Jul 26, 2024 • 6 min read
25.07.2024 - 03:39 / skift.com / Dennis Schaal / Seth Borko / Skift Research
When it came down to it, Google didn’t want to anger its core customers — advertisers — and this week announced it won’t phase out third-party cookies in its Chrome browser as planned.
These cookies enable companies to track and target consumers across other websites. For example, Expedia can send potential customers an ad when it sees them shopping for luggage on Amazon, or Hilton can offer discounted stays to potential customers who may have been visiting Marriott.com.
Knowingly or not, consumers often agree to enable the use of third-party cookies as trackers when they visit websites. Google’s decision to retain these ad trackers reversed a 2019 pledge to phase them out.
Apple gives users of its Safari browser the option to block third party cookies, and limits tracking capabilities. Firefox gives users the choice of how to curtail them.
In its earnings call Tuesday, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said its Google brand will take steps to improve users’ privacy options but won’t gut cookies. “But on third-party cookies, given the implications across the ecosystems and considerations and feedback across so many stakeholders, we now believe user choice is the best path forward there,” he said.
In addition to advertisers, some competition authorities chimed in that deleting third party cookies might limit advertising competition.
We asked a variety of people across the travel, marketing and venture capital industries what Google’s retreat on cookies means for travel marketers.
Seth Borko, head of Skift Research, said Google’s decision to retain the use of third-party cookies will help smaller travel advertisers because larger companies were already developing ways to better use their own first-party data to track consumers in the event that cookie capabilities disappeared.
“I think this change comes too late to make a difference,” Borko said. “Large companies have spent a lot of time, money, and energy investing in first-party data strategies and it’s probably too late to put that genie back in the bottle no matter what Google does or doesn’t do. First-party data is really powerful and can be used for things like training AI models and creating personalized offers and digital experiences.”
He said Google’s decision “won’t change the status quo” because the big players continue to invest in first-party data “in the hopes of gaining an AI and personalization edge.”
Brian Harniman, vice president of strategy at digital agency From, said a Google statement that it made the decision so it could enhance consumer choice in advertising and to protect privacy rights “makes me want to throw my laptop out the window.”
“I think it’s an acknowledgement that they’re beholden to their large advertisers — travel
Jul 26, 2024 • 6 min read
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