Tag: PubMatic

With Google previously stating that they will not deprecate third-party cookies at all, the tech giant has recently stated that it will still keep third-cookies in its Google Chrome system, albeit with promises from Google to enhance tracking protection for consumers. For instance, Chrome’s Incognito mode will continue to block third-party cookies by default, and new features like IP Protection—slated for rollout in Q3 2025—will further enhance private browsing.

Moreover, Google stated that with cookies sticking around for now, Google is reevaluating how its Sandbox APIs can best support the ecosystem.

It is worth noting that this comes as a surprise for everyone in the industry, especially how most of advertisers have already prepared for the eventual sunset of third-party cookies in favour of more privacy-centric alternatives like using first-party cookies.

With Google showing no signs of phasing out third-party cookies anytime soon, what sentiments advertising leaders have with this news? And what are they doing currently in response to this? To answer these questions, MARKETECH APAC recently spoke with industry leaders to learn more whether this news should come as a concern or not for the future of the advertising industry.

Genelle Hung, country manager for SEA at PubMatic

Google’s tracking protections are one step, but the real transformation has already been happening. It’s been driven by tech partners, publishers, and even brands who are building privacy-first solutions. After the first of many announcements regarding the possible deprecation of the cookie, we saw a surge in tools like AI-powered contextual targeting, alternative IDs, and privacy-safe data collaboration, particularly with sell-side targeting. 

And while Google’s privacy sandbox was a key area of exploration and testing across the industry, these broader solutions that emerged aren’t just band-aids. They are the foundation for a more open, innovative and privacy-safe ad ecosystem. PubMatic has invested significantly in these hybrid approaches, ensuring our clients can leverage both emerging technologies and existing infrastructure for maximum impact. These solutions are being developed by the entire industry, not just one company.

The future of privacy will not be defined by one company. We should continue with open collaboration, across the whole industry, to create privacy-safe tools and standards that work for everyone, not just the biggest players. That means making sure new solutions like commerce media data, sell-side curation and targeting, alternative signals are accessible and interoperable. 

Google can play a vital role by championing open standards and transparently engaging with the industry to develop privacy solutions in a truly collaborative spirit. Privacy innovation isn’t about which company is driving the solution, it’s about making sure transparency, fair economics, and real consumer choice is at the centre.

Sally Ng, managing director, North Asia at Quantcast

Google’s moves are necessary and influential, but probably not sufficient on their own to make the entire industry privacy-first. It’s a collective effort — involving regulators, other tech giants, brands, agencies, and ad tech vendors — to truly shift from a data-maximisation mindset to a privacy-by-design model. While the timeline on third-party cookie deprecation remains unclear, I believe the destination remains the same: that is, for the world’s digital ecosystem to become a more privacy-conscious one.

This is a valuable time for marketers, publishers, and technology partners to continue testing, learning, and building solutions that are resilient, respectful of user choice, and capable of delivering performance in a world without third-party cookies. It’s an opportunity to accelerate collaboration across the ecosystem — and ensure that when the transition does happen, it’s done responsibly and sustainably. 

At Quantcast, we’ve been preparing for a cookieless world for years. Our AI-driven approach and real-time audience insights already operate effectively across environments with limited identifiers. Our view is that the shift toward privacy-centric marketing is inevitable, and those who act now will be best positioned to lead in the next era of digital advertising.

Niall Hogan, general manager (JAPAC) at GumGum

Google’s decision to roll back on the phase-out of third-party cookies signals a reluctance to let go of outdated advertising models that may no longer be the best fit for today’s adland. Across JAPAC, we’re seeing rising expectations from consumers for greater transparency, control, and respect in how their data is used. 

Brands that continue relying on surveillance-based tactics risk falling behind – not just in performance, but in consumer trust. By pivoting towards attention-based solutions that enable relevant, respectful engagement without compromising privacy, we can instead focus on building the privacy-first strategies consumers have already been calling for.

Becky Leng, managing director at NP Digital Singapore

Google’s decision – one that is closely timed with the intensifying scrutiny of its antitrust case – certainly appears to be a strategic one. By keeping cookies on the playing field, Google may be trying to show regulators that it’s not limiting competition by giving other players continued access to data, rather than offering only its Privacy Sandbox solutions.

However, this slows the industry’s shift toward more privacy-conscious advertising, and marks a wake-up call for brands to actively work towards avoiding the risk of eroding consumer trust. I believe that now is the moment for brands to future-proof their strategies with a diversified marketing mix: Strengthening first-party data strategies, rethinking measurement, and investing in sustainable channels like content, SEO, and contextual advertising.

But beyond these strategic fixes, it should also be about getting back to the fundamentals of great marketing – being creative, empathetic, and truly understanding your audience. When brands build their messaging around real insights and consumer intent, they create more meaningful, trust-driven connections that don’t depend on invasive signals. After all, privacy-first strategies aren’t just about keeping up with platform shifts, but about building long-term consumer trust

Garrett McGrath, SVP, Product Management at Magnite

This continuation of legacy web addressability in Chrome has given the industry a collective sigh of relief, allowing the open web to continue to flourish while preparing for its next chapter. The digital landscape continues to evolve rapidly due to increasing privacy regulations, massive growth in non-web environments, and acceleration in cross-screen/omnichannel campaigns.

Magnite sees this latest third-party cookie postponement as a welcome admission of the challenges with Privacy Sandbox proposals and a near term boon for the open web. However, this does not change our strategic focus on the importance of first-party signals and ensuring publishers and consumers retain control of addressability, principles Magnite has championed for many years.

