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Third-party cookies have been the foundation of targeted advertising for a long time. Around 75% of marketers worldwide rely on third-party cookies, with approximately 42.2% of websites using them to gather user data. These tiny bits of code silently track our online activities, collecting search history and product preferences to help advertisers tailor their campaigns to our needs.
However, as fears over online privacy have grown, the third-party cookie era is ending. Most American consumers are worried about data privacy when engaging with brands online. Privacy concerns are widespread across all age groups, with 82.7% of 18- to 24-year-olds and 87.8% of 55- to 65-year-olds expressing apprehension about how their data is handled, according to eMarketer.
While some other search engines have already eliminated third-party cookies, Google Chrome — which holds 65% of the global browser market — is just beginning to phase them out as new alternatives are tested. Google’s third-party cookie deprecation is expected to impact marketers in a big way.
Let’s talk about what that impact will look like and how marketers can reconcile consumer demands for browsing privacy with their preference for personalized ad experiences.
What is cookie deprecation?
Cookie deprecation is a process where web browsers, like Google Chrome, phase out the use of a specific cookie type. In the context of this article, we’re referring to third-party cookies, small pieces of data stored on a device by websites a person visits.
Advertisers and other companies use third-party cookies to track a person’s actions on the web. They help those companies learn about an individual’s interests and show them targeted ads. But over time, internet users have become more aware of cookies and how much companies know about them, so browsers are phasing out third-party cookies to respect user privacy.
The timeline and reasons behind the shift
In January 2020, Google announced it would no longer allow third-party marketing cookies by 2022. Realizing it needed to find an alternative first, it pushed the deadline back several times over the years, eventually confirming that third-party cookies would be deprecated by the end of 2024 — a big deal for the advertising industry. So, what’s the motivation behind this change?
Many people are becoming increasingly worried about online privacy and the intrusiveness of third-party cookies. In recent years, lawmakers have pressured tech companies to make changes in response to their constituents’ concerns about online privacy rights. By getting rid of third-party cookies, browsers like Chrome are trying to give users more control over their data and respect privacy demands to create a more privacy-friendly browsing experience.
This shift is part of a broader trend in the digital world toward greater privacy protections, with browsers like Firefox and Safari having already phased out third-party cookies. We’ve also seen other significant moves in this direction, including the following. These regulatory efforts reflect a growing awareness of how important it is to protect data privacy and consumer rights in a world gone digital.
- Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework was introduced in iOS 14.5, requiring users to get permission before tracking their data across other apps or websites.
- The Global Privacy Control (GPC) strives to improve users’ control over their internet privacy by letting them signal their preferences for data sharing.
- Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) have strict guidelines for how companies handle personal data to prioritize transparency and user consent.
Google’s most popular browser, Chrome, recently made its first big move toward third-party cookie deprecation. On January 4, 2024, Google announced the rollout of a new “Tracking Protection” feature, limiting cross-site tracking by default. They’re doing this gradually, activating the feature for 1% of random Chrome users worldwide, about 30 million people.
Google Chrome’s cookie phase-out impact
Chrome’s third-party cookie deprecation is expected to have the farthest-reaching consequences for marketers like you, as it has almost two-thirds of the browser market worldwide. It’s important to note that this phase-out specifically targets third-party cookies, not first-party cookies, which are generated and stored by the website a user visits directly and will be unaffected by this change.
Here are a few of the impacts to prepare for.
Reduced tracking capabilities
Once third-party cookies are eliminated, you may face challenges in understanding consumer behavior across different websites. Without this tracking capability, understanding your audiences and effectively tailoring advertising campaigns might become more difficult.
Required shift in strategy
It will be key for you to adapt your advertising strategies to rely less on third-party data and more on alternative targeting methods. This shift may involve greater emphasis on contextual advertising, which targets people based on the content of the websites they visit instead of browsing history, and first-party data gathered directly from site users to personalize advertising campaigns.
Additionally, in order to move beyond reliance on cookies and third-party identifiers, activation platforms like demand-side platforms (DSPs) must evolve to identify addressable IDs within bid streams. This adaptability is essential as digital advertising shifts toward privacy and cookieless environments. By being able to recognize addressable IDs in bid streams, DSPs can help facilitate more accurate, personalized targeting and help advertisers reach their audiences across channels and devices without privacy concerns. As a marketer, you should understand the capabilities of your chosen platforms and inquire about their support for evolving targeting methods and data sources.
