IAB publishes updated guide to the post-third party cookie era

IAB Europe has published its latest updated guide to the post-third party cookie era (the "Guide") which aims to offer assistance to entities across the adtech supply chain on operating in a post-third party cookie world.

As many readers will be aware, the adtech industry has for a long time been heavily reliant on the use of third party cookies. With Google's much publicised decision to block the use of third party cookies on its Chrome browser by 2022, this, to all intents and purposes, spells the end of the widespread dependency on third-party cookies for targeted advertising online.

Many more privacy friendly alternatives have been discussed (e.g. Google’s FLoC and Privacy Sandbox) and cross-industry groups such as IAB have done much to drive developments forward with the aim of achieving buy-in from all areas of the industry. The Guide offers useful, practical guidance and information for publishers, brands, agencies and intermediaries up and down the supply chain on the latest developments, and how the industry as a whole may navigate the unknown of the post-third party cookie era in a compliant but effective manner. The IAB intends the Guide to be updated and be reissued as the situation continues to evolve.

The depletion of third-party cookie usage marks a staging post in the evolution of the adtech industry as a whole, and perhaps an opportunity to put the handbrake on and reassess how adtech will operate from here on in. With cross-industry buy-in and thoughtful consideration, this marks an opportunity to build in a "privacy by design" element to the way the industry operates, whereas previously critics of adtech have argued that “development of the possible” continued apace, with targeting technology advancing to ever greater degrees but with little consideration for privacy or other regulatory concerns. What the post-third party cookie landscape looks like is still very much uncertain, but there is certainly hope it represents a turning point towards a more privacy-centric, but no less effective, industry.

See the link below to download a copy of the Guide in full.