With the impending deprecation of third-party cookies, marketers find themselves at the crossroads of innovation and adaptation. As we bid farewell to this identifier, the emphasis shifts to forging deeper connections, understanding customer needs, and navigating the marketing landscape with data-driven precision. At Experian, we stand as your trusted partner, committed to guiding you through this transition. In this blog post, we’ll explore:
- How third-party cookie deprecation is impacting digital advertising
- Six alternatives to third-party cookies and where they fall short
- How Experian can help you navigate a cookieless world
Four ways third-party cookie deprecation is impacting digital advertising
Third-party cookie deprecation is causing significant challenges within the AdTech industry, manifesting in four key areas:
- Reach: Advertisers and demand-side platforms (DSPs) will face difficulties in reaching their target customers due to the absence of third-party cookies.
- Understanding audiences: Advertisers will find it challenging to understand the demographics and behaviors of their customer base without third-party cookies. Similarly, publishers are struggling to identify their audiences accurately, resulting in less addressable and appealing inventory.
- Measurement: Measurement providers may encounter obstacles in accurately assessing the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Additionally, DSPs are finding it hard to measure the impact of their ads without the assistance of third-party cookies.
- Matching: Data providers may experience challenges in matching users with the appropriate audience segments, leading to difficulties in delivering targeted advertising.
Six alternatives to third-party cookies
As the deadline approaches for Google’s removal of third-party cookies from Chrome by the end of 2024, marketers are scrambling to discover alternative methods for delivering effective advertising. Fortunately, various alternatives are emerging. However, the abundance of options can create confusion rather than clarity. Which alternatives are worth considering? Here are six compelling alternatives to third-party cookies:
1. First-party data
Acquiring consented first-party data directly from users is becoming increasingly vital as it can lay the groundwork for more precise targeting.
2. Universal IDs
Alternative identifiers like The Trade Desk’s UID2 and ID5’s Universal ID are becoming increasingly important, offering the ability to maintain a comprehensive consumer view across channels and platforms, leading to enhanced personalization and addressability across various channels, even in cookieless environments.
3. Identity graphs
As browser-based IDs shift and digital signals decline, the need for an identity graph grows, with companies adopting a “graph-of-graph” strategy by combining their own robust first-party data with licensed identity graphs, as highlighted in recent announcements by industry giants such as Disney, VideoAmp, and Magnite.
4. Contextual targeting
Contextual targeting aligns publisher content with relevant ads, ensuring ad delivery based on content rather than individual identifiers. This privacy-respecting approach is less dependent on third-party cookies, providing effective audience activation.
5. Data collaboration
In a cookieless world, it becomes more difficult for companies to “communicate” with one another. We expect to see more pick up of data collaboration in the market, using addressable IDs and identity resolution to power connectivity between partners and their data sets.
6. Google Privacy Sandbox
The primary goal of Google’s Privacy Sandbox is to continue to deliver valuable consumer information that yields relevant marketing and media strategies, while protecting a user’s privacy.
How these alternatives to cookies fall short
While it’s promising to see numerous alternatives to cookies emerging, it’s essential to recognize that each alternative has its limitations and is not a perfect one-to-one replacement for third-party cookies. Let’s review the shortcomings of these alternatives, and then we’ll walk through how Experian can help you navigate these alternatives to cookies.
1. First-party data
First-party data, which is data directly collected from your users with their consent, is highly valuable. However, you will likely face limitations in terms of the number of consumers in your database, the identifiers linking them, and the insights into their demographics and behaviors. To overcome these limitations, it’s essential to expand both the quantity and quality of your first-party data.
2. Universal IDs
Universal identifiers are valuable for tracking users across different devices and websites. However, no single universal identifier has enough reach to fully replace third-party cookies. Universal IDs are most effective in terms of scaling, when they are combined with other universal identifiers or alternative addressable identifiers.
