Google's Announcement To NOT Deprecate Third-Party Cookies

Leif Parcell

Google has just announced it will not be deprecating third-party cookies in chrome as they’ve planned since 2020. After many attempts, they’ve come to realize that garnering industry-wide support around just one solution will prove almost impossible. Shifting away from cookies “requires significant work by many participants and will have an impact on publishers, advertisers, and everyone involved in online advertising,” Privacy Sandbox VP of Google Anthony Chavez wrote in the blog post announcing the change.  

Instead of deprecating third-party cookies Google will be introducing a new experience in Chrome that allows users to make an informed choice that will apply across their web browsing, which will also allow users to adjust at any time. Details on what exactly this means, how Google will present users with opt-in and opt-out choices, and the impact it will have on users, advertisers and the industry are still vague at this point.  

Cookies have been fading for years, driven by Chrome’s competitors removing third party cookies and regulations requiring affirmative consent for tracking. At 6sense we’ve been at the forefront of preparation for the deprecation of cookies and regardless of how Google moves forward we’ve implemented strategies that have made our account identification system, 6signal, even stronger.  

If Google decides to deprecate cookies tomorrow or years from now, the work we’ve done to put in place our multi-graph strategy, with a mix of identifiers, is already instrumental in fine-tuning our targeting and boosting effectiveness for customers.  

What we believe a future-proof identification and targeting solution includes 

Integrations with ‘Walled Garden’ Ad Platforms 
Walled gardens like LinkedIn and Facebook offer robust first-party data, making them resilient to cookie deprecation. 6sense's native integrations with these major B2B platforms allow our clients to leverage rich targeting data directly within these ecosystems, bypassing the need for third-party cookies. 

Persona Targeting 
Identifying companies is just the starting point. If you cannot target the right audience within the company, much of your advertising investment is still going to miss the target. 

Contextual Targeting 
Contextual targeting, or running advertising only on pages about specific topics, is a way to reach your audience when they are in the right frame of mind, which has consistently been shown to improve results. 

Alternative Identifiers 
Alternative identifiers, including RampID, Unified ID, and others, enable cookie-free audience targeting and reporting, using identifiers that are both more robust and privacy-conscious than traditional cookie-based identifiers. 

Cookies – Still on the Menu 
While the industry debates their expiration date, we'll continue to leverage cookies as part of our comprehensive identification strategy – because every reliable signal counts. 

What the Future Holds 

Although this latest shift by Google means cookie deprecation won’t take place immediately, their investment in the privacy sandbox indicates they do expect 3rd party cookies to continue to decline. As the coverage of 3rd party cookies does decline, advertisers and ad providers need to be prepared to operate effectively without.  

We will continue to take full advantage of all signals that are available, including cookies, while continuingly innovating and strengthening our use of additional identifiers allowing 6sense to move forward having the industry-leading account identification system now and into the future.  

Brandon McBride

I'm not surprised - Google has a history of walking back its deadlines. It will happen, eventually. And we appreciate the work 6sense puts into preparing for that.