The recent (March 4th 2021) announcement from Google confirmed that once Chrome blocks the use of third-party cookies, Google will not build alternate ways to track individuals as they browse across the web, nor will they use them in their ads products.

Google has indicated that it will use a combination of consented first-party data, contextual data and anonymous audience cohorts, via Privacy Sandbox, for targeting and measurement of digital ads, and is working with industry to develop these use cases.

However today Google have now provided two forms of further clarification: a blog post and an ‘on-stage’ interview with IAB Tech Lab CEO Dennis Buchheim at IAB’s Annual Leadership Meeting.

Below is a summary written by IAB Tech Lab which we are keen to share with our members here in Australia.

The key takeaways were:

1. Google Ads are walking away from granular, open web user tracking, and going all in on Privacy Sandbox and first-party data. Google Ads’ data collection practices will evolve to no longer track audiences across the open web, and the ad buying products they make available to advertisers will no longer utilize audience profiles generated, from or augmented by, open web user identifiers.
2. Google will support publishers who wish to connect their audiences to advertisers’ audiences, with whom they have a direct relationship. They will do this only through Authorized Buyers and Open Bidding. Their sell-side products will enable those connections in a secure way, with full publisher control, and without the ability for Google to read or decrypt those signals.
3. Google supports Tech Lab’s efforts to provide standards for publisher first-party audience and contextual signals passed to buyers for programmatic buying, and agrees that technical accountability is critical to preserve core privacy tenants across the supply chain.

Now let’s further unpack these details for you below, and please be sure to read Google’s latest blog post and watch the Google Ads team’s ALM interview with Dennis Buchheim once it’s available in video on-demand. All of what follows is drawn from those two public sources, and based on the timeline for when Chrome removes third-party cookies.

Users

On Google Owned-and-Operated Sites & Apps

Once third-party cookies are disabled by default on Chrome, users visiting Google’s owned-and-operated sites will continue to receive granularly targeted ads based on users direct engagement with those sites. This includes targeting based on the site/page the user is on, as well as inclusion within Google-derived audience segments. Targeting (and subsequent measurement) can also be facilitated by advertiser audiences directly linked to Google audiences via Google’s ad tech stack which includes, but is not limited to Google Ads Data Hub, Google Ad Manager and DV360.

On Other Non-Google Sites

Once third-party cookies are disabled by default on Chrome, Google will no longer track users across the web. Users visiting non-Google sites will see granularly targeted ads less often,and any targeting will either have resulted from that publisher’s first-party data, Google’s Privacy Sandbox technology, or the direct three-way relationship between the user, publisher & advertiser.

Publishers

Monetising with Google Demand

Once third-party cookies are disabled by default, publishers monetizing user visits with Google Ads’ programmatic demand may earn advertising revenues in two ways:

• Publisher first-party data: Publishers may use their direct user engagement data to create audiences offered via Google’s ad buying products, including publisher-defined audience segments and contextual targeting. This includes private and open auction selling.
• Privacy Sandbox (FLEDGE, FLoC, etc.): This is the only other way traditional, identifier-based use cases and audience buying will be available through Google’s ad buying products.

Summary: Traditional identifier-based use cases on open web inventory from Google-sourced programmatic demand will only be enabled through new Chrome Privacy Sandbox APIs or publisher first-party data that does not leave the publisher.

Monetising with non-Google Demand

Publishers monetizing with non-Google programmatic demand, even when using Google Ad Manager as an ad server, will have the above opportunities at their disposal, plus a third opportunity:

• Publisher linked audiences: Google will allow publishers to share encrypted signals directly with authorized buyers/bidders through Google Ad Manager, with full control. Google will not read or utilize this encrypted signal itself. This use case involves both the publisher and advertiser working with an identity provider to connect their audiences, based on both having a direct relationship with the user sufficient to have earned a user-enabled ID. 

Summary: Traditional, identifier based use cases on the open web will be enabled through a mix of new Chrome APIs, publisher audiences and links between publishers’ audiences and advertisers’ audiences.

Advertisers

Buying Google Owned-and-Operated Sites

Today, it is only possible to buy Google Owned-and-Operated (O&O) inventory via Google ads products and that is not changing to public knowledge. Advertisers buying Google audiences via Google ad buying products will have at least the following opportunities at their disposal:

• Onboarding their direct-consented first party audience data for targeting or measurement on Google’s owned-and-operated inventory via Customer Match or Google’s Ads Data Hub (ADH). These audiences may be granularly targeted or extended via Google’s rich audience data, as they are today.

