The Death of Display
ARE WE WITNESSING THE DEATH OF DIGITAL DISPLAY?
A View from Jordan Phillips:
At the tail end of 2020, Google shocked the field of advertising by announcing that Google Chrome, the world’s leading web browser, will stop tracking third-party cookies.
This is significant because cookies allow advertising platforms to track the activity of internet users on the web, so it can be measured, quantified and used to improve the performance of marketing campaigns.
However, why is it that third-party cookies only are targeted, and not the other types?
Well, to answer that, we first need to go back in time. To 2018 in fact. Where Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Facebook, was put in front of a committee of his peers, charged on the grounds of abusing the safety and sanctity of his platform’s users’ data, in the Cambridge Analytica case.
Ever since then, privacy has been a hot topic in the corporate world; and as a result, all the major players (who are data storehouses) have scrambled to give the public the impression they hold privacy as their utmost concern.
source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VaDfAVFxGQ
The reason why third-party cookies have been given particular scrutiny is because third-party cookies, by nature, undermine the likes of Facebook and Google to tighten their reigns on data security.
The impact of this is going to be worst felt by advertising platforms which solely rely on this third-party data. Most notably display platforms. And considering they’ve already been locked out by Safari, and now Google, these third-parties now have 71% of the web browser market closed to them.
There is no denying that Google may have done this for reasons other than the pursuit of self-righteousness. Because, even though they’ve made steps towards safeguarding their user’s data, they have also wiped out a significant number of marketing platforms, who would otherwise pose as their competition.
Most notably, competitors in the field of Display, a market Google already holds a 90% stake in through their Display Network.
How are these third-parties going to survive? These are uncertain times. Not just in the field of digital, but also in this (dare I say) post-covidalyptic world?
Personally, I believe they’ll be a way for them to march on. But what do I know? I’m just a Digital Manager with high hopes! But what are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below…
