Hidden perils ahead if Google moves into the cookie business?
An effort by Google to come up with a replacement for cookies could drastically grow the search giant's grasp on the industry, according to a report in US magazine AdAge.
Google: Owning the casino?
Google's move is inspired in part by publishers "worried about the decline of cookies, the web's foundational technology for targeting display advertising," says AdAge. And it is they who might welcome the Google move.
Google is " looking to create an advertising-specific identifier to replace the third-party cookies that companies now use to track browsing behavior across the web and target ads, " people familiar with the effort said ,confirming a report in USA Today.
But If Google develops a live product to replace the cookie, the digital advertising landscape would be flipped on its head, says AdAge.
The "Do Not Track" movement now causing so much conflict is predicated on making it harder for companies to use third-party cookies to follow consumers around the web and serve ads based on their behavior.
Google may well come up with a solution. "In order to pay for a better and more expensive internet we need to continue to improve online advertising," said Zach Coelius, CEO of automated ad buying company Triggit.
"There are only two ways we can do that: One is to make the ads more intrusive, bigger and in your face, or two, we can make them more targeted so that we no longer have so much waste with the wrong ads going to the wrong people. Google and most of the rest of us think the second option is much, much better."
But advertisers and ad tech companies are less rosy about Google owning that second option, said AdAge.
"While it's not clear how transparent Google would be about the data collected by its cookie replacement, anything less than full disclosure would likely draw criticism. "
If companies like Triggit or Xaxis, GroupM's automated ad buying unit, used Google's cookie replacement to target users, Google could have a window into those targets, the sites they're found on and the prices advertisers are willing to pay to reach them, says the US mag.
"Anyone adopting Google's system would also have to bend to whatever terms Google sets in how that technology and the information it surfaces can be used.
"In this scenario, Google rises from being the biggest card player at the table to owning the casino. The ad tech companies would be playing with Google's chips.
Google " historically have played very nicely with all of the different players in the ad tech ecosystem," said Andrew Casale, VP-strategy at automated ad seller Casale Media.
"I would also argue that it is in their interest to do so, as if everyone adopts and endorses (a new system), it will be more likely to be trusted by buyers which will help ease any transition from the comfortable third-party cookie we all hopelessly rely on today."