‘Straight from the top’: Criteo says Google won’t pull an Apple when it asks whether people want third-party cookies

That’s how Todd Parsons, Criteo’s chief product officer, put it on the ad tech vendor’s earnings call yesterday (Aug. 1).

“Because we’re close with the Google team we have it straight from the top of that team that the objective in user choice design is going to emphasize clarity for consumer trade off to opting in or opting out as well as take a fair and balanced approach to that messaging,” said Parsons.

In other words, ad executives, especially those at publishers, can breathe easier. Google won’t pull an Apple and use language that leaves users no reason to want to allow tracking. Instead, users will be clearly informed about the effects of opting out, even if it feels like their data is more protected.

“What I do think is that this time round the language that consumers are addressed with and the way that they’re educated should be more favorable [than what Apple did],” said Parsons.

This is the clearest sign yet that Google is taking a similar but distinct approach to user privacy. While Apple went full sledgehammer, aggressively blocking third-party tracking through mobile IDs, Google seems to be using a scalpel, emphasizing user choice and transparency.

Until now, many assumed this would be the case, considering Apple’s hardware-centric model and its branding around privacy versus Google’s need to balance privacy with effective advertising solutions. But there were still doubts given how little detail Google execs have shared since the pivot was announced.

To be clear, Parsons’ comments won’t completely silence all those skeptics. They’ve seen too many false dawns to be entirely calm. But they now have a glimmer of hope — more than they had a week ago, at least.

That glimmer is rooted in the idea that while there will be fewer third-party cookies tracking people in Chrome, what remains might be significantly better than it could have been. Companies that were planning for a world without third-party cookies can start building for one where they have just enough. If this happens, they could use data from the cookies they have to build measurement models. It won’t be a feast, but it’s a start.

This is crucial for ad tech vendors and publishers alike, as effective measurement with fewer cookies instead of none could be key to ensuring a steady flow of ad dollars. After all, targeting ads is pointless if you can’t tell whether they worked.

As Parsons explained: “If you consider that we built a performance machine on cookies in the past and only in the last three years have added additional signals to that approach, you can imagine we’re excited to use the remaining cookies to compare and contrast our new approaches with what has worked for years.”

What he’s really saying here is that something is better than nothing. The rest of the ad industry would likely agree, especially after the 2021 Apple App Tracking Transparency (ATT) saga. When it gave users the option to opt out of tracking, most did, leading to a nosedive in third-party addressability and the ads relying on it. Although apps got savvier at pitching the perks of tracking, recovery was limited. The hard truth is that opt-in rates are still pretty dismal, hovering around 34%, according to Adjust’s estimates from last year.

“My reflection on ATT was that the prompt to consumers sort of vilified the value of advertising,” said Parsons.

How Google will veer from this approach remains to be seen. While Parsons has shed some light on how far Google might go, plenty of questions remain. When will this actually happen? Will Google’s alternatives to third-party cookies work well enough? And will this all pass muster with regulators? As ever, there are more questions than answers when it comes to Google’s plans for third-party cookies.

Google will need to find more answers to these soon if it wants to shake some ad execs from the apathy they have toward this plan right now. In fact, they’ve sunk so much into it that some have decided to pause their plans to build and test Google’s alternatives to third-party cookies in its so-called Privacy Sandbox.

In an emailed statement, a Google spokesperson said: “Whether you spoke to someone on the team or read the blog announcement you will know that we are still designing the experience, centered around clear and informed choice. We will share more with everyone when we are ready.”