New compliance regulations
By limiting the ability to track users across the web, Google aims to enhance user privacy and control over their data. You’ll need to embrace privacy-centric approaches to advertising to comply with evolving privacy regulations and build trust with consumers.
Challenges posed by Google’s cookie deprecation in 2024
Marketers are responding to the announcement of third-party cookie deprecation with an eye toward innovation as they proactively seek new solutions. As of early 2024, 56% of marketers in the United States were testing cookieless alternatives. Knowing their customer acquisition will be less efficient without these cookies, they’re looking for ways to maximize the value of their existing customers, increase retention, and make better use of first-party data. Others have been slow to react due to a lack of awareness or uncertainty about how to handle the changes.
Here are some additional challenges advertisers can expect to face as third-party cookies begin to be phased out.
Impact on targeting and personalization
The decline of third-party cookies is expected to have a major impact on targeting and personalization strategies. As advertisers will no longer have access to individual browsing histories, some may struggle to reach specific audiences and deliver personalized content. As a result, they have begun to explore using first-party data and contextual targeting to preserve relevance and consumer engagement.
Attribution and measurement challenges
The future removal of third-party cookies may also make it harder to measure the effectiveness of advertising and accurately attribute conversions. Marketers are currently searching for reliable alternatives to track users across channels and touchpoints. Google’s Attribution Reporting API and private aggregation methods are being explored as potential solutions to these attribution and measurement challenges.
Data privacy and compliance challenges
Future third-party cookie deprecation makes data privacy and compliance a top priority. With the introduction of stricter regulations like GDPR and CCPA, you need to ensure your data collection and usage practices comply with privacy laws. To maintain the trust of consumers and abide by regulatory requirements, it has become essential to shift toward first-party data collection and more transparent consent mechanisms.
Lack of resources to invest in alternative solutions
One of the main challenges advertisers will face with future cookie deprecation is a lack of resources to invest in alternative solutions. Many businesses don’t have the financial resources or technical expertise to explore and implement new targeting and measurement methods.
Additionally, some companies have been reluctant to adopt new solutions because they want to thoroughly test and evaluate their efficacy. The fear of investing resources in unproven technologies or strategies has led to a cautious approach among marketers and advertisers. However, this reluctance to adapt could hinder their ability to remain competitive.
Many companies may also face logistical challenges due to the complexity of transitioning from reliance on third-party cookies to alternative data sources and targeting methods. Integrating new technologies, adjusting workflows, and retraining staff requires time and effort, adding to the complexity of the transition.
Adapting to a cookieless world
Even though third-party cookies are going away, you still have other types of data in your arsenal to help you continue reaching your audience.
Use first-party data
First-party data, collected from customers or website visitors directly, offers valuable insights into consumer behavior and preferences. By investing in proven data collection methods and analytics tools, you can understand your audience more accurately and tailor your messaging and targeting accordingly.
Explore Experian’s signal-agnostic products
Experian is leading the charge in preparing marketers for a cookieless world with our audiences and foundation built from over 200 offline data sources. Our signal-agnostic Graph supports universal IDs and enables brands to expand their existing IDs to all other digital and addressable IDs within our Graph.
Advertisers can enhance their strategies by working with Experian to enrich first-party data with our demographic and behavioral attributes to gain a better understanding of audiences without cookies. Additionally, our data collaboration solutions enable marketers to collaborate with partner data, deriving greater value and enabling deeper insights for effective marketing campaigns. Experian is future-proofing identity strategies to ensure continued marketing performance and success.
Discover alternative targeting technologies
As third-party cookies become obsolete, marketers are starting to investigate alternative targeting technologies for optimizing campaigns. These may include contextual targeting, which focuses on the content and context of a user’s web browsing activity, as well as emerging solutions like cohort-based targeting, which groups users based on shared interests and behaviors. Think of third-party cookie deprecation as the opportunity to innovate and rethink strategies that have relied too heavily on one type of technology.
Best practices for marketers in the post-cookie era
Embracing best practices for a privacy-centric advertising environment can help you maintain your effectiveness and thrive in a cookieless world. Let’s talk strategies to help you succeed in the post-cookie era.
Focus on customer consent and transparency
Having consumers opt-in to sharing their data is an excellent way to build your data pool ethically. One way to do this is by encouraging users to create accounts or log in to access exclusive content or features while providing valuable information in exchange for their data. Another way is by conducting surveys or quizzes to gather insights directly from users about their preferences, interests, and behaviors. You could also use interactive content like polls and contests to engage users and collect data. These approaches can enrich your data pool while demonstrating your commitment to respecting user privacy and preferences.
