Michael Miller, the Executive Chairman of News Corp has warned that Google’s blocking of third-party cookies in Chrome will result in all internet-based businesses needing to “rethink how they buy, sell and communicate on the internet.”
In an editorial for The Australian, Miller refers to third-party cookies as an “essential building block of the internet” and explains how Google’s decision to block these in Chrome will “change the business model for every company, large and small.”
He has a point. Third-party cookies exist in order for advertisers to target you. They are placed on your browser by a third-party company (i.e. not by the website on which you are browsing) to target what you are likely to read, to buy, and how often an advertisement is clicked on, and by who.
As oppose to first-party cookies, where the website you browse remembers your passwords and what specific content you clicked on, third-party cookies can result in companies you have never interacted with, collecting an awful lot of data about you.
Everyone who advertisers online, and anyone that accepts advertising online, uses them. They are the backbone of the economic model of the internet.
From early 2022, Google will be removing these, in a bid to increase user privacy. It is a noble pursuit, for sure, but Miller is right: it will completely upend the way in which most businesses operate online.
First-party cookies will become even more important. Companies will need to rely solely on their own metrics to work out how to better target audiences and to make sure their advertisers are happy.
As Miller, explains: “Business risks abound but, for the astute, great opportunities will be found for companies to build even closer links with their consumers as the internet world moves from third-party cookies to a new era where first-party cookies come into their own in digital marketing and advertising.”
As head of a business with an ever-increasing digital portfolio built off the back of third-party cookies, Miller is well aware of how important these next six months will be in establishing new practices.
“Much speculation and a lot of spin exists about the end of third-party cookies,” he writes. “But be assured this is the biggest technology change that companies must address in 2021.”