• Using Privacy Sandbox (FLEDGE, FLoC, etc.)

• Buying on Google-derived contextual categories and/or audience segments, based only on users’ direct engagement with Google sites.

Summary: Advertisers can buy granular Google O&O audiences, Privacy Sandbox facilitated audiences and their own advertiser audiences matched across Google sites. Ad buying products and audiences from Google will no longer offer audience profiles generated from or augmented by open web user data and behaviors except those captured via FLoC and FLEDGE.

Buying across the Open Web

Once third-party cookies are disabled by default, Google’s ad buying products will not utilise any granular, cross-site tracking or targeting for open web buys. The audience targeting available to advertisers buying non-Google owned and operated sites will be: 

• Publisher first-party data: Publishers may use their direct user engagement data to create audiences offered via Google’s ad buying products, including publisher-defined audiences and contextual targeting. This includes private and open auction buying.
• Privacy Sandbox (FLEDGE, FLoC, etc.): This is the only other way traditional identifier-based use cases and audience buying will be available through Google’s ad buying products.

Summary: For open web, Google’s ad buying products are going ‘all in’ on Chrome’s Privacy Sandbox APIs, as well as publisher’s direct first-party relationships with their users and advertisers (buying through Authorized Buyers, and walking away from granular, cross-site tracking across the web. It’s unclear if/how Google will buy open web on non-Chrome browsers that do not support Privacy Sandbox advertising APIs).

Non-Google Ad Tech

Non-Google ad tech has a green field now. We’re hopeful companies do not double-down on the status quo as a result of Google’s now clearer path, but instead embrace privacy-first change based on consistent transparency and control to users, honored reliably (and demonstrated through accountability data).

Unlinked First-Party Audiences

• Google Ad Manager will facilitate many types of buying and selling on publishers’ first-party data. It just won’t link publisher audiences to advertisers’ using Google’s buy-side products.
• Non-Google ad tech buying open web inventory through Google’s sell-side products will receive granular, advertiser linkable identifiers where publishers send them (unclear what, if any, Google policies this will be subject to).
• There is reason to hope Google sell-side products will adopt Tech Lab’s new Taxonomy and Data Transparency Standards to Support Seller-defined Audience and Context Signaling in public comment now.
• It is unclear if and how Google’s policies will evolve for Prebid line items.

Summary: Ad tech companies will continue to see unlinked, first-party audience opportunities within inventory connected to Google sell side products.

Browser/OS-linked Audiences

• Non-Google ad tech will determine whether or not to integrate with Chrome’s Privacy Sandbox APIs (some yet to ship).
• Non-Google ad tech seeking Google demand will likely see more by integrating with Chrome’s Privacy Sandbox APIs, such as FLoC and FLEDGE (the still hotly debated reporting APIs won’t be a requisite for demand).
• Non-Google ad tech does not have access to Google O&O supply today and nothing about the recent announcements appears to change that.
• Non-Google ad tech connected to open web supply coming through Google sell-side products will in some cases see granular identifiers come through, when publishers decide to send them, even when also using a Privacy Sandbox advertising API.
• Non-Google ad tech connected to open web supply coming through Google sell-side products will be able to buy that supply in a semi-granularly targeted and delayed, aggregated, measured way with FLEDGE, FLoC and the reporting APIs.

Summary: Ad tech companies may choose whether to integrate with Chrome Privacy Sandbox advertising APIs. Doing so will result in more demand/supply opportunities.

Linked 1:1 Audiences

• Non-Google ad tech connected to open web supply coming through Google sell-side products will in some cases see granular identifiers come through, when publishers decide to send them.

Summary: Google isn’t stopping publishers using Google Ad Manager (GAM) from using ID resolution services to link advertiser audiences to publishers’ when the impression leaves Google Ads products. See Tech Lab’s Responsible Addressability RFC portfolio for best practices.

Now What?

IAB Tech Lab are still calling on Google Ads to provide more details in writing. Today’s blog post is a step in the right direction. However, we think everyone would prefer for users, publishers, advertisers and ad tech not to have to read between the lines on issues so critical to efficient, effective digital advertising and privacy in general.

If you don’t work for Google, and you fall into one of the category breakdowns above, now is the time to educate yourself on these three key areas you should plan for as more of today’s granular identifiers disappear. 

Learn about and provide comments on the portfolio of standards Tech Lab released this week