‘It’s going to make our jobs harder’: Effects of Google’s third-party cookie fallout compound for marketers

Google has finally thrown down the gauntlet, making good on its promise to decimate third-party cookies in its Chrome browser by the end of this year. Some marketers have started testing alternatives, taking matters into their own hands as opposed to waiting for the other shoe to drop. But for the most part, marketers seem unfazed given the writing has been on the wall for years. As the fallout continues, however, agency executives expect to see compounding effects on trends like the rise of retail media, streaming and audio ad spend, and the role of display ads.

The signal loss from Google’s data privacy initiative is having a ripple effect within the marketing industry, as the loss of third-party cookies forces marketers to probe their own first-party data and peddle it, giving rise to the retail media networks. Thanks to the cord-cutting trend, ad dollars were already flowing from linear television into streaming. But as the loss of third-party cookies muddies targeted ads, some agencies are seeing the investment in display advertising decline in favor of streaming video and audio. While display ads won’t see the sun set on them anytime soon, media buyers are taking a different approach to the role they play in the media mix, especially as banner blindness and digital fatigue continue.

That’s not to say Google is to blame for these trends, but it is to say the loss of third-party cookies has added fuel to the flames.

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