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IAB Tech Lab releases Privacy Sandbox GAP analysis report, which is highly critical about the tool.
Privacy Sandbox’s responds to the critique, dismissing the majority of concerns.
Early tests of Privacy Sandbox result in 30% lower CPMs, but it’s not indicative of the future.
15 Feb 2024: Privacy Sandbox posts an official response to IAB TL’s GAP Analysis, in which it concludes that 90% of listed use cases are manageable using its APIs. The remaining 10% is not, as it includes cases that are not currently satisfied by third-party cookies (and thus are out of scope) or would allow privacy-intrusive practices, like cross-site tracking (which is against ultimate third-party cookie deprecation’s objective). [Developers Chrome], [AdExchanger]
13 Feb 2024: Bing, Edge, and Microsoft Advertising are not to be treated as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) for their insufficient user base due to Microsoft’s appeal. [Techcrunch]
1 Feb 2024: OpenX creates the Cookieless Deal Library—a self-serve tool, which consolidates activating using various cookieless tools (incl. identifiers, contextual data, Topics API). [AdWeek]
31 Jan 2024: IAB TL presents the Privacy Sandbox team with its “Privacy Sandbox GAP analysis” during IAB’s Annual Leadership Meeting in Florida. It is supposed to list digital marketing use cases which are not addressed by the Privacy Sandbox. However, Anthony Chavez (VP of product management, Privacy Sandbox) underlines, “We are not trying to provide one-for-one replacements for cookies and cross-site identifiers. Full stop.” Meanwhile, Łukasz Włodarczyk (VP of programmatic ecosystem growth and innovation, RTB House) remarks that the analysis focuses on listing issues without any attempt to constructively address them. It’s noteworthy that Privacy Sandbox has been a collaborative effort, and MarTechs can propose their solutions that privately address identified issues (which RTB House did). [Digiday], [AdWeek]
31 Jan 2024: CMA underlines in its Q4 2023 report that:
It is collecting additional feedback in February to arrange another set of commitments to address long-term Privacy Sandbox governance.
According to existing commitments, the Privacy Sandbox doesn’t have to support businesses whose livelihood depends on cross-site tracking.
It accepts that there might be some revenue loss across the ecosystem connected to switching from third-party cookies to the Privacy Sandbox.
It notices that GAM is not privileged by the Privacy Sandbox.
Related Websites Sets might be allowed to use third-party cookies, but only for non-marketing purposes.
IP Protection should be improved, and its first hop should not be directed through Google’s servers.
[CMA Q4 2023 update report on implementation of the Privacy Sandbox commitments]
29 Jan 2024: Google updated its third-party cookies deprecation timeline for the second half of Q3 and the first half of Q4. [Privacy Sandbox Progress Report] [Note: In April 2024, it was further postponed until early 2025].
29 Jan 2024: In response to Adweek’s article, Zach Edwards refutes that Related Website Sets (RWS) are used for non-advertising purposes (as Google is reported to claim). To support that, the author lists numerous examples of use cases strictly connected to serving impressions online. [LinkedIn]
26 Jan 2024: Apple is to allow alternative browser engines in Europe to comply with the DMA, which will result in Chrome having elements of Privacy Sandbox for its iOS mobile browser. [Developer Apple]
25 Jan 2024: Optable becomes the first Data Clean Room to start testing Privacy Sandbox in real campaigns and identifies it as a way to start being independent from DSPs for audience creation. [AdExchanger]
22 Jan 2024: In light of the upcoming DMA, Meta is to start offering users the choice to unlink their Facebook and Instagram accounts in order for them to stop sharing users’ information with each other (i.e., for the purpose of targeting). [Meta website]
18 Jan 2024: Raptive and Index Exchange’s independent early tests point out that CPMs for cookieless traffic are 30% lower than for the cookied traffic in Chrome. Raptive thinks it should improve over time, while Index believes the opposite. The industry agrees, however, that CPMs are likely to change (one way or another) with increased third-party cookie withdrawal rates. [AdExchanger]
18 Jan 2024: Liveramp acquires Habu—a clean room provider—to allow easier data collaboration for its clients. [Liveramp website]
15 Jan 2024: TTD confirms that it started exploring integrations with several Privacy Sandbox APIs despite its vocal protests against the solution. [Digiday]
15 Jan 2024: Google starts offering users the choice to unlink certain Google services between one another (Search, YT, Ad services, Play, Chrome, Shopping, Maps). Unlinked services will stop sharing data with each other, which (if selected) will take effect along with DMA on 6 Mar 2024. [Google Drive support website]
11 Jan 2024: British CMA drafts enforcements for DMA-alike regulation, which is likely to appear in the U.K. [Techcrunch]
10 Jan 2024: Privacy Sandbox publishes an article that collectively addresses all major concerns expressed by the industry regarding the solution. [Privacy Sandbox website]
See also: What is Google’s Privacy Sandbox? The Ultimate Guide
10 Jan 2024: As a part of its cookieless strategy, GroupM integrates its campaign planning & insights platform (Choreograph) with Google Ads AudienceInsightsService API, which allows the compilation of data derived from Google—including signals from Search, YouTube, and Google Analytics—and activate it on Google’s inventory in one interface. [AdExchanger]
19 Dec 2023: ICO warns a number of non-compliant UK websites to make it as easy for users to “Reject All” advertising cookies as it is to “Accept All.” Failing to do so might result in publishing their names and penalties. [ICO website]
14 Dec 2023: Chrome marks 4 Jan 2024 to be the day in which third-party cookies will be deprecated for 1% of randomly selected browsers. This feature would be called Tracking Protection. [Google Blog]
12 Dec 2023: Chrome announces the k-anonymity roll-out timeline. All release channels will be covered in Q3 2024. [Developers Chrome]
11 Dec 2023: Apple releases a list of SDKs mandated to publish Privacy Manifest files. Its current version doesn’t include SDKs from dedicated, standalone MarTech vendors (for example, Mobile Marketing Partners—MMPs). [X]
7 Dec 2023: Google Ads publishes a technical explainer of how to optimize Attribution Reporting API configuration to improve its utility. [GitHub]