3. Identity graph
Identity graphs excel at connecting digital audiences. However, establishing an identity graph from scratch is a significant accomplishment, demanding expertise, financial resources, and more.
4. Contextual targeting
Contextual targeting and advertising aim to place your ads next to relevant content. However, there’s a risk that your ads might appear alongside misaligned content, reaching audiences who are uninterested or unintended.
5. Data collaboration
Data collaboration is beneficial for enhancing your consumer data and informing your strategies. However, it can introduce potential data security risks, if not done in the right framework, and may lead to subpar matching results due to issues like data hygiene or discrepancies in identifiers.
6. Google Privacy Sandbox
Google’s Privacy Sandbox aims to balance effective advertising with consumer privacy and data security. However, it lacks transparency and has yet to prove its effectiveness, raising concerns about whether it meets industry standards.
How Experian can help you navigate a cookieless world
As an industry innovator and leader in data and identity, we’ve developed solutions to address the challenges posed by the shift away from third-party cookies. Our products are designed to adapt to these changes and ensure your success. We’ve anticipated industry shifts and proactively prepared our offerings to support you through this transition. Below we outline how our products are ready to support you through the transition away from third-party cookies.
Graph
The Experian Graph facilitates connectivity without relying on cookies. Our Graph helps ensure connectivity by supporting a variety of addressable identifiers, not limited to but including universal IDs, like Unified ID 2.0 (UID2) and ID5’s universal ID. Whether you have first-party data or not, our Graph can be used to expand the reach of your first-party data or provide you with access to the full scope of our Graph’s 126 million households and 250 million individuals.
Activity Feed
Supported by our Graph, Activity Feed can help you deliver digital connectivity and resolution in a cookieless environment. Activity Feed can resolve disparate activity to a single, consumer profile. It can expand the quantity of addressable identifiers associated with your first-party consumers. Additionally, Activity Feed, by joining disparate activity and identifiers, provides clearer insights, more addressable targets, and more holistic measurement.
Our Marketing Attributes and Audiences
In a cookieless environment, our Marketing Attributes and Audiences provide valuable information and insights about who your consumers are, like their demographics, shopping patterns, and more, to facilitate more informed decision-making. You can use our Marketing Attributes and Audiences to enrich your first-party data, giving you crucial insights into your customers so you can make informed, strategic decisions. They can be matched to universal identifiers, expanding their utility. Additionally, our Marketing Attributes and Audiences are sourced from non-cookie dependent offline and digital sources, ensuring they are unimpacted by third-party cookie deprecation.
Collaboration
While third-party cookies have primarily served to connect data in the industry, many companies are turning to data collaboration in lieu of having third-party cookies. In doing so, they can connect data with key partners, which they can use to make better media decisions.
Experian Collaboration helps make data collaborations better, powering higher match rates by using the various identifiers supported in our offline and digital graphs. Through our current support of collaboration in three environments, within Experian, through crosswalks, and in clean rooms, such as AWS, InfoSum, and Snowflake, we ensure that you only share the data you intend to share, while the sensitive information remains secure. This way, your partner and you can focus on how to use the data to benefit you and not on anything else.
Get started with alternatives to third-party cookies today
While many view the deprecation of third-party cookies as disruptive, we see it as an opportunity for the industry to embrace a new era of advertising while prioritizing consumer privacy. Achieving this balance is crucial, and Experian’s solutions are here to help you navigate it effectively. As the AdTech industry gravitates toward a few tactics to effectively advertise in the cookieless future, Experian is here to understand your core needs and recommend products that will help.
In a rapidly evolving marketing landscape, Experian stands as your trusted partner, offering expertise in data-driven and identity solutions. Connect with our team to seamlessly transition into these alternatives to third-party cookies, ensuring your marketing strategies remain effective, privacy-compliant, and focused on meaningful connections.
