The Google announcement doesn't mean a return to January 2020, when the media giant first raised the plan to phase out cookies within two years because much has changed over the past four years. Independent of Google’s direction, marketers’ and publishers’ fundamental needs remain largely the same, that is to serve the needs of their audiences and respond to consumer expectations.

Signals come and go - but the fundamentals are still the same

If the last several years tell us anything, it's that the trend in the market is accelerating towards increased privacy controls and continued signal loss. That trend has already happened without Chrome deprecating third party cookies, and we should expect it to continue no matter what Google does.

The work done over the past five years to prepare for a cookieless future will continue to be vital. We are already operating in a omnichannel reality where many key channels such as CTV, TV, mobile, and social are inherently cookieless.

Advertisers have been adapting to a more complex cross-media landscape where multiple identifiers, consent requirements, and signals govern media spend, and the endurance of the cookie does little to change this secular trend. The fundamentals of reach, frequency and incremental performance remain the bedrock of optimization. This means the demand for omnichannel measurement and ID-free advertising solutions is as urgent as ever, today and into the foreseeable future.

Privacy-forward Solutions

A focus of Comscore’s digital audience measurement methodology is on signal loss of any kind. The modern media landscape has and will continue to evolve – with consumer consent at the forefront, this is not a trend specific to Chrome or any other browser settings. The halt of cookie deprecation allows for the continued rollout of UDM 2.0, Comscore’s cookie-free methodology for digital.

Publishers should continue to engage with us on testing and implementing across the 30,000 domains we support. Comscore is continuing to innovate and evolve to future-proof measurement with UDM 2.0 at the centre of our digital efforts.

We are here to help publishers, brands (and their agencies) with the ongoing transition to a privacy-forward world in any way that works for them, whether that’s via website or video streaming tags, app SDKs, or via Server-to-server data sharing. We work with our clients on where their data “resides” to ensure accurate and robust reporting.

Monetizing in a multi-ID landscape

With most programmatic inventory already lacking a user identifier, the impact from signal loss is real for advertisers, and will only continue to be exacerbated with consumer opt-outs. With or without a top-down cookie deprecation mandate, advertisers will need to adopt ID-free tactics to drive business outcomes. Publishers still need a partner to modernize their offerings for the omnichannel and multi-ID landscape, which Proximic’s ID-free Predictive Audiences and contextual targeting provide.

Privacy regulations are here to stay, and scrutiny will continue, especially in sensitive areas like health and age-restricted advertising. Industry innovation to meet the needs of today’s privacy landscape necessitates privacy-centric approaches to reach audiences.

Investment in Digital

In the short term, advertisers pursuing online cookie-based revenue strategies won’t adjust their investment as a result of deprecation being on the horizon. The uninterrupted spend in omnichannel campaigns means they would want to prove their ad exposures are incremental and that total reach is achieved. This objective is precisely what our flagship omnichannel solution, Comscore Campaign Ratings (CCR), delivers.

Our solutions continue to be crucial for measuring and activating media across various channels. Google’s announcement reinforces the importance of our approach to privacy-forward cross-channel reach and measurement.

Comscore is the right measurement provider at the right time, offering leading opportunities for advertisers and publishers responding to changes in the industry, consumer behavior, and regulatory conditions, which will march on with or without cookies.

To learn more about how Comscore can support your business in the face of changing signals, contact me here.