Why the testing of cookieless alternatives must continue despite reprieve from Google

While the long-term implications of Google halting its plan to deprecate third-party cookies are unclear, publishers should still prepare for all outcomes.

Addressability remains an issue that the advertising industry must address. While some might see this as a challenge, it's a golden opportunity; publishers can seize this chance to deliver better audiences to advertisers while driving revenue for their inventory in a way they could never have with third-party cookies alone.

The cookieless world is already here

The reality is that we're already operating in an increasingly cookieless world. Signal loss is not a one-time event but something that has been happening in programmatic advertising for years—and will likely continue.

Chrome may be the dominant browser in APAC—with a 71% market share in Asia and 57% in Oceania—but many consumers use Safari and Firefox or disable third-party cookies in Chrome. As a result, a significant segment of the population in APAC already can't be reached through third-party cookies.

While some marketers are still hooked on the KPIs third-party cookies provide, publishers can take the lead and help the industry innovate. To do so, they should already be testing addressability alternatives to find ways of delivering audiences that can be reached across all browsers and environments.

What signal loss means for publishers

The signal loss facing advertising rightfully has publishers concerned for their bottom line: Ad revenues will be impacted if advertisers find it more difficult to target audiences. Niche publishers, in particular, who don’t have logged-in, authenticated users at scale will need to consider addressability alternatives to continue successfully monetising their content.

While more mainstream publishers might look to protect their businesses through subscription models and direct advertising relationships with selected brands, they, too, stand to benefit from the variety of solutions that can help them realise the total value of their inventory.

Advertisers that rely primarily on third-party cookies are missing out on reaching large segments of their potential audiences. Publishers are in a powerful position to help these advertisers by finding solutions that connect them with those not subjected to tracking via traditional methods.

Strategies for testing cookieless addressability alternatives

There are at least 25 different cookieless alternatives. While this might seem like an overwhelming number of options, publishers shouldn't focus too much on narrowing down their choices. As there will be no single solution to signal loss, homing in on just one method will be limited to future success. Innovative solutions for various forms of signal loss will be paramount.

To maximise the chances of finding the right solution to fit their business model, publishers should work with partners who empower them to test several alternatives quickly. Probabilistic and deterministic IDs, attention-based solutions, contextual solutions, first-party data, and Privacy Sandbox must be sized up and tested against one another. Along with the practical issues publishers must consider, such as latency and viewability, these alternatives must fit specific use cases for publishers and advertisers alike.

Publishers can enlist differentiated partners to help them test cookieless addressability alternatives, run multiple solutions against each other within existing workflows to establish benchmarks and determine which solutions perform best at the scale they require.

When selecting testing partners, publishers should look for organisations that are integrated with multiple solutions and have robust and interoperable ID graphs that allow them to curate audiences. Small-scale testing with trusted partners can help publishers keep investment costs to a minimum while providing valuable insights into future strategies and informing their ultimate investment choices.

Through thoughtful testing, collaboration, and results sharing, all parties can see what works, what doesn't, and where further innovation is required.

Publishers must step up testing addressability alternatives now

Publishers must tap into the right expertise through trusted partnerships and proactively test addressability alternatives. Publishers can learn much more from testing now than standing by and waiting to see what happens next. Instead, stepping up testing allows publishers to advance along the learning curve and be leaders in addressable audiences.

While signal loss is one of the most significant changes the digital publishing industry has ever seen, it also allows publishers to fully realise the value of their audiences across all browsers and environments—including those currently untapped. They can deliver better audiences to advertisers while maximising revenue for 100% of their inventory—something they could never achieve with third-party cookie strategies alone.

Mitchell Greenway is the managing director for APAC at OpenX