Planning for a cookie-less future: How browser and mobile privacy changes will impact marketing, targeting and analytics

Abstract

Recent and impending changes to the way that browsers and mobile platforms handle third-party cookies and ad IDs will have a profound impact on the digital advertising ecosystem. This paper examines these changes in the context of the development of the ad-tech and digital media industry, and concludes that while these developments may benefit users by protecting them from intrusive third-party tracking and targeting, they risk further consolidating power with the three dominant companies in the sector, namely Google, Facebook and Amazon, and advertisers and marketers will have to work hard to ensure they do not become over-dependent on these suppliers. At the same time, the changes offer an opportunity to move back to a better equilibrium between advertising and the content that it appears alongside, driving value for both advertisers and consumers.