Digiday+ Research: Apple, Google stand to win with the end of the third-party cookie, the list of who will lose is longer

To be exact, more than half (54%) of respondents said Apple stands to gain a little to a lot from the end of the third-party cookie. Meanwhile, Google’s winning margin was a bit smaller — around a quarter of respondents said the tech giant will gain a little (23%), gain a lot (27%) and even lose a little (23%).

The list of those brand and agency execs said stand to lose following the end of the third-party cookie was much longer, Digiday’s survey found. According to respondents, Facebook, vendors, advertisers, publishers and agencies are among those who will be hurt by the death of the cookie.

Twenty-two percent of respondents said Facebook will lose a little with the end of the third-party cookie and 33% said the social platform will lose a lot. Agency and brand pros think advertisers will lose the most — 76% said they’ll lose a little to a lot — followed by publishers (63%), vendors (59%) and agencies (50%). It is worth noting that 32% of respondents said agencies will neither gain nor lose.

As we’ve said, questions still remain (read more of Digiday’s coverage on that). But the industry is heading straight for the third-party cookie’s retirement at the end of next year. Clearly, there is a good deal of self-awareness among agency and brand pros about the realities of the post-cookie world – even if there is still a lack of a concrete plan regarding what will replace the third-party cookie.