Google's recent change of plan doesn’t mean slowing down your Identity Strategy

The recent Google announcement regarding their decision not to deprecate 3P cookies has undoubtedly created mixed reactions in the industry. Some are staying neutral, while others never believed the deprecation of 3P cookies would happen and now are saying, "told you so," and yet others now think there is no urgency to invest in solutions that will help future-proof their business against signal loss.  

Just to clarify, this news doesn’t mean that the industry will return to where it all started four and a half years ago when Google revealed its plans. Since then, a lot has changed in the advertising ecosystem, and regardless of how Google decides to execute this new plan of providing privacy controls to users, advertisers and publishers will still need to be able to achieve their goals and deliver meaningful experiences to their audiences in a privacy-centric way.

If you believe that Google’s news shouldn’t change your plans for preparation against the signal loss, then you’re on the right track. If you think otherwise, this blog post explains why continuing to invest in solutions for an identity-constrained world is vital moving forward.

The identity landscape is and will continue to evolve

For the past few years, there has been a clear trend away from universal addressability through various forms, including technology enhancements and the explosion of privacy laws across the globe.

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) led the way in 2018 by putting more control in consumers’ hands in Europe regarding data collection and who is able to use the user's data. Depending on the country and publisher, consent rates can vary and scenarios where consent rates are significantly low are not uncommon.

In a similar way, Apple in 2021 proceeded to restrict mobile advertising IDs with the App Tracking Transparency framework, with more than 75% of iOS users opting out of tracking in 2023 in the US. Additionally, in 2023, the new California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) - an extension of CCPA with additional consumer privacy rights such as opting out of the sharing of personal information - went into effect. Since then, 7 additional comprehensive privacy laws have taken effect in the US regarding consumer data collection for advertising purposes, with many more becoming effective in 2025. Bottom line: Privacy regulation will continue to emerge across the globe to better protect consumer privacy.

And if you think that this is all… No signal is really safe…

IP addresses are at risk, too. The once crown jewel signal of CTV, which ties household-level identity to an individual, is not immune to industry changes. Google explicitly announced that additional privacy controls, like IP Protection (i.e. IP masking for privacy protection similar to Private Relay) in Chrome’s Incognito mode, will be added to Privacy Sandbox.

Similarly, in 2023, Apple released Private Relay, a privacy service built into iCloud+. Private Relay protects user IP addresses from being tracked by websites and advertisers when browsing on Safari. 

This means that user identification methods relying on IP addresses are already being challenged, and advertisers should think twice before investing in those.

What does this mean for advertisers?

Independent of Google's decisions, advertisers and publishers already face a more complex advertising landscape. In some cases, advertisers will be able to maintain the fundamentals of advertising as we know them, enabling omnichannel user-level targeting, frequency capping, and measurement. However, as the trend of increased privacy controls and signal loss continues to accelerate, addressable opportunities will keep shrinking, making room for the expansion of non-addressable inventory, a less used inventory source so far. These environments can't be ignored as they keep rising, and advertisers should step out of their comfort zones to embrace the non-addressable. 

Additionally, the idea of investing your media budget in the so-called walled-gardens to avoid the non-addressable won’t help. Instead, it will cost incremental reach. 61% of the time U.S. consumers spend online, is spent on the open internet and only 39% within walled gardens.¹ Advertisers who want to be successful should remain nimble and adopt a mix of privacy-centric solutions that take into account both addressable and non-addressable inventory.

Google's new plans shouldn't distract advertisers from preparing for a new world of advertising that puts consumer privacy at the center but also relies less on user identifiers. For advertisers still holding on to the idea that Google's announcement not to deprecate 3P cookies on Chrome also eliminates the need for a robust identity strategy, now is the time to reconsider and take action. By taking proactive steps now, finding a partner to help make sense of the changes, and testing and learning, advertisers can stay ahead of the curve and ensure their digital strategies remain effective through scale and performance in the face of evolving digital environments.

The whole advertising ecosystem, from publishers to advertisers and ad tech platforms, should continue to collaborate, invest, and develop solutions resilient to signal loss that put at the center consumer privacy and choice. That’s the only way to maintain a healthy advertising ecosystem that benefits all parties and, more importantly, the consumer.  

At Yahoo, we're here to help you navigate this change and any other in the identity-evolving ecosystem. Our approach remains the same: we've been taking a holistic privacy-centric approach, including Yahoo Identity solutions that solve both addressable and non-addressable, and we continue to invest in them. Additionally, we're actively collaborating with industry partners to test and develop privacy-centric solutions, like Privacy Sandbox, at scale. Our goal is to enable Yahoo DSP advertisers to continue to run effective campaigns leveraging a portfolio of different solutions.

To learn more about the importance of a holistic approach and the advantage of non-addressable environments check our blog post: The Evolution of Identity - Part 2: The competitive advantage of non-addressable environments

¹ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1470051/time-spent-open-internet-walled-gardens/