Get started today
Latest posts
In our Ask the Expert Series, we interview leaders from our partner organizations who are helping lead their brands to new heights in AdTech. Today’s interview is with Allison Dewey (Director, Data & Curation) at 33Across. Navigating complexity in digital advertising Digital advertising is more fragmented and privacy-constrained than ever. How is 33Across helping marketers cut through that complexity to drive real outcomes, and what makes your approach distinct? Reaching audiences without compromising scale or performance is one of the toughest challenges for marketers. Users consume content across multiple devices and channels, making it difficult for marketers to identify and accurately target them with the right message. 33Across segments leverage AI-powered contextual and behavioral signals across privacy-safe environments to help marketers accurately identify audiences, whether they’re streaming content on their connected TV or researching products on their mobile device. What sets us apart is that we don’t just identify valuable audiences; we help marketers also target cookieless inventory and power it with real-time signals. Marketplace integration milestones What excites you most about bringing 33Across audiences into Experian’s data marketplace? We’re excited to bring 33Across audiences into Experian’s data marketplace because it connects our unique segments with a powerful data ecosystem that marketers already trust. Buyers looking to activate audiences that are both privacy-safe and performant continue to tap into the Experian data marketplace for high-quality, high-performing data. We offer a wide range of audience verticals, including B2B, demographic, retail purchase data, interest and intent, and political data. In addition, we offer the ability to create custom segments across verticals. Our intent-based audiences, built from contextual and engagement signals, help buyers reach consumers on CTV, desktop, or mobile devices with scale. Being part of Experian’s data marketplace accelerates access to these audiences, drives better ROI, and helps brands future-proof their strategies today. Retail demand signals Retail brands are racing toward privacy-safe, first-party data. Which 33Across retail datasets or segments are experiencing the highest demand, and what makes them a must-have? Retail marketers are leaning into contextual and behavioral intent signals to complement their first-party data strategies. At 33Across, we’re seeing high demand for segments tied to shopping intent, including in-market consumers browsing for categories like fashion, home goods, electronics, and health & wellness. What makes these segments essential is their real-time nature – they can capture consumer interest as it happens. For retail brands looking to expand their reach while respecting privacy, our segments offer scalable, actionable intent that drives results. B2B without cookies Reaching real B2B decision-makers at scale is tough with or without signals. How does 33Across deliver both precision and reach in this environment? B2B marketing often struggles with balancing scale and specificity. 33Across addresses this by combining contextual precision with AI-modeled behavioral signals; this segment approach reaches professionals actively engaging with relevant content and topics, even in environments where IDs are unavailable. Marketers gain access to more signals and, in turn, better reach from 33Across’ unique publisher integrations and audience curation built from machine learning and AI. We surface intent through content consumption patterns and contextual engagement, unlocking valuable, privacy-safe signals at scale. Allowing B2B marketers to reach real decision-makers in a signal-sparse world. Use cases With retail, B2B, and beyond, can you share an example of how brands in these verticals are utilizing your audiences? Top brands that have a user-focused approach use 33Across audiences to drive scale; performance. These brands enable our segments to precisely reach the right users across devices and increase conversion rates; brand awareness. By reaching the right users, brands have higher conversion rates and increase campaign efficiency. Supply path innovation As identifiers disappear, advertisers are looking for scalable, privacy-safe ways to reach real people. How is 33Across helping unlock more addressable inventory and drive performance? By combining contextual, semantic, and engagement-based signals, we deliver intent-based targeting that performs across CTV, display and video. Higher addressability helps marketers not only extend their reach but also deliver personalized messaging across digital channels in a privacy-compliant way. Contact us FAQs How can advertisers reach audiences without traditional identifiers? By using contextual and engagement-based signals, advertisers can target consumers across CTV, mobile, and desktop in a privacy compliant way, even as identifiers become less available. What audience segments are most in demand for retail marketers? Segments tied