‘Their plan has failed’: Industry reacts to Google’s cookie u-turn

Excerpt shared from Mediashotz's '‘Their plan has failed’: Industry reacts to Google’s cookie u-turn':

The advertising industry has been reacting to Google‘s announcement that, after four years of work on killing-off the so-called cookie tech in its browsers, it now plans to keep the controversial digital activity-tracking widgets after all.

Anthony Chavez, vice president of the Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative, made the statement Monday.

Here’s what some of the top adland leaders in the world are saying about the change of plan and what it means for tech firms, brands and web users…

James Macdonald, Co-founder & Chief Revenue Officer, Limelight Inc:

“Google’s volte-face comes as no real surprise. It’s clear that the status quo of maintaining cookies looks, at least in the shorter term to be all about…Google, rather than anything of any real benefit to the industry.,

“What seems clear is that Google is yet again setting the agenda, managing to control and influence gigantic chunks of revenue in the ad tech world. This really can’t be a healthy situation in the longer term.

“So how will the industry react to this handbrake 180? I’m sure there was a broad collective intake of relief-laden breath from a broad section of the community this morning, but also some serious head-scratching from the nascent industry that has emerged to deliver targeting solutions based on the direction Google seemed to be headed in until last night.

“The dollars spent across the landscape forging solutions and alternatives may feel wasted, but this is not so.

“What is still clear is that businesses should continue to develop first-party data options, as well as forensic contextual strategy, and ultimately be more self-determining and in charge of their own destinies.”

Read the full article on Mediashotz: