Media Briefing: Publishers are frustrated — and quietly grateful — after Google’s cookie U-turn

Publishers are deeply frustrated. After years of preparing for the deprecation of third-party cookies, Google’s U-turn this week has landed like a slap. The sense of betrayal is sharp, but so is the sense that they’ve been led on a wild goose chase — an expensive, time-sapping exercise that now feels, in part, like farce.

The irony of the announcement, mere days after the DOJ ruled that Google has abused its dominance in the ad tech ecosystem, is lost on no one.

And yet, most publishers concede the effort wasn’t a waste. The pressure did force them to get serious about first-party data — tightening up systems, rethinking relationships with audiences, and, in some cases, laying the groundwork for more resilient businesses, according to 10 publishers Digiday spoke to for this article. Still, it’s hard not to feel like they’ve been running in circles while Google kept moving the finish line.

“There’s plenty of wasted investment that’s taken place in preparing and testing Privacy Sandboxes and all of the countless panel discussions, strategizing and things that have happened over the years, preparing for something that amounts to absolutely nothing,” said a senior publishing executive at a global news organization, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity due to ongoing relations with Google.

“The whole process has been like watching a car crash in slow motion. Trial and error, trial-and-regulator rejection, trial and defeat,” said an ad tech and sales director at a major European publication. Another lamented the sheer “noise” around it and the unnecessary pressure it’s put on publishers already operating with razor-thin margins. 

And yet, much of the industry outcry about the U-turn hasn’t come directly from publishers, but more from consultants and ad tech vendors frustrated (understandably) at how much they’ve been forced to plow into ID solutions, as one senior commercial exec at a major news publisher pointed out. And for all the furor, it doesn’t change one glaring fact: the Privacy Sandbox — Google’s set of cookieless proposals — “wasn’t fit for purpose,” said the same exec. In its current form, it would have done more damage than good to publisher revenues, he stressed. 

Anyone in the weeds with the Sandbox developments would have known that it was limited in its targeting, attribution and performance metrics, which only enabled it to target broad cohorts, not provide the granularity of targeting marketers are accustomed to, added the same exec. “I don’t feel like it’s a step back because to evolve and grow and go forward, the product that you’re going to grow into needs to be ready, and it wasn’t ready.”

Regardless, Google has said it will continue to support Privacy Sandbox for the foreseeable future. 

Another publisher echoed the same sentiments, but added that they hope that efforts to find cookieless, privacy-safe alternatives don’t disappear. 

“We won’t stop testing cookieless solutions or necessarily get rid of them… We are not taking our foot off the pedal,” said Amit Grover, head of programmatic at real estate publisher Redfin. “We still see continued pressure [from privacy regulators] to get rid of cookies.” 

But it’s also a “relief” for publishers, according to Grover, as they can continue to develop their alternatives in their own time and on their own terms. Meanwhile, they can expect to now make money from cookie-targeted advertising alongside their alternatives.

Cookie deprecation ‘a catalyst’ for publisher audience data strategies

For all the strategic whiplash, the push toward sustainable data practices is well underway.

Over the past five years, publishers have implemented a wide range of strategies in preparation for Google’s long-promised (and repeatedly delayed) deprecation of third-party cookies in Chrome.

All publishers Digiday spoke to for this article said that the strategies they’ve put in place have set them up well for the long term and made them less vulnerable to the strategic pivots of tech giants like Google.

In response to Chrome’s looming third-party cookie phaseout, publishers have ramped up first-party data strategies, invested in contextual targeting, tested identity solutions like UID 2.0 and ID5, and built direct relationships with advertisers to future-proof their ad revenue.

“The cookie deprecation concept was a catalyst for publishers; it kind of forced us to focus on having a relationship with and knowing the identification of our audiences, in a privacy-compliant way,” said a publishing exec at a major U.S. media and entertainment group. “So, now — OK cookies aren’t going away, that’s fine, but we’re still going to focus on our strategy of understanding who our audience[s] are, building a relationship with our audience and not just broadcasting content out there.” 

“If you have first-party data, you know who your audience is, and they trust you, and you’ve collected information that’s useful for them for personalization and also for your advertisers, then publishers are on their way to surviving all of this,” said the same exec.

Meanwhile, another exec, while “in disbelief” at the extent of the runaround the market has been given, added that the news organization would continue building its first-party data sets and alternatives. “All the groundwork that’s been done there is still valid,” he said.

Publishing execs said their investment in alternative ID solutions over the years has actually helped increase yield and make them more money – such as through curation and traffic shaping.

Naturally, some publishers are more reliant on third-party cookies than others. Larger, ad-supported publishers, particularly those with broad audiences and high traffic volumes, have traditionally relied heavily on third-party cookies for ad targeting, tracking user behavior and monetizing through programmatic advertising. But even those with programmatic advertising accounting for more than 50% of their revenue said they were content to continue running their ID alternatives across other platforms outside of Google.

It also means that publishers bracing for revenue drops due to Chrome’s third-party cookie phaseout can breathe a sigh of relief, at least for now. That’s especially true for some publishers that have been a bit late to the party and less proactive than others.