to shopping intent, such as consumers browsing fashion, electronics, or health products, are highly sought after because they capture real time interest and drive results. How can B2B marketers find decision-makers without cookies? Combining content engagement patterns with machine learning allows marketers to reach professionals actively engaging with relevant topics, even in environments where IDs are unavailable. What makes privacy safe audience targeting effective? Privacy safe targeting uses real time contextual and behavioral signals to deliver relevant messaging across devices and channels without compromising consumer trust. How can real-time intent signals drive demand? Real time intent signals allow advertisers to capture consumer interest as it happens, helping demand side platforms and brands deliver timely, relevant ads that increase engagement and drive conversions across devices like CTV, mobile, and desktop. About our expert Allison Dewey, Director of Data and Curation, 33Across Allison Dewey is the Director of Data & Curation at 33Across, where she oversees data partnerships, integrations, and supply-side curation. With a deep expertise in audience targeting and signal optimization, Allison plays a key role in connecting data into the programmatic world. Allison holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Bates College. About 33Across Rooted in over 15 years of data expertise, 33Across harnesses signals to enrich and expand marketers’ audiences and reach them wherever they consume content. Built from over 300 billion proprietary data signals, we apply machine learning and AI to create over 1,500 B2C and B2B segments using privacy-first principles to reach audiences. Latest posts
Originally appeared in Adweek This holiday advertising season, identity is the real differentiator Marketers are betting big on AI to run their holiday advertising, using it to build predictive audiences, generate creative at scale, and optimize media buys in real time. The draw is clear: greater efficiency, delivered at scale. But here’s the problem: without a solid identity foundation, AI is just guessing. And in a year when consumers are cautious and competition is fierce, guesses won’t deliver the outcomes you need. Experian’s 2025 Holiday spending trends and insights report shows that success this season will depend on connecting the right data to the right audiences in real time. Download the report now Are shoppers really using AI to make holiday purchases? Not yet. Only 12% of consumers plan to use AI tools to shop this season, mostly for finding discounts. Instead, trusted influences (like retailer websites, product reviews, and recommendations) still guide buying decisions. For marketers, that’s a signal to focus on credibility and connection. AI can support your holiday advertising strategy, but trust still wins the sale. Consumer sentiment heading into the holidays is low, but that could mislead marketers Here's why How marketers are really using AI in holiday advertising Behind the scenes, AI is working overtime. Teams use it to segment audiences, test creative, and optimize media in real time. These capabilities are powerful, but only if they’re grounded in accurate, persistent data. Think about the typical holiday shopper. They may browse a product online, validate it in store, and finally purchase days later from a different device than they used while browsing. If AI isn’t anchored in identity, it struggles to connect those touchpoints. Instead of amplifying relevance, it amplifies noise. See our predictions for Black Friday 2025 Why identity is the GPS for AI-driven holiday advertising Identity is what turns AI from a blunt instrument into an accurate tool. By unifying fragmented signals across channels and devices, identity provides the consistent consumer view that AI needs to be effective. With that foundation, AI can do more than churn out models. Instead, it can: Identify the right audiences and filter out waste Personalize with context, not just scale Measure real outcomes, linking exposures to visits and purchases Identity doesn’t just improve efficiency; it creates accountability. And in a season where every holiday advertising campaign dollar is scrutinized, accountability is the difference between investment and waste. Why connected data will make or break Cyber Week How to turn complexity into clarity this holiday season This year's holiday advertising season is complicated. Marketers are confident, consumers are cautious, and AI is somewhere in the middle. The challenge isn’t just speed or volume, it’s accuracy. By pairing AI with identity, you can adapt to real behavior instead of assumptions. You can build campaigns that are consistent across connected TV, retail media, and social platforms. And you can prove results when it matters most. AI isn’t a holiday miracle. But when it’s powered by identity, it can give you clarity in a noisy season and proof of performance when budgets are under scrutiny. Explore Experian's holiday audiences to activate this season What’s the real takeaway for marketers this season? Don’t assume AI alone will save your holiday advertising strategy. It won’t. Consumers still trust human voices more than machines, and your AI models are only as strong as the data beneath them. Identity is the difference between guesswork and accuracy, between activity and impact. This holiday season, the winners won’t be the brands that simply spend more or automate faster. They’ll be the ones that put identity at the core of their AI strategy and meet consumers where they really are. Download Experian’s 2025 Holiday spending trends and insights report to see where consumers are spending and how identity can help your holiday advertising campaigns more effective. Download now FAQs Why isn’t AI enough on its own for holiday advertising? AI works best when it’s grounded in accurate data. Without identity, it can’t connect actions across devices or channels, which limits its effectiveness. How does identity improve AI-driven campaigns? Identity creates a single, persistent view of your audience. That means AI can personalize content, measure conversions, and cut waste with far greater accuracy. What does “identity” mean in marketing terms? It’s the data layer that connects people across their devices, browsers, and behaviors—so your campaigns reach real individuals. How can marketers prove ROI in holiday advertising? By tying exposure to verified outcomes—like store visits or purchases—using identity-linked data. That’s how Experian helps brands move from impressions to impact. Latest posts
What challenge did the pet brand face? A national e-commerce pet supplier wanted to expand into audio advertising to diversify beyond display campaigns. But with only one team member available to test this new channel, they faced three hurdles: Prove performance in a new channel Run lean with limited bandwidth Show purchase intent, engaged site visits, and completion rates fast They needed a partner to handle execution and supply optimization so their lean team could focus on strategy and selling audio internally. Hear how we're working with Audacy to help our clients connect beyond the screen Tune in here The solution: How did Experian Curated Deals help? Audigent, a part of Experian, ran point on setup, optimization, and real-time reporting. The brand turned to Experian Curated Deals. Together we: Streamlined access to curated inventory, cutting intermediaries and boosting efficiency Handled campaign setup and supply-side optimization Delivered real-time demand-side platform (DSP) reporting for agile targeting refinements Provided an extension of their in-house team, giving them bandwidth to focus on pitching audio internally “What stood out about Experian was their real-time control and the depth of their trading team. I knew I could hand them a campaign, and they’d run with it.”Programmatic Media Lead, National e-commerce pet supplier Want to see the full case study? Download it here What results did the campaign deliver? In just a few months, audio transformed from a small test into a top-performing channel: Exceeded KPIs by 63% Increased purchase intent and engagement vs. competing platforms Matched display performance without creative refreshes or incentive overlays Earned budget increases, positioning audio as a long-term investment Reduced internal setup time, freeing the team for strategic projects “Experian became more than just a media partner: they filled critical gaps that would typically require outsized investment in internal resourcing.”CMO, National e-commerce pet supplier Explore more examples of how brands are driving performance with Experian Windstar Cruises Leading athletic retailer Swiss Sense Why does this matter for marketers? For marketers, audio isn’t experimental anymore. It’s a proven channel that can drive both engagement and conversions. This case study shows how brands can: Use Experian Curated Deals to validate new channels with minimal risk. Lean on Experian to handle execution, freeing teams to focus on growth. Drive meaningful engagement and purchase intent, not just impressions. For marketers navigating limited resources and pressure to prove ROI fast, Experian Curated Deals provides both performance and confidence. Want to beat your campaign goals by double digits? Contact us today FAQs What is Experian Curated Deals? Experian Curated Deals streamline access to premium media inventory by eliminating unnecessary intermediaries, optimizing efficiency, and ensuring campaigns perform against KPIs. Why use curated deals for audio advertising? Curated deals help brands test and validate audio quickly, without the heavy lift of manual setup and supply path management. Can audio really drive conversions? Yes. In this case, audio campaigns not only exceeded awareness and engagement goals but also matched the conversion performance traditionally associated with display. How does Experian support lean teams? By managing setup, supply optimization, and reporting, Experian acts as an extension of your team, reducing internal workload while driving performance. Latest posts