What Cookiepocolypse? Advertisers Stick With The Tried And True

Google might be getting rid of cookies by 2023, but that isn’t stopping advertisers from making use of the tracking technology while they still can.

Mobile ad exchange Kargo has analysed programmatic ad spend across its system and found a high proportion of ads on the mobile web are still being powered by third-party cookies.

According to the data provided to B&T, around 95 per cent of revenue generated via Android is enabled by cookies.

On iOS, which accounts for around 60 per cent of overall traffic, approximately 50 per cent of revenue was cookie enabled.

While there has been much discussion around the ‘cookieless future’, this data suggests the popularity – and effectiveness – of cookies remains steady.

For Kargo’s COO Mike Shaughnessy, this continued discussion around life after cookies is an important step.

“With the cookie, there needs to be a lot of chatter and discussion because there’s no silver bullet into changing our habits, and I think the discourse is really beneficial,” he said.

He likened it to the rise of Supply Path Optimisation (SPO), which was a topic of discussion for some years before accelerating last year during Covid.

“These large industry shifts take a lot of time,” Shaughnessy said.

If not cookies, then what?

As it stands today, where there is mention of the deprecation of cookies, there is also usually mention of a cookieless alternative, whether that be first-party data use, hashed emails, or contextual targeting.

Although Kargo is seeing cookie-based solutions continue to be put to use, there is also a willingness to test out new technologies.

“Marketers are going to continue using cookies, but they’re starting to really invest in other strategies,” Shaughnessy said.

“We see that the future is contextual and also consumers are more aware of opt-in opportunities.”

iOS: a missed opportunity?

With 50 per cent of revenue on iOS still coming through cookie-based solution, Shaughnessy believes these advertisers could be missing out.

“On iOS, there’s a huge missed opportunity if you’re just leveraging the traditional third-party cookie,” said Shaughnessy

“There’s nothing better than the purchasing power on an iPhone and you want to make sure you’re building campaigns and helping drive outcomes from individuals using the iPhone.”

A strong focus on brand recall and developing creative that stands out serves as a way to optimise these campaigns for iOS, said Shaughnessy.

With a shifting privacy and regulatory landscape – particularly Apple’s recent changes to IDFA – Shaughnessy also suggested premium publishers will serve as a valuable asset for advertisers.

“There isn’t much to target in those app environments when you don’t have IDFA, so I think the concentration of spend that will shift to premium publishing will increase a lot,” he said.

These premium publishers will also provide a valuable environment for advertisers to deploy contextual ads.

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