Prioritize obtaining explicit consent from users before using or gathering their data for your advertising. Implement transparent data practices by clearly communicating to consumers how you’ll use their data and providing easily accessible options to manage their privacy preferences. By building trust through transparency and respecting user choices, you can forge stronger relationships with your audience.
Enhance the customer experience with quality data
In the future absence of third-party cookies, first-party data will be paramount in helping you understand and engage with your audience effectively. Invest in strategies that will help you collect high-quality data directly from customers, such as through interactive content, preference centers, and loyalty programs. By obtaining and using accurate, relevant data, you can provide personalized experiences that resonate with audiences and drive meaningful engagement.
Collaborate with evolving technology platforms
As Google’s cookie deprecation reshapes advertising, it will be important to collaborate closely with technology providers and key industry players who are adapting to these changes. Make sure your chosen platforms are keeping up with the industry and offering solutions that align with the shift to cookieless environments. Partnering with platforms that are proactively addressing these challenges will make it easier to navigate the changing marketing environment and drive better results for consumers and campaigns.
Prepare for the future of advertising with Experian
Despite the fact that third-party cookies are going away, there’s no need to panic. This change offers new opportunities for innovation and strategic refocus. With the emergence of alternative targeting methods, such as first-party data, you can still reach your target audiences effectively while respecting user privacy. By staying proactive and utilizing your available resources, you can navigate the cookieless future with confidence and continue to drive meaningful connections with your audiences.
With a robust suite of data-driven solutions and a breadth of addressable IDs, Experian can help you continue to reach and engage with your target audiences. Our Consumer Sync identity solution is signal-agnostic and empowers consistent consumer interactions, while our Consumer View data solution offers privacy-compliant data to help you connect meaningfully with consumers and reach audiences effectively. Connect with Experian today to discover how we can help you prepare for and thrive in a cookieless future.
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The advertising ecosystem has seen significant transformation over the past few years, with increased privacy regulation, changes in available signals, and the rise of channels like connected TV and retail media. These changes are impacting the way that consumers interact with brands and how brands understand and continue to deliver relevant messages to consumers with precision. Experian has been helping marketers navigate these changes, and as a result, our marketing data and identity solutions underpin much of today’s advertising industry. We’re committed to empowering marketers and agencies to understand and reach their target audiences, across all channels. Today, we are excited to announce our acquisition of Audigent—a leading data and activation platform in the advertising industry. With Audigent’s combination of first-party publisher data, inventory and deep supply-side distribution relationships, publishers, big and small, can empower marketers to better understand their customers, expand the reach of their target audiences and activate those audiences across the most impactful inventory. I am excited to bring together Audigent’s supply-side network as a natural extension to our existing demand-side capabilities. Audigent’s ability to combine inventory with targeted audiences using first-party, third-party and contextual signals provides the best of all worlds, allowing marketers to deliver campaigns centered on consumer choices, preferences, and behaviors. The addition of Audigent further strengthens our strategy to be the premier independent provider of marketing data and identity, ultimately creating more relevant experiences for consumers. To learn more about Experian and Audigent, visit https://www.experian.com/marketing/ and https://audigent.com/. Contact us
Retail media has been on everyone’s radar for a while. Commerce media has also established itself as a significant player in the AdTech industry over the past few years. While retail media focuses on engaging customers within a retailer’s ecosystem, commerce media goes beyond these boundaries to capture the entire shopping journey, spanning multiple touchpoints, channels, and platforms.But what is commerce media, and why should we care? Commerce media is here to stay Estimated to hit $33.86 billion this year and more than double by 2028, the hunt is on to capture as much of retail media’s projected ad spend as possible. However, given the numerous verticals expanding their retail media strategy to include any touchpoint within the commerce channel, it might be time to lower the retail media flag and hoist the LUMA dubbed "commerce media flag." So why are Travel, Financial Services, and other verticals focusing on the commerce media ship? Authenticated and digital users (usually app-driven) Consented data that provides unique insight into the household’s or consumer’s intent/purchase behavior Emerging focus on advertising as an important revenue stream for the future With all this “data” at their disposal — why is it not smooth sailing for commerce media to build an ad-supported business? What’s missing for them to acquire the lucrative billions efficiently and effectively? Why retail media networks are important Retail media networks (RMNs) are now a major tool for brands to connect with shoppers. These networks gather valuable data from customers who browse and shop on e-commerce sites and apps. What makes RMNs so powerful is that they allow brands to advertise directly to people who are already interested