Google's plan to replace tracking cookies faces major new hurdle

Google is facing growing backlash over its plans to remove tracking cookies from its popular Chrome browser.

Ad tech companies Index Exchange and Criteo said in recent weeks that their rigorous testing of Google's Privacy Sandbox found that Google's cookie replacement plans aren't ready to begin, nearly four years after they were announced. Google has said it plans to end support for cookies in Chrome in 2025, but that deadline has already been postponed several times.

The Privacy Sandbox provides a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) that aim to provide similar functionality to third-party cookies in areas such as ad targeting and measurement, without compromising user privacy.

Several ad tech companies have been thoroughly testing Google's Privacy Sandbox for months since Chrome disabled third-party tracking cookies for 1% of its users, giving them a glimpse into how the cookie ban would affect ad prices, website page loads, and publisher ad revenues. Some of these companies participated in a grant program where Google paid millions of dollars to fund the investments needed to test the technology.

So far, the results seem pretty bleak.

On Tuesday, Index Exchange, a supply-side platform that helps publishers monetize their web pages and is participating in the grant program, published a blog post outlining its belief that the Privacy Sandbox in its current form poses “significant risks to publishers and the entire programmatic ecosystem.”

A test by IndexX involving more than 100 publishers and 10 demand-side platforms found that impressions with Privacy Sandbox enabled saw a 33% lower CPM to reach 1,000 impressions compared to impressions with third-party cookies enabled, compared to a 36% drop when both cookies and the Sandbox API were not attached, according to IndexX.

“While the Sandbox API has certainly helped, its current scale, available feature set, and adoption level do not adequately fill the gap,” the company said.

Index Exchange's findings and feature proposals come days after publicly-listed ad tech company Criteo published a detailed blog post outlining shortcomings it found in its testing of Google's Privacy Sandbox. Criteo, a demand-side platform that helps advertisers place ads, was also a Privacy Sandbox grant participant.

Criteo predicted that publishers' Chrome ad revenues would fall by around 60% on average if cookies were disabled immediately. The company also argued that the way ad auctions are structured using the Privacy Sandbox “heavily” favors Google's own ad technology. Criteo offered a list of recommendations to mitigate these issues:

“We’re on the cusp of the biggest product launch in ad tech history, and the fundamentals aren’t being met,” Todd Parsons, Criteo’s chief product officer, said in an interview.

Commenting on the Criteo and Index Exchange findings, a Google spokesperson said it is impossible for a single buying platform to predict a publisher's revenue performance because publishers typically work with dozens of different demand sources.

“Further, we expect our performance numbers to evolve, and current numbers do not reflect ecosystem-wide performance in a true market that will not exist until adoption expands with third-party cookieless traffic,” the Google spokesperson continued in a statement.

Meanwhile, the IAB Tech Lab, an industry group that creates standards for digital advertising, recently released its own report that harshly criticized the Privacy Sandbox, updating one it released earlier this year. A Google spokesperson generally criticized the report but added that they were encouraged by the IAB Tech Lab's focus on discussing new features and sharing integration guidance with the industry, with input from the Chrome team.

IAB Tech Lab CEO Anthony Catulle said there is industry consensus that the Privacy Sandbox does not yet adequately support many advertising features, such as ad targeting and ensuring that users are not bombarded with the same ads.

“We don't believe cookies are the root cause of privacy issues in the ecosystem, but if Chrome thinks there's a better way, we'd love to hear about it,” Catul said. “That's not the current incarnation of the Privacy Sandbox. It doesn't work.”

Privacy Sandbox needs approval from competition regulators

Growing negative feedback from the advertising industry could set back Google's plans: In 2021, Google pledged to hand over oversight of its Privacy Sandbox rollout and Chrome cookie deletion to the UK Competition and Markets Authority.

