‘It’s gonna be a race’: Publishers speak out on the industry’s post-cookie preparedness

The death of the third-party cookie was one of the top topics discussed during the September 2023 edition of the Digiday Publishing Summit. As it was at the March 2023 edition. And the September 2022 edition. And the March 2022 edition. And the September 2021 edition. And as it will probably be at the March 2024 edition.
“We’ve been talking about cookie deprecation for the last three years now,” said Ariscelle Novicio, svp and head of technology at New York Post.
In the video below, Novicio and executives from publishers including Condé Nast, Dotdash Meredith and Thomson Reuters spoke with Digiday during the event to offer their assessments on the industry’s level of readiness and what still needs to be sorted out, a list that includes post-cookie measurement systems. In short, the list isn’t short, but the timeline to get that work done is with Google committing to disable the third-party cookie in its Chrome browser sometime in the second half of next year.
“As we get into January and through the first half of the year, I think we’ve got a lot of testing to do. And we’re in a pretty tight timeline, because tests take months to do and months to figure out. I think we’ll probably get there, but it’s gonna be a race,” said Dotdash Meredith chief innovation officer Dr. Jon Roberts.
More in Media

From sidelines to spotlight: Esports events are putting creators center stage
Esports events’ embrace of content creators reflects advertisers’ changing priorities across both gaming and the wider culture. In the past, marketers viewed esports as one of the best ways to reach gamers. In 2025, brands are instead prioritizing creators in their outreach to audiences across demographics and interest areas, including gaming.

Condé Nast and Hearst strike Amazon AI licensing deals for Rufus
Condé Nast and Hearst have joined the New York Times in signing a licensing deal with Amazon for its AI-powered shopping assistant Rufus.

Media Briefing: AI payouts may be entering a new era
AI compensation is evolving — and new models, not just publisher demands, are driving the shift beyond flat-fee licensing.