What Will That Mean For Your Website & Customers?

Google has stated that third-party cookie support in Chrome will be phased away by 2022 and updated their timeline of events. The search engine and marketing giant is developing a new set of APIs for browsers to enable advertising, which includes its Privacy Sandbox.

For months, the fate of third-party cookies has been the biggest subject of debate among digital marketers, and it’s something to keep an eye on in the coming years.

Let’s talk about Google’s Privacy Sandbox and the impact it’ll have on the future of internet advertising.

What’s up with Google’s Privacy Sandbox?

Google’s intentions to phase out third-party cookies sent shockwaves through the online publishing world, and rightfully so. Many publishers believe that Internet advertising, or at least advertising as we know it, is coming to an end.

There are several reasons for Google’s decision to phase out third-party cookie support, the most important of which being that these cookies can lead to the exploitation of personal data and infringe on a user’s internet privacy.

Another reason for the decision is that people are becoming more conscious of the importance of internet privacy. As more people have been worried about how third-party vendors gather their data, privacy legislation such as GDPR, LGPD, and CCPA have been enacted.

However, Google has a plan, and in the absence of third-party cookies in Chrome, the plan is to develop its own tools to allow marketers to access Google’s first-party data.

In the summer of 2020, Google’s Privacy Sandbox was introduced to mixed reviews.
While this is primarily a program geared at making the internet more private for consumers while simultaneously allowing advertisers to do measurements and monitoring, many people are concerned about Google’s continued control over the internet.

Is the Privacy Sandbox Really Necessary?

More and more people are switching to cookie-free browsers, unlike Chrome, which continues to support third-party cookies even while Safari and Firefox have stopped doing so. Despite the shift to cookie-free browsers, Google still has the bulk of browser market share.

But, in order to keep its advertising business running smoothly, Google needed to come up with a solution. The Privacy Sandbox is a solution to a world without cookies, and its goal is to give anonymity to user data while still allowing marketers to employ behavioural targeting using browser APIs.

The Privacy Sandbox solution, according to Google, will secure user internet privacy while still allowing content to remain freely available, all without the need of third-party cookies. Even if the changes are upsetting publishers, the business thinks that in the long term, consumers will benefit from more choice, transparency, and control.

The Meaning Behind Google’s Ad Network and Publisher Privacy Sandbox

Because Google has said that they are willing to collaborate with Chrome users and advertisers to ensure that the Privacy Sandbox helps everyone — from users to industry stakeholders — publishers are encouraged to provide input on each of the five APIs.

In the future, the APIs are expected to become open web standards, with Google undoubtedly expecting that they will be adopted by other browsers as well. The Privacy Sandbox initiative engaged the World Wide Web Consortium which signalled to many industry stakeholders that the final aim is for the five APIs to become standard across all browsers.

Advertisers may be able to acquire a more consistent view of consumers across all browsers if the APIs become industry standard, and publishers may be able to monetise their sites without cookies if the APIs become an industry standard. While Google hasn’t said directly that the five APIs are a forerunner to a Google universal identification, the industry consensus is that a universal identity is Google’s ultimate goal.

Conclusion

Although Google’s Privacy Sandbox is still in its early stages, the company maintains that the processes on which it is based have gotten encouraging feedback.
One of the biggest fears in the industry is that Google’s walled garden would give the tech giant even more influence, because ad networks would have to rely on Google’s first-party logged-in data instead of gaining direct access to genuine data from their viewers.

If Google’s aims for the Privacy Sandbox are met, its adoption should not result in a drop in income for publishers, and advertisers will still be able to employ targeting.
Users would be glad to have control over their internet privacy settings, according to Google, and would be less inclined to use ad blockers as a result.

Publishers will lose access to third-party data once the Privacy Sandbox is tested and distributed, and the browser will become more important.
Because ad networks and publishers will rely on browsers for targeting, monitoring, and evaluating outcomes, being completely prepared for the future Google envisions is a smart idea.