in buying, leading to more successful sales. For marketers, RMNs offer a clear way to reach potential customers and ensure their advertising dollars are well spent. But as competition grows and consumer habits change, these networks must keep improving. To stay ahead, brands will have to find new ways to use RMNs effectively, linking them with other parts of the commerce media world to unlock even greater results. Differences between building a loyalty program and developing ad products Loyalty programs are the backbone of commerce media networks; however, creating a loyalty program is much different than building an advertising product. It requires commerce companies to bring on additional people, technology, and partners to execute flawlessly. There are four areas to consider: 1. Organizing your data at scale To successfully build an ad-supported business at scale, data must be organized to initiate action (targeting and/or measurement). However, this requires changes in company culture. Both the business and technology infrastructure must be updated. Additionally, commerce media companies must update their mindset around creating and selling products. 2. People We have seen this story before, with large opportunities comes the requirement for new talent. Where are we seeing commerce media companies recruit from? AdTech and MarTech. Whether it’s engineers or data scientists, business development and partnership leads, or even your direct sales team, the poaching has begun. To build a successful business around advertising, experts are needed who can navigate the waters. 3. Partner vs. build The Requests for Information (RFIs) and Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for any combination of agency, demand-side platform, supply-side platform, customer data platform, identity graph, clean room, and beyond are piling up. One trend is clear: commerce media companies are looking for collaborative partners to provide a true strategic partnership to take on the complexities of the transition away from retail media. 4. Identity will remain the keystone to success All commerce media companies have some identity data that reveals a slice of their customers’ viewpoint. Yet, unlocking the broad view of these audiences is crucial to success. These companies need to use the “full pie” to see well-rounded profiles, gain the reach required to access them across many channels, and turn opportunities into revenue. Advertisers can finally close the loop with commerce media networks Commerce media companies with real-time transaction data enable advertisers to see true ROI on their ad spend when products move off the shelves. Measuring real product lift/sale touch points across multiple channels will put performance and measurement front and center. Programmatic was the promise of performance advertising. Well, commerce media may finally fulfill that vow, creating enough value for companies to make it a real competitor to social channels. While retail media will always exist, the transition to commerce media has become increasingly popular and is here to stay. The journey might not be a straight shot to perfect results, but the data, partnerships, and resources are out there and ready to hop aboard to help guide commerce media companies to success. The future of commerce media Commerce media shows no signs of slowing down. More industries are seeing the benefit of making every customer touchpoint an opportunity to drive sales. Whether through social media shopping or in-app purchases, commerce media pushes businesses to create smoother, more connected shopping experiences for consumers. In the future, brands won’t just compete on prices or products — they’ll stand out by offering simple, seamless shopping experiences across all devices. With better data and tools to track consumer behavior, brands will be able to personalize their ads and measure their success in real time. Commerce media allows brands to see a direct link between their ads and sales. Those who can adapt and keep up with these changes will come out on top. Create a connected customer view with Experian At Experian, we empower RMNs to unlock the full potential of their first-party data through comprehensive identity and audience solutions. Our data-driven capabilities enable RMNs to build a deeper understanding of their customers, optimize audience targeting across channels, and create enriched, actionable segments that drive measurable outcomes. By seamlessly connecting our offline and digital data, we help RMNs organize identities into households, device IDs, and more. Each household is enriched with valuable marketing insights, allowing you to gain better customer understanding, create targeted advertising, and reach the right customers across different devices. Additionally, you’ll be able to measure the effectiveness of your advertising efforts. With our support, RMNs can maximize revenue opportunities, extend reach, and confidently demonstrate the value of the network to advertisers. Contact us today to find out how Experian can help you succeed in commerce media. Contact us Latest posts
Originally appeared on MarTech Series Marketing’s understanding of identity has evolved rapidly over the past decade, much like the shifting media landscape itself. From the early days of basic direct mail targeting to today's complex omnichannel environment, identity has become both more powerful and more fragmented. Each era has brought new tools, challenges, and opportunities, shaping how brands interact with their customers. We’ve moved from traditional media like mail, newspapers, and linear/network TV, to cable TV, the internet, mobile devices, and apps. Now, multiple streaming platforms dominate, creating a far more complex media landscape. As a result, understanding the customer journey and reaching consumers across these various touchpoints has become increasingly difficult. Managing frequency and ensuring effective communication across channels is now more challenging than ever. This development has led to a fragmented view of the consumer, making it harder for marketers to ensure that they are reaching the right audience at the right time while also avoiding oversaturation. Marketers must now navigate a fragmented customer journey across multiple channels, each with its own identity signals, to stitch together a cohesive view of the customer. Let’s break down this evolution, era by era, to understand how identity has progressed—and where it’s headed. 