THE FUTURE OF THIRD-PARTY COOKIES

For the last 20 years, third-party cookies have been the cornerstone of online advertising, but their days seem to be numbered. Download our guide to learn why and how you can prepare for a cookieless future.

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Big Changes In 2021

Spring 2021
Apple IDFA Becomes Opt-In 

Big Changes Coming Soon

Second Half of 2024
3rd Party Cookie Tracking No Longer Allowed in Chrome

What This Means for Brands and Agencies

When Apple IDFA Becomes Opt-In…

  • App-based brands and campaigns focused on app install will be greatly impacted. It will become nearly impossible to track app installs in the traditional way once IDFA becomes opt-in.
  • Audience targeting and view-through conversions on apps will become very difficult to execute and track. Ad targeting will rely on cross-device methodologies.
  • Cross-device media buys will likely see their mobile audience-targeted campaigns shift to mobile web and android if they make no adjustments.
  • Brands and advertisers will need to brace themselves for the inability to measure media at a 1:1 level as more technology platforms adopt Apple’s new anonymized methodology.

 

When 3rd Party Cookie Tracking Is No Longer Allowed In Chrome…

  • View-through conversions and audience targeting will be greatly impacted. This will be the death of the third-party cookie essentially.
  • Marketers will no longer be able to do the granular audience targeting or retargeting they’re used to on desktop.
  • The transfer of data across platforms will be difficult and will require brands and advertisers to rethink cross-channel strategies.

 

Things to Know Going Forward

Walled Gardens Are Well-Positioned

Google*, Facebook*, and Amazon* are well-positioned without a third-party cookie due to their enormous first-party/deterministic database. They can maintain strong targeting and measurement; however, advertisers lose the flexibility and transparency offered by platforms tapping into the open web.

* = a Digilant partner
We’re among 2% of Google Partners that have access to heightened levels of service and support.

 

Independent Publishers Will Struggle 

Buy and sell-side platforms will struggle and need to adopt common and unified, deterministic IDs to have a shot at competing with the larger walled garden publishers. (Example: The Trade Desk* is trying to proliferate the Unified ID 2.0.)

* = a Digilant partner

 

Audience Targeting Will Change

As with the IDFA development, the vast scalability of third party audience targeting will be greatly reduced. However, the quality and accuracy will greatly increase. Digilant believes that contextual and content-based targeting will pick up the vast majority of scale lost from audience targeting.

 

View-Through Conversions Will Become Less Effective

View-through conversions based on third party cookies will become ineffective. Tech vendors will need to adopt a unified ID or will struggle to measure anything other than post-click conversions. The existing cross-device graphs in the market do not match the scale of the biggest walled gardens and will be challenged by the loss of the third party cookie. Google, Facebook, and Amazon are at a clear advantage as a result.

 

How Digilant Can Help You Prepare For the Depreciation of Cookies

1st-Party Data Planning

We can build a data infrastructure that maximizes first-party data. Through our LiveRamp partnership, we can onboard 1st party data and use identity technology to match a unified ID that can work across multiple platforms and channels.

Tech Stack Unification

We have deep partnerships with Google, Facebook, Samsung, The Trade Desk, and Amazon. We're among 2% of Google Partners that have exclusive access to heightened service and access to tools like DV360's cross-device user graph.

Advanced Measurement

We have a seasoned team of data scientists with expertise in statistical regression analysis and econometric modeling - so brands can understand the impact of their media and sales without any sort of 1:1 tracking.

Contextual Data Solutions

Reach consumers in timely, relevant, and brand-safe environments using contextual data that includes sentiment, tone, and more. Layer on 1st-party data to tap into the content interests of your audience to reach consumers with accuracy.

Publisher-Direct Partnerships

When you partner with Digilant you also get access to our partners. We have strong partnerships with publishers and content recognition technology companies so you can reach strong, quality audiences without a cookie.

Ongoing Education and Training

To help you prepare for a world without 3rd-party cookies, we have a team of experts ready at your disposal to share and interpret the latest changes and give practical next steps to ensure continued success in 2021.

Strategic Partners

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