Google signals no delay to third-party cookie timeline

Google has no plans to delay the blocking of third-party cookies, a key digital advertising tool, despite concerns from a group of key adtech companies.

Marshall Vale, a Google product manager, wrote to the World Wide Web Consortium to say that it was "premature" to discuss any adjustment to the internet giant’s plans to axe cookies on its popular Chrome web browser. 

Vale’s email to the organisation was in response to a letter that asked Google to delay cookie deprecation in order to help advertisers rocked by the global coronavirus pandemic. 

However, Vale did add that Google would "revisit" the topic as the situation evolves. 

Performance marketing specialists have warned Campaign that the coronavirus outbreak has brought about unprecendented volatility in online advertising. Despite internet usage increasing as people in the UK and US self-isolate, much of online spend is aimed at driving people to offline activity.

The Improving Web Advertising Business Group is an international body that develops standards and protocols for the web. Its membership includes Google, alongside giants such as Facebook, Amazon and Apple, plus adtech companies including MediaMath, Rubicon and Criteo.

Cookies allow advertisers to follow users around the internet to observe their web-browsing habits in order to personalise digital marketing. Since the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation came into force in 2018, publishers must make efforts to gain proper user consent for enabling cookies for the purposes of tracking.

Apple’s Safari and Mozilla's Firefox have moved first among the major web browsers to block third-party cookies. The vast majority of Google's income comes from advertising.