2010-2015: The rise of digital identity – Cookies and MAIDs Between 2010 and 2015, the digital era fundamentally changed how marketers approached identity. Mobile usage surged during this time, and programmatic advertising emerged as the dominant method for reaching consumers across the internet. The introduction of cookies and mobile advertising IDs (MAIDs) became the foundation for tracking users across the web and mobile apps. With these identifiers, marketers gained new capabilities to deliver targeted, personalized messages and drive efficiency through programmatic advertising. This era gave birth to powerful tools for targeting. Marketers could now follow users’ digital footprints, regardless of whether they were browsing on desktop or mobile. This leap in precision allowed brands to optimize spend and performance at scale, but it came with its limitations. Identity was still tied to specific browsers or devices, leaving gaps when users switched platforms. The fragmentation across different devices and the reliance on cookies and MAIDs meant that a seamless, unified view of the customer was still out of reach. 2015-2020: The age of walled gardens From 2015 to 2020, the identity landscape grew more complex with the rise of walled gardens. Platforms like Facebook, Google, and Amazon created closed ecosystems of first-party data, offering rich, self-declared insights about consumers. These platforms built massive advertising businesses on the strength of their user data, giving marketers unprecedented targeting precision within their environments. However, the rise of walled gardens also marked the start of new challenges. While these platforms provided detailed identity solutions within their walls, they didn’t communicate with one another. Marketers could target users with pinpoint accuracy inside Facebook or Google, but they couldn’t connect those identities across different ecosystems. This siloed approach to identity left marketers with an incomplete picture of the customer journey, and brands struggled to piece together a cohesive understanding of their audience across platforms. The promise of detailed targeting was tempered by the fragmentation of the landscape. Marketers were dealing with disparate identity solutions, making it difficult to track users as they moved between these closed environments and the open web. 2020-2025: The multi-ID landscape – CTV, retail media, signal loss, and privacy By 2020, the identity landscape had splintered further, with the rise of connected TV (CTV) and retail media adding even more complexity to the mix. Consumers now engaged with brands across an increasing number of channels—CTV, mobile, desktop, and even in-store—and each of these channels had its own identifiers and systems for tracking. Simultaneously, privacy regulations are tightening the rules around data collection and usage. This, coupled with the planned deprecation of third-party cookies and MAIDs has thrown marketers into a state of flux. The tools they had relied on for years were disappearing, and new solutions had yet to fully emerge. The multi-ID landscape was born, where brands had to navigate multiple identity systems across different platforms, devices, and environments. Retail media networks became another significant player in the identity game. As large retailers like Amazon and Walmart built their own advertising ecosystems, they added yet another layer of first-party data to the mix. While these platforms offer robust insights into consumer behavior, they also operate within their own walled gardens, further fragmenting the identity landscape. With cookies and MAIDs being phased out, the industry began to experiment with alternatives like first-party data, contextual targeting, and new universal identity solutions. The challenge and opportunity for marketers lies in unifying these fragmented identity signals to create a consistent and actionable view of the customer. 2025: The omnichannel imperative Looking ahead to 2025 and beyond, the identity landscape will continue to evolve, but the focus remains the same: activating and measuring across an increasingly fragmented and complex media environment. Consumers now expect seamless, personalized experiences across every channel—from CTV to digital to mobile—and marketers need to keep up. The future of identity lies in interoperability, scale, and availability. Marketers need solutions that can connect the dots across different platforms and devices, allowing them to follow their customers through every stage of the journey. Identity must be actionable in real-time, allowing for personalization and relevance across every touchpoint, so that media can be measurable and attributable. Brands that succeed in 2025 and beyond will be those that invest in scalable, omnichannel identity solutions. They’ll need to embrace privacy-friendly approaches like first-party data, while also ensuring their systems can adapt to an ever-changing landscape. Adapting to the future of identity The evolution of identity has been marked by increasing complexity, but also by growing opportunity. As marketers adapt to a world without third-party cookies and MAIDs, the need for unified identity solutions has never been more urgent. Brands that can navigate the multi-ID landscape will unlock new levels of efficiency and personalization, while those that fail to adapt risk falling behind. The path forward is clear: invest in identity solutions that bridge the gaps between devices, platforms, and channels, providing a full view of the customer. The future of marketing belongs to those who can manage identity in a fragmented world—and those who can’t will struggle to stay relevant. 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