Google’s third-party Cookie Alternative

The latest development in Google’s efforts to find a third-party cookie replacement involves the dropping of its FLoCs solution and the introduction of Topics. Both support interest-based advertising, but following privacy concerns around its cohort approach, Google has substituted a solution driven by browser activity and domain categorisation.

Takeaways, As Google’s self-imposed deadline to cut third-party cookie targeting from the Chrome browser gets closer, the search to find a definitive replacement continues. The FLoCs interest-based targeting solution, formed around anonymous groups with common interests, has been killed off in the face of mounting privacy concerns. In its place, Google has introduced Topics, an ad targeting solution that remains focused on user interest, but instead of targeting ads against aggregated group data, it will rely instead on recent browser activity. Ads will be targeted according to user interest inferred from site visits and categorisation of domains. The development of the new approach has been informed by industry feedback from earlier FLoC trials.

Privacy benefits, Although dubbed FLoC 2.0 in AdExchanger, the new solution is being touted as an improvement on the privacy front. The worry was that cohort information could be extended to allow identification of individuals. This problem is removed in Topics, where the number of categories shared is limited and the information websites receive altered regularly. On AdExchanger, Allison Schiff compares Topics to third-party cookies that allow advertisers to track users and build profiles to understand their interests. With Topics, the browser shares a brief list of advertising topics that might correspond to a user’s interests.

Of course, it remains to be seen how the advertising and publishing industries will react to this latest solution to the third-party cookies replacement conundrum. Some publishers remain skeptical of Google’s efforts, saying whatever solution is adopted, it will benefit Google and put them at a disadvantage.