically, seeing ads that adapt to our interests and personal preferences increases the likelihood that we will click on a particular ad and end up purchasing the product, which is why cookies are tools very valuable for advertisers.
The problem is that this technology allows companies to build extremely detailed profiles with the interests, behaviors and browsing patterns of each user: as we visit different web pages, cookies continue to collect our browsing habits and the user profile is increasingly extensive, something that many consider disproportionate.
Given that users are increasingly aware of the use made of their personal information, there is a need to look for a more respectful alternative to cookies. Yes, the fight against cookies Third parties are not just a matter of Google: Safari and Firefox have been blocking them for years, which prevents advertisers from tracking the activity of users of these browsers.
While Safari and Firefox completely block third-party cookies, Google’s alternative takes a different approach
According to Google, blocking third-party cookies completely has led to the use of much more invasive techniques, such as fingerprinting. As the company itself explained at the time, it is a technique that is responsible for identifying the information that distinguishes each user (such as the device used or the installed sources) to generate a unique identifier and be able to track their movements. The problem is that we can block cookies, but we can’t do anything to stop the use of these types of techniques.
Something that should be kept in mind is that blocking third-party cookies does not only affect advertisers: Google also expressed concern about the effect that blocking cookies has on companies that depend on advertising revenue to offer access. free to its contents. The reason is that in the absence of cookies, many media outlets would have to stop offering their content for free due to the drop in advertising revenue.
The radical solutions
One of the approaches that many media are beginning to bet on is to offer users the option of pay to delete third-party cookiesa strategy that allows you to continue making profitable visits from those who do not agree with the transfer of their information. In fact, at the end of 2023 we learned that even Meta itself planned to charge a monthly fee to Instagram and Facebook users who did not want to see ads. The European Data Protection Committee did not like this very much, which in April of this year rejected that the only options were to pay or accept the transfer of data, requiring large digital platforms to have a third option.
As a result, Meta will backtrack and offer Instagram and Facebook users in the European Union the ability to see less personalized ads in their feed, a move that could negatively impact the company’s profits, according to a report. exclusive recently published by the Wall Street Journal. Instead of showing ads based on activity history, Meta will show contextual ads based on the content the user views during the current session. Apparently some of these ads will be displayed full screen and cannot be skipped.
While Safari and Firefox are committed to completely blocking third-party cookies, Google’s alternative is committed to a different approach. In August 2019, Google introduced Privacy Sandbox, an initiative that aimed to develop a set of standards to improve web privacy without sacrificing free access to content. In 2020, the company reiterated its commitment to ending third-party cookies, pointing to 2022 as the final date on which they hoped to say goodbye to this type of cookies. In the summer of 2021, the first delay arrived: despite the progress, Google needed more time and then pointed to mid-2023 as the date on which they would begin to eliminate third-party cookies in Chrome, a process that would last until the end of the year.
The problem is that in April 2024 they announced a delay again, postponing the change until 2025.
Privacy Sandbox arises to improve web privacy without sacrificing free access to content
Taking into account the multiple delays over the last few years, it is clear that offering an alternative to third-party cookies is not simple. Google has been working closely with regulators and advertisers, but problems have arisen that have delayed progress. Just a few months ago, the company surprised the industry with an unexpected change of approach: instead of eliminating third-party cookies, Google announced that Chrome users will have the possibility to choose whether they want this type of cookies to be used or No.
We are facing a significant change of course with respect to the initial proposal: It will be the user who decidesadjusting the behavior of the browser according to your preferences. This does not mean that Google is going to stop working on Privacy Sandbox: the company states that it will continue working with regulators and will continue to offer access to the available APIs, but everything seems to indicate that the current focus is on offering the user greater control. The technology giant has yet to provide more details and an estimated date on which the change we are talking about will come into effect.
The industry is not idle
In general, the objective of companies working on a solution to the problem of third-party cookies is to offer advertisers tools that allow them to continue offering personalized advertising, but in a way that is more respectful of user privacy. Today there is no single answer.although some of the existing alternatives focus on limiting the information that advertisers can access while offering users a platform to see who has access to their data.
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend Inspirational 2024, the benchmark event for the digital industry in Spain, organized by IAB Spain. One of the presentations had the objective of discussing the future of the advertising industry and brought together in one place a group of experts from various companies working on their own solutions to the problem of third-party cookies.
Imagen | IAB Spain
One of the companies that participated in the presentation is The Trade Desk, which proposes the use of an open source identifier (Unified ID 2.0) based on the user’s email and phone number. This information is encrypted and allows advertisers to continue showing personalized ads, but offers more transparency and control: the user can visit a portal at any time from which to revoke their consent. If you do so, you will no longer receive personalized advertising based on your identifier.
Another alternative is Utiq, which is supported by some of the largest telephone providers in the world. As the company explained during the presentation, its proposal is based on the use of the telephone number and the mobile network to identify the user, so it only works when we browse the Internet using our data rate. Utiq allows advertisers to collect information about users’ interests in a more respectful way than cookies from third parties: they promise to share only the information strictly necessary to guarantee the privacy of users, who have access to an online portal from which they can view the web pages to which they have given their consent and revoke it at any time.
As we mentioned, there are alternatives with different approaches. Another company that is committed to reducing dependence on third-party cookies while offering advertisers tools to connect with their potential customers is Adlook, which takes advantage of the potential of deep learning during all phases of a campaign, from audience segmentation to fraud prevention and campaign optimization. We also learned about the LiveRamp proposal, a platform that allows advertisers to access data from multiple sources, connect it and take advantage of its potential in their advertising campaigns.
The LiveRamp platform is responsible for eliminating identifiable personal data, thus preventing re-identification.
Regardless of the implementation that Google ends up betting on in the near future, it is clear that finding a solution Convincing users and advertisers is complicated: While users increasingly demand more privacy, advertisers still need data to achieve the best performance with their ads. Keeping both parties happy is difficult and the key is to find tools that allow advertisers to offer personalized advertising while respecting the privacy of users. The way in which the industry will solve the problem is not clear, but what we do know is that there is no shortage of proposals.
Cover image | Microsoft Designer Image Creator
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