Redfin, for example, is still in the “early stages” of investing in alternative ID solutions to third-party cookies, according to Grover. Chrome inventory represents over half of Redfin’s overall inventory, and he said testing cookieless solutions remains a “level two priority” compared to other initiatives driving revenue for Redfin. 

“I don’t think our strategy will change at all. We will still work with the same providers,” Grover said, which includes Liveramp and UID. And that’s because Grover said there is “a lot of value in non-Chrome inventory.”

Publishers see Google’s cookie pivot as DOJ fallout

Publishers are brimming with theories on the real reason for what’s motivated Google’s retraction of its cookie deprecation plan, which had already had multiple fits and starts over the years.

That a company already under scrutiny for monopolistic practices can so profoundly shape the rules of the game is, frankly, galling for many.

The move has put a question mark over whether Google’s incentive to support an open internet is diminishing, with search coming under pressure from AI. “The prognosis for the open internet in its current form is not good,” said a senior exec at a global news organization. “Do[es] Google think, OK we’ll leave it rather than try and fix it or change it, especially if doing so attracted unwanted scrutiny [from DOJ and other regulators] or suggestions of self-preferencing. Is this a fragment of an older, legacy internet that they’ve lost interest in?”

With Google facing regulatory pressure, it makes sense that the company wouldn’t push on the third-party cookie front, publishers said.

“It’s Google balancing optics with potentially a solution that’s not fully ready,” Grover said. “They don’t want to seem like they have a monopoly on cookieless solutions.”

Scott Messer, founder of media consultancy Messer Media, argued that third-party cookies are already on the outs, with or without Google’s decision on Chrome. With the EU’s GDPR, state privacy regulations and the “browser war” around data privacy that sparked around five years ago, the industry is already moving away from cookies.

“Does Google need to play that game anymore? The answer is no,” Messer said. 

What we’ve heard

“We might get in a week 60,000 scrapes from ChatGPT and 100 clickthroughs to our site.”

– Jason Clampet, Skift’s chief product officer

Numbers to know

75%: The percentage of the top 68 biggest news sites that saw the share of total desktop social referral traffic coming from Facebook increase in March year over year.

34.5%: The reduction of average clickthrough rate in search with Google’s AI Overviews generative search feature.

12%: The percentage decrease of Arena Group’s year-over-year revenue to $126 million, despite second straight quarter of profitability.

8.5%: The increase in digital audio (including podcasting) revenue year over year to $7.6 billion in 2024, according to a recent IAB/PwC Internet Advertising report.

What we’ve covered

Publishers remain unsure of what comes next after Google’s ad tech antitrust trial verdict

• Publishers feel vindicated by Google being found guilty of illegally monopolizing the tools that direct how ad dollars flow across the internet
• However, it remains unclear to publishers what the future will be for Google’s ad server and its exchange, and the impact this will have on their businesses.

Read more about publishers’ questions around Google’s future in ad tech here.

Third-party cookies in Google Chrome are here to stay

• In a shocking twist in the third-party cookie deprecation saga, Google announced it won’t roll out a new standalone prompt for third-party cookies in Chrome.
• However, it’s not the end of Privacy Sandbox, according to Google

Read more about Google’s U-turn on cookies in Chrome here.

Branded content rebounds as a top source of publisher revenue

• Branded content is now the no. 2 source of revenue for publishers, after direct-sold ads.
• Ninety-four percent of publisher pros said in Q1 2025 that they get at least a very small portion of their revenue from branded content, a significant jump from Q1 2024, when less than three-quarters of publishers (72%) said so.

Read the Digiday+ Research report here.

What creators are doing to dodge potential recession-content blowback

• Some creators are adjusting their approach to discussing tariffs and a potential recession to avoid blowback from affected fans.
• As creators step up their recession-posting, an increased flow of unlicensed, self-taught advice is going out to viewers. 

Read more about how creators are talking about the current economic state here.

How parenting books helped Willa Bennett run Hearst’s Cosmopolitan and Seventeen publications

• Hearst editor-in-chief Willa Bennett said parenting books helped her learn how to manage people, by teaching her to help people feel “safe, seen and understood.”
• Bennett also said she is trying to blur the line between “audience” and “contributor.”

Read more in the Q&A with Bennett here.

What we’re reading

The Washington Post signs deal with OpenAI

The Washington Post is the latest publisher to ink a deal with OpenAI to have its content surfaced in ChatGPT, according to the news org.

Google’s AI Overviews faces EU scrutiny

The European Commission is looking into Google’s AI Overviews, to see if it violates the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and EU copyright law, according to Euractiv.

How 404 Media is navigating economic headwinds

Growth and spending has slowed at 404 Media due to economic pressures but remains in a strong position thanks to subscriptions, according to the founders of the tech site. 

Private equity firm in talks to buy The Telegraph

U.S. private equity firm Redbird Capital is talking to potential investors to help it buy U.K.-based outlet The Telegraph, after a failed takeover last year, The Telegraph reported.