Advertising Digital Innovation
2 mins read

Industry leaders share 5 predictions for a cookieless future at Quantcast’s Cookie Conundrum summit

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At the recent The Cookie Conundrum: A Recipe for Success summit, hosted by US analyst firm SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE and sponsored by advertising technology giant Quantcast, executives from News Corp, Xaxis, U of Digital, and Quantcast covered everything from the important steps brands should be taking right now given the imminent demise of the third-party cookie and the opportunity to fix bad industry practices, to alternative identifiers such as FLoC and UID 2.0, and even TikTok dances.

The full summit can be viewed below, and for those who are time-poor, we have outlined the five key takeaways beneath the video.

Here are the five top takeaways from the event:

  • DEATH OF COOKIES: News Corp’s SVP and Global Head of Programmatic Christopher Guenther, who is also an IAB board member, hailed the deprecation of third-party cookies as a “long overdue reset” and an opportunity for the industry to “fix bad practices.”
  • TRUST IN DATA: Shiv Gupta, founder of U of Digital, pointed out the flaw in publishers planning to rely on paywalls or logged-in audiences to replace cookies: “Only 5% of internet traffic is authenticated,” he said, before going on to emphasize the importance of transparency when it comes to organizations seeking permission to use consumer data: “We have an existential crisis about identity in this industry. Now, more than ever, people want the truth. They want trust.”
  • IF COOKIES WERE TIK TOKS: During the panel discussion, Xaxis Managing Director of Solutions Xiao Lin commented: “If the cookieless future was a TikTok dance, we’d be dancing right now and at least until next year. As we’re learning more about this cookieless dance, we’re helping our clients learn the steps of it and also introducing our own moves.”
  • NEW IDENTIFIERS: Quantcast Vice President of Product Somer Simpson touched on the alarmed response from many to the recent announcement from Google that it would not support alternative identifiers in the absence of third-party cookies. “I’ve gone from being a product manager to a therapist because there’s such an emotional response,” she said.
  • THE FUTURE OF ADVERTISING: Konrad Feldman, Quantcast CEO & Founder, talked about the vision of Quantcast for a free and open internet and the need for “relevance and utility” for consumers. “Everyone wins when advertising is more relevant, consumers see what they want, advertisers reach their audiences and publishers can continue to thrive; this relies on the internet being open and free.”

If one thing is certain, it’s that the future without third-party cookies isn’t certain. What we can be sure of is that the industry is more than ready to welcome a new solution – ideally, one that is based on industry standards, interoperability, and innovation that will have privacy and consent front of mind. More importantly, it all needs to be underpinned by a free and open internet alongside full transparency.