Media Briefing: Google’s extension puts publishers at ease to continue cookieless plans, but some fear advertiser urgency is gone

By Tim Peterson

In this week’s Media Briefing, platforms, data and privacy reporter Kate Kaye talks with publishers about what Google extending the third-party cookie’s expiration date means for their advertising businesses.

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Google’s postponement: reprieve or predicament?

Like an early riser leaping from bed before the alarm app buzzes, publishers are largely treating Google’s shift to extend its timeline for killing off third-party cookies as a chance to get ahead on preparations for an inevitable cookieless reality. However, some worry that advertisers will use it as an opportunity to hit the snooze button for another couple of years.

The key hits:

Many larger publishers had positive responses to Google’s shift to push off the demise of third-party cookies in its Chrome browser till the end of 2023.
Publishing executives said the extension will offer more stability as they stay the course on existing first-party data and contextual strategies.
However, by giving advertisers nearly two years beyond the original deadline to use the targeting tech they are accustomed to, some publishers worry Google just gave them another reason to stay away from trying those new alternatives.

“We are still planning to move forward with all of the strategies that were in place — mainly growing and strengthening our first-party data and identity resolution solutions,” said Alex Kalaf, vp of marketing and advertising strategy at U.S. News and World Report. The news publisher has updated its ad platform to segment audiences according to intent-oriented signals that are based on its site visitors’ behavior, such as whether someone used a hotel pricing widget.

Kalaf’s remarks reflect a common refrain among several other publishers including BuzzFeed, The Independent, Insider, Livingly and Meredith: The extension doesn’t change plans; rather, it allows more time to reinforce first-party data initiatives already in the works.

Extending the product roadmap

The extra time could help to smooth the transition for media companies from a reliance on third-party cookie-based ad revenue to alternative ad revenue streams. As publishers wean themselves off third-party cookie-based sales, they will need to win advertisers over to their cookieless alternatives in order to counter any ad pricing changes.

“It will help publishers sustain revenue while continuing to plan for the upcoming changes,” said Nicole Lesko, Meredith Corporation’s COO and data strategy. Meredith is testing cookie-free targeting based on “a blend of real-time signals, contextual, audience and research-backed insights and trends,” she said.

“I think it means more predictability in 2021,” said Ken Blom, BuzzFeed’s svp of ad strategy, which aims to sell more inventory directly to advertisers and through private marketplaces by building custom audience packages based on new content like shopping-centric product reviews. The Google extension, he said, “gives us more time to think about the tech that goes into that or add something that has a three-year roadmap.”

More time means more robust first-party data signals to assemble and substantiate emerging contextual audience segments, said Blair Tapper, senior vice …read more

Source:: Digiday