In a stunning about-face, Google has decided not to deprecate third-party cookies (announcement here), opting for a yet to be defined, new consent approach instead. After years of industry efforts to prepare for a cookie-free future this is disappointing news. 

At Adform we and our clients are ready for a first-party, privacy-safe world and would have welcomed the deprecation of third-party cookies in Chrome – whether the Sandbox is ready or not. 

For our clients, the majority of whom are already first-party ready and using ID Fusion (learn more), this confirms the strength of their game-changing approach and that a move to the first-party future is pivotal for success, be that due to deprecations, or simply to better privacy and consent collection mechanism. 

Chrome does not equal the open internet, and this move re-affirms the value and necessity of solutions like ID Fusion that are multi-ID, flexible, and built for a dynamic multi-browser, multi-channel media buying landscape. 

What's next? It will all depend on the detailed plans from Chrome, how regulators will react and what new challenges may be raised. The saga continues!