2020 Azbee Awards of Excellence

Category

Online > Online Single Topic Coverage by a Team > Northeast

Awarded to

Sarah Sluis, Senior Editor; Allison Schiff, Senior Editor; Ryan Joe, Managing Editor

Entry details

The Decline Of Third-Party Cookies

Issue or publication date: 2019
Publication name: AdExchanger
Publishing company: Access Intelligence
Website home page: https://adexchanger.com/

Please describe the publication's mission and readership:

AdExchanger’s mission is to demystify the esoteric digital marketing and media space. We empower marketers, publishers and others with information that counteracts the rising complexity that has resulted from an influx of data and technology.

There are a few ways we do this:

We help readers understand the technology. The overcrowded ad tech and marketing technology landscape poses a daunting challenge to marketer and publisher executives who need to rationalize their vendor selection process. Some estimate there were more than 6,000 marketing and advertising technology companies operating in 2018.

We help readers understand the marketplace. Among this crowded advertising and marketing landscape, Google, Facebook and Amazon dominate advertising spending and account for most growth, leaving smaller players to find ways to survive – or get acquired.

We help readers understand the data. Platforms and devices have multiplied, leaving huge trails of data for marketers to interpret as they strive to send the right ad to the right person at the right time.

Our news and features illustrate these dynamics, along with thought leadership from industry experts, two podcasts and a cheeky weekly comic strip featuring AdExchanger Man.

We engage readers via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. We keep them abreast of regular news coverage in a daily newsletter and send breaking news alerts as stories develop. We also bring readers and leaders together at three US conferences per year.

Please describe the enterprising work that went into this entry and its significance or impact on readers:

Over the past decade, the advertising technology industry has built an empire off the back of third-party cookie tracking. Although the question has always loomed in the background – “When will the cookie finally crumble?” – the coming “cookie apocalypse,” as some refer to the increasing curtailment of third-party web tracking, was largely relegated to the back burner despite a growing crescendo of concern from consumers, regulators and privacy advocates.

Why was there a lack of action on such an important topic? Despite tracking limitations instituted by some browser companies – namely, Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox – Google’s Chrome, which has the largest market share of any browser, appeared to be delaying making any substantive anti-tracking changes.

That changed in 2019. Although Google’s scale means it must be careful with any move due to antitrust concerns, Google started tightening the screws on third-party tracking cookies – and emotions among digital ad industry pundits and critics ran high.

In our coverage, we explored what it would mean for the industry if Google created stringent anti-tracking technology. Is the demise of third-party cookie data really nigh? If so, why do tech companies seem to have their collective heads in the sand, and why do most businesses deflect questions about what the cookie apocalypse really means and how it will affect them?

AdExchanger, with its technical expertise and in-depth understanding of the programmatic advertising ecosystem, examined this phenomenon from every angle: thoughtful analyses, enterprise news pieces, feature stories and op-eds.

Links to entry URLs

Please note: These URLs are only required for entries in the Online division categories, entries in the Design division categories that are specific to websites, entries in the Website of the Year category, and entries in the Cross-Platform Package of the Year category.

Entry URL(s), if applicable:
https://adexchanger.com/online-advertising/what-would-google-chromes-version-of-itp-look-like/
https://adexchanger.com/online-advertising/google-chrome-will-protect-programmatic-as-it-enhances-user-privacy/
https://adexchanger.com/online-advertising/marketing-professor-garrett-johnson-wants-you-to-know-that-cookies-increase-ad-revenue/
https://adexchanger.com/data-driven-thinking/a-simple-question-no-one-in-ad-tech-will-answer/
https://adexchanger.com/privacy/google-will-limit-cross-site-tracking-in-chrome-by-default-starting-in-february/

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