Study: Most marketers expect up to 25% dip in revenue due to third-party cookies wipeout

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Majority of marketers (57%) expect the deprecation of third-party cookies to reduce ad targeting opportunities, with 66% expecting a 10% to 25% dip in revenue as a result. According to Lotame's report titled "Beyond the Cookie" which surveyed nearly 1,400 industry professionals globally, including 200 from Singapore, engaging consumers in a cookieless world via targeting (49%) and personalisation (44%) will need to be reimagined to make up for declining revenue (41%).

Meanwhile, 57% of publishers anticipate having to reduce their workforce due to revenue loss brought on by third-party cookie deprecation. Publishers also had similar concerns, with differentiation ranking the top factor (41%). Aside from workforce reduction, failure to demonstrate that unique value will have a domino effect on publisher revenue in the form of loss of programmatic dollar (33%).

Google announced in June that it will delay the wipeout of third-party cookies until mid-2023. Despite existing concerns in the marketing and ad industry, four in five industry professionals feel at least somewhat prepared for a cookieless world. According to Lotame's report, 42% feel very prepared as they have solutions in place and are actively testing. Meanwhile, 41% feel somewhat prepared as they have had discussions and done some planning. Only 12% and 5% said they were not very prepared and completely unprepared respectively.

Although third-party cookies have been removed by Firefox and Safari, the impending move by Chrome is causing buzz within the industry as the platform still has a larger share of the browser market of about 64%, according to web traffic analysis company Statcounter last year. Hence, 52% of marketers surveyed were relieved that Google delayed the deprecation, allowing for more time to prepare. Meanwhile, 40% surveyed expected the tech giant to delay the phasing out of third-party cookies. However, not all were easily convinced, as 46% were suspicious of the reasoning behind Google's move. Also, publishers (50%) were more sceptical than marketers of the motives behind Google's third-party cookie deprecation delay.

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Data privacy key to testing identity solutions

Data privacy was cited as the main reason for marketers (49%) and publishers (63%) to test identity solutions. The next two reasons for marketers were audience targeting (46%) and ease of use (41%). Meanwhile, publishers were concerned about Chrome's cookie deadline (56%) and browsers blocking cookies (51%).

Marketers and publishers in Singapore, in particular, cited data privacy as the most important criteria when selecting an identity solution, similar to counterparts in Colombia, India, Mexico and the US. This was followed by omnichannel attribution and brand-safe, high-quality media.

Industry professionals also have a diversity of ID solutions to choose from. As a result, four in five industry professionals are open to using multiple identity solutions, and one in five industry professionals are open to testing and/or implementing any number of ID solutions or modules.

lotame beyondthecookie1

While 28% of marketers and 21% of publishers were open to using any number of ID solutions, 26% and 23% of marketers and publishers, respectively, cited three as the optimal number. Meanwhile, 26% and 33% of marketers and publishers cited two as the optimal number.

Although marketers feel a slight sense of urgency to test and implement identity solutions, only 7% place the highest level of urgency to do so. Meanwhile, about 52% do not rank it among their top priorities. The same can be said for publishers too, with 60% of those surveyed not viewing this as one of their top priorities. Also, three in four marketers are keen to test new or further partners in the near future.

Meanwhile, Apple's privacy changes in iOS14 has impacted the tech industry, with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stating in its recent earnings call that the move has "negatively affected" the business. Snap CEO and co-founder, Evan Spiegel, also said that the change has made it more difficult for its ad partners to measure and manage their ad campaigns for iOS.

In reaction to Apple's privacy relay, 53% of all respondents said they are concerned about their ability to monetise their email channel, while 46% said they are concerned for the impact on email hash identifiers.”Relatedly, email-based identity solutions (69%) were the most popular choice when asked what types of ID solutions marketers and publishers were planning to test in the next six months to one year. Contextual (44%) was in second place, followed by cohorts (33%) and probabilistic (27%).

The global online survey was conducted by brand intelligence platform Upwave, which surveyed nearly 1,400 industry professionals, marketers and publishers, across seven global markets in September 2021: Australia, Colombia, India, Mexico, Singapore, UK and the US.

Luke Dickens, MD - ANZ at Lotame, said digital advertising is changing and identity solutions will be part of that new future. "Addressability and connectivity are at greatest threat in the post-cookie world. Testing identity solutions now can not only soften the blow of a cookieless landscape but future proof a business’s ability to connect with consumers in meaningful and respectful ways," he explained.

Photo courtesy: 123RF