It's been two months since Google conducted a major cookie cleanse on Chrome, and ad tech vendors are taking notice.
The end of third-party cookies, which was supposed to be an apocalypse for ad tech, has turned out to be a clear win for many vendors, at least according to recent earnings updates.
Here we provide an overview of the notable impacts reported for ad tech companies from the latest quarterly update.
The story of trade desk survival unfolds
The loss of third-party cookies will definitely hurt the business of the largest ad tech vendors. If nothing else happened, their executives wouldn't make such a fuss about Google's actions. But CEO Jeff Green has repeatedly emphasized that the company's platform processes more than 15 million ad impressions per second, and that the “vast majority” of it does not rely on cookies. If this is true, the effects of losing cookies are unlikely to be catastrophic. Interestingly, Green pointed out during the conference call that it's publishers, not DSPs like The Trade Desk, who are bearing the brunt of this change. He said the lack of third-party cookies for some publishers has reduced prices by 30%. Conversely, when The Trade Desk used Unified ID 2.0, a replacement for these cookies, it increased addressability and increased his CPM for recruiting publishers by 30%.
This provides an attractive lifeboat for publishers in the midst of the cookie obsolescence storm. After all, weren't the skeptics wrong about The Trade Desk's post-cookie life?
Magnite's high-stakes gamble
Privacy sandboxes have become a hot topic in the ad tech industry. You either give it your all or you give it your all. According to CEO Michael Barrett, Magnite is definitely throwing its hat into the ring. They are waving the flag of full support for this controversial technology. But don't let it surface. Barrett admitted it was no walk in the park. Sandboxes are not a foolproof replacement for third-party cookies and require significant investment in technology to function. As Barrett says, the bar for joining his Privacy Sandbox club is quite high, reducing the number of his SSPs who actively participate. It's like trying to reach the top shelf. It's difficult and not everyone can climb it.
PubMatic's Sandbox Story
The privacy sandbox is like an ad tech wilderness: unwieldy, unpredictable, and downright rebellious. It is undermining the business foundations of the industry. Still, PubMatic isn't fazed. CEO Rajeev Goel made it clear on a conference call that his ad tech vendors are not keen on this sandbox train. Instead, the company is expanding its market around third-party cookie-free environments such as CTV, commerce media and mobile apps, he said. These areas are growing rapidly and represent a significant portion of PubMatic's revenue. In fact, the majority of impressions sold by PubMatic now include alternative signals, already indicating a shift away from third-party cookies.
But please don't joke. PubMatic can't afford to ignore the sandbox, especially given Google's overwhelming browser market share. That's why we're testing what's available and allocating more resources behind the scenes.
Criteo: Dancing in Cookie Crumble with confidence (and some reservations)
Despite the looming threat of the end of third-party cookies, Criteo remains undeterred and confident in its future success. Criteo is positioned to grow in the post-cookie environment with a robust identity graph that boasts more hashed emails than any of its competitors, and strategic partnerships with major platforms such as retailers. However, behind this optimistic outlook lies a harsh reality. CEO Megan Kraken predicts a difficult year ahead, with sales expected to decline by $30 million to $40 million. Later this year. This prediction is conditional on Google completely removing third-party cookies in Chrome and introducing a privacy sandbox by the end of the year.
LiveRamp is confidently riding the wave of cookie apocalypse in cleanrooms
While the debate continues as to when third-party cookies will actually be phased out, LiveRamp is firmly in agreement that they will be phased out by the end of the year. During the earnings call, CEO Scott Howe urged the industry to phase out these cookies, especially since Google is expected to significantly reduce them over the summer. Although Google hasn't released a firm timeline, LiveRamp is gearing up for big changes and is poised to weather the storm. The company has spent four years honing its proprietary ID graph, allowing marketers to effectively target ads without using traditional cookies. Moreover, Google has selected him as a partner for his cookieless targeting solution PAIR, and he has acquired Habu, giving him one of the largest data clean rooms, further increasing his position. It has become strong.
Integral Ad Science: Beyond Cookies, Delivering Solutions with Technology and Consideration
CEO Lisa Utschneider didn't gush much about third-party cookies in her earnings call, but it's worth noting that she did. With the impending retirement of third-party cookies, she's turning to her Integral Ad Science (IAS) to leverage contextual data and attention metrics to fill the gap, or at least make up for it a little. I'm working on that. And speaking of attention, IAS is leveraging modeled data and proprietary technology to create solutions that address that front as well.
