The death of the 3rd party cookie feels like it has been promised forever. After many false starts, Google has finally started deprecating 3rd party cookies in the Chrome browser, with the first 1% of users restricted by default from January of this year, rising to 100% of users from Q3 2024.
When the final switch off comes it will have a significant impact on everyone – publishers, advertisers and web users. Consumers will have increased control over their privacy and consent. Digital advertisers and platforms will have to innovate to develop new personalised approaches that don’t use third-party cookies.
One thing’s for sure, there will be pain for telecom operators who haven’t prepared for the change. Customer development, acquisition and retention in our sector is more complex than in other industries, with more touchpoints, more digitisation and more competition for customers that have a lot of long-term value. In the telco sector, marketing relies particularly heavily on cookie-driven personalisation and digital advertising, to break through consumer messaging fatigue and create effective outreach.
