Last week, USA Today reported that Google is working on an alternative to third-party cookies, which has significant implications for advertisers and stakeholders that earn their keep from the current paradigm of online tracking. The anonymous identifier for advertising, dubbed “AdID,” is largely a mystery at this point, but it’s not too early to consider what it means for all parties involved.
What It Might Look Like
Not too much is known about Google’s third-party-cookie killer right now. According to the initial report, which quotes an anonymous source, AdID would be accessible to advertisers and ad networks that agree to a basic set of guidelines. It would also give consumers more control over how they’re tracked online and who can target them by using information about their online behavior. AdID might also be linked to Google’s first-party login information (e.g., Gmail, Chrome, Android, Google+, etc.).
“A universal, user-managed AdID is, I suspect, the goal of the design,” says Ray Kingman, CEO of Semcasting, a provider of data and audience targeting solutions. “I suspect Google would think big on this, and the ability to link all the user’s devices to the location and their online actions would remain at the core of its mission.”
Kingman adds that Google is probably aiming to solve the multiple-cookies-per-person problem, which renders much of the cookie-based world ineffectual. Lastly, giving users more control and self-management over their experience would be “the window dressing to hang on a reality that this is still based on one-to-one tracking
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