Privacy & Identity: Why It Matters

Why it matters — Measuring ad effectiveness across sites is the backbone of traditional online display advertising. But measurement through attribution is advertising's supernova, and its elimination might result in advertisers funding only a few sites. While each browser comes at privacy differently, they all move to isolate a person's activity. So, no cross-site linking of an individual's ad exposure and conversion increases the difficulty for brands buying ads across the web, and smaller sites are likely to lose advertising support. We'll see a new web emerge from these changes and new ways for brands to measure success. Advertisers and publishers must take action early to better prepare for the future.

Why it matters — The ongoing cliffhanger involving Google and regulators continues to keep marketers transfixed and questioning how a resolution will change the industry. Plans to eliminate third-party cookies -- originally announced in 2019 -- have been delayed two more years, with a 2023 target date for Chrome to complete the phase-out. As the UK’s CMA investigates whether the deprecation of third-party cookies poses anti-competition risk, Google has offered numerous carrot sticks -- more delays, promises not to favor its own systems, and a 60-day notice before deprecating the cookies — to resolve the matter. With numerous regulators still debating how to successfully enact these measures, the advertising community, including TripleLift, are pushing forward with proposed solutions of their own to ensure consumers’ privacy rights are protected.

Why it matters — Google’s elimination of third-party cookies and its anticipated implementation of its Privacy Sandbox proposals, including FLoC and FLEDGE, has thrown many curves towards marketers eager to understand the consequences. Both run the risk of triggering seismic shifts in the industry, which is why the continued delay -- now targeting Q4 2023 -- has been met with a positive reaction. Regardless of why -- Google continues to exist under a cloud of regulation, especially in the UK -- an additional year gives Google and the industry at large breathing room to prepare, refine, and understand the new water in which they will swim.