How digital ad industry is preparing for change in 2024

FOR digital advertising industry, planning for 2024 is unlike any other year. It is going to be, in a word, dynamic. The industry is heading into an unusual transition that will affect the fabric of the open web ecosystem: the forced, fast and complete transition away from the third- party cookie for targeting and measurement.

Google has the power to deprecate third- party cookies in Chrome unilaterally, meaning that the industry does not have the choice to keep using the cookies. This move is intended to happen within just six months during the second half of 2024. Instead of transitioning over years, the industry will have to adapt quickly.

In the end, third- party cookies for targeting and measurement will be gone — not just diminished or lingering behind the scenes. Of course, this assumes that Google will adhere to its cookie deprecation timeline.

Post- cookie deprecation, billions in programmatic ad spend will need to shift

Since it first announced the retirement of cookies from Chrome in January 2020, Google has twice pushed the timeline from its original target of early 2022. As a result, many in the industry remain skeptical that it will move on its current plan. Antitrust scrutiny from the U. K.’ s CMA and questions about the readiness of Google’s Privacy Sandbox technologies could disrupt Google’s plan.

According to emarketer, more than $ 123 billion in programmatic advertising is transacted via real- time bidding on the open Internet. Using this as an approximation of ad spend bought against audience data, including cookies, is fair. This means that starting in July 2024 and by the end of the year, more than $ 123 billion of programmatic ad spend needs to shift to new targeting and measurement technologies.

That is a massive amount of ad dollars that need to shift in a very short amount of time. While there may be further changes to Google’s timeline, teams shouldn’t assume Google would delay things at this stage.

From alternative IDS to new behavioural targeting tech, stakeholders must plan now for a smooth transition

Indeed, all participants in the digital advertising community must develop 2024 plans that incorporate the assumption that between July and December 2024, the third- party cookie will cease to exist. For business continuity, all ad spending, technologies, business processes, products and services powered by third- party cookies must be transitioned to alternatives.