The CMA is seeking assurances that the Privacy Sandbox does not distort competition in the online advertising market or favour Google's ad tech, and that users have sufficient control over how their data is used. The CMA is seeking feedback from ad tech companies, publishers and advertisers, some of which are expected to submit a detailed report on the Privacy Sandbox tests to the antitrust watchdog. The CMA is also considering recommendations from the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's data protection authority, to ensure that the Privacy Sandbox adequately protects user privacy.

The CMA was unavailable for comment ahead of the UK general election scheduled for Thursday. The CMA's most recent quarterly update on the Privacy Sandbox process, published in April, reported that Google was complying with its commitments.

Several ad tech companies, including other grant recipients, told Business Insider they aren't ready to publicly release the results of their Privacy Sandbox tests.

Ad tech executives from SSPs, who didn't want to speak publicly until the Privacy Sandbox report is complete, agreed with the conclusions in Criteo's recent blog post and said the move away from cookies will create serious challenges for the industry.

“This is a huge undertaking on all fronts,” the SSP executive said. “Yes, there are great technological advances, but everyone is going to have to change their buying patterns.”

Ad tech experts said many of the things they want Google to do to improve its Privacy Sandbox could take months to implement and may not be ready in time for Chrome's cookie cutoff deadline next year.

“While these challenges are being resolved quarter by quarter, it’s fair to say the previous timeline was not sufficient to complete the transition,” said James Colborn, global head of data at ad tech company Tees.

Still, he added that the Privacy Sandbox already appears to work better than a completely cookie-free environment, and that it's “promising as an early-stage technology.”

To be sure, Privacy Sandbox isn't the only alternative for a post-cookie advertising ecosystem: targeting using third-party cookies has been unavailable in Safari and Firefox browsers for years, and several companies have come up with alternatives, such as adopting new identifiers or increasing their use of first-party data.

RTB House, an ad tech company that works with brands and agencies, is also testing alternatives to cookies alongside the Privacy Sandbox, and while it is observing similar trends to Criteo, it is taking a different stance.

“Our assessment suggests that when the time comes, the ecosystem will be well prepared,” said Michael Lamb, chief commercial officer at RTB House.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://www.businessinsider.com/googles-plan-to-replace-tracking-cookies-faces-big-new-hurdles-2024-7 The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages. One important advantage is the speed at which information is sent and received. With the help of the internet, the shopping habits of many persons have drastically changed. The car insurance industry hasn't remained untouched by these changes. On the internet, drivers can compare insurance prices and find out which sellers have the best offers. View photos The advantages of comparing online car insurance quotes are the following: Online quotes can be obtained from anywhere and at any time. Unlike physical insurance agencies, websites don't have a specific schedule and they are available at any time. Drivers that have busy working schedules, can compare quotes from anywhere and at any time, even at midnight. Multiple choices. Almost all insurance providers, no matter if they are well-known brands or just local insurers, have an online presence. Online quotes will allow policyholders the chance to discover multiple insurance companies and check their prices. Drivers are no longer required to get quotes from just a few known insurance companies. Also, local and regional insurers can provide lower insurance rates for the same services. Accurate insurance estimates. Online quotes can only be accurate if the customers provide accurate and real info about their car models and driving history. Lying about past driving incidents can make the price estimates to be lower, but when dealing with an insurance company lying to them is useless. Usually, insurance companies will do research about a potential customer before granting him coverage. Online quotes can be sorted easily. Although drivers are recommended to not choose a policy just based on its price, drivers can easily sort quotes by insurance price. Using brokerage websites will allow drivers to get quotes from multiple insurers, thus making the comparison faster and easier. For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ Compare-autoinsurance.Org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Online quotes can easily help drivers obtain better car insurance deals. All they have to do is to complete an online form with accurate and real info, then compare prices", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing CompanyPerson for contact Name: Gurgu CPhone Number: (818) 359-3898Email: [email protected]: https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ SOURCE: Compare-autoinsurance.Org View source version on accesswire.Com:https://www.Accesswire.Com/595055/What-Are-The-Main-Benefits-Of-Comparing-Car-Insurance-Quotes-Online View photos