We continue to innovate on privacy-centric solutions that deliver value to publishers, advertisers, and consumers alike, maintaining our commitment to contributing to a more sustainable digital ecosystem that respects transparency and user choice.

Geoffroy Martin, CEO at Ogury

Google’s latest shift doesn’t alter the course of history. Identifiers have already vanished from more than half of the open web — and this proportion continues to grow, driven by consumer expectations, regulatory pressure, and platform fragmentation.

At the same time, a significant portion of ID-based signals will remain available. That’s why the real challenge is no longer what happens when IDs disappear, but how to effectively operate and perform across both ID-based and ID-less environments. This is the new media reality, and the winners will be those who embrace this hybrid landscape. 

The key is to build platforms and data models that work across the full spectrum of addressability, leveraging all signals, whether identity is present or not. While relying solely on identifiers limits reach and creates fragile strategies, ignoring IDs entirely means missing the value that still exists in identity-based signals.

The smart approach isn’t about choosing sides — it’s about intelligently integrating both approaches, in a world that will remain mixed.

Terry Hornsby, executive vice president and founder at Mantis 

Google’s decision not to roll out a standalone prompt for third-party cookies in Chrome is significant, but many in the industry have been preparing for multiple scenarios all along. The reality is, advancements in alternative targeting approaches shouldn’t go to waste just because cookies are sticking around longer than expected. The industry has made substantial progress with contextual solutions that can identify interests in specific environments – such as gardening enthusiasts browsing sports content – without necessarily needing to know who the person is. 

This not only supports advertisers in maintaining performance but also empowers publishers to better monetise their content by aligning ad relevance with context rather than identity. In turn, this means a more balanced ecosystem, where advertisers have the opportunity to blend approaches, extending beyond the current environment while still respecting the broader direction toward privacy.

Will Harmer, chief product officer at Utiq

Google’s latest move to delay the demise of third-party cookies is not a product decision – it’s deliberate procrastination. Just weeks after the U.S. Department of Justice formally labelled the company a monopolist in digital advertising, we are now expected to believe that yet another “pause” in cookie deprecation is in the name of user privacy? 

Let’s be clear: this is not a pivot. It’s a stall – a regulatory negotiation disguised as a product roadmap update. The timing is no coincidence. And the consequences are clear. Every time the industry waits, Google wins.

The industry has spent the last five years acknowledging – and preparing for – the end of third-party cookies. Why? Because they don’t work. They leak data. They slow the web. They offer poor match rates. And they leave publishers blind to who’s accessing their audiences.

Holding onto this outdated technology does not solve the privacy challenge – it extends it. Third-party cookies are a relic of a time before user consent was mandatory, before data governance mattered, and before regulators began enforcing real accountability. We cannot build a privacy-first future on yesterday’s infrastructure.

Publishers, advertisers, and tech providers now face a critical decision. Stay shackled to a monopolist whose every move is under regulatory fire – or choose independence through new models of identity and trust.

Brands already see what’s coming, with the smart ones clearly prioritising privacy-compliant identity partners. This is not a fringe movement. This is the future of digital marketing. Google’s indecision changes nothing – except the urgency with which we must act. Now is not the time to wait and see. Now is the time to commit. The industry doesn’t need more delays. It needs leadership. Let’s move forward. Together – without Google and without third-party cookies.

***

Despite Google’s plans to keep third-party cookies in Chrome after all, advertisers are increasingly unfazed. The industry has already begun pivoting toward more privacy-centric strategies, driven by evolving consumer expectations, regulatory pressures, and the growing adoption of alternative identifiers and first-party data solutions. This shift underscores a broader recognition that the future of digital advertising lies in building trust and transparency, not clinging to legacy technologies. Advertisers should see Google’s postponement not as a reason to pause, but as further validation that proactive, privacy-forward innovation is the path forward—and the time to act is now.

Singapore – Global adtech company PubMatic has been selected by social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, as its supply side platform (SSP), which has been announced by PubMatic CEO Rajeev Goel during the company’s latest earnings call for its third quarter.

“We are particularly excited to launch advertising with X, formerly known as Twitter, which serves more than 335 million users. Historically, X had only accessed social media ad budgets. They selected PubMatic as an SSP partner, opening up their traditionally closed ecosystem to tap into the 26 billion in open internet native display and video ad spend,” Goel said during the earnings call.

It is worth noting that prior to Musk’s takeover of the company, the social media platform never opened up its ad inventory to outside vendors, and instead brokered deals with advertisers directly.

Goel remarked during the earnings call that there is an increasing trend amongst social media companies to extend their offerings outside of their traditional ones.

“Another vector for our long-term growth includes social media companies entering the open internet arena, as they expand their ad businesses outside of their own walled gardens. To do this, they need solutions to help them monetise their audiences, curate their inventory, and access open internet ad budgets,” he said.

The announcement signals Elon Musk’s objective to woo advertisers back into the platform. Earlier this year, X had reached an agreement with Unilever regarding partnership in the platform. It should be noted that Unilever was one of the companies included in X’s advertising boycott lawsuit back in August that also included the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), Mars, CVS Health, and Ørsted.

Elon Musk has a complicated history with advertisers, as he once told them to “go f— yourselves” back in November 2023, citing that advertisers are blackmailing him with advertiser money. 

This tone changed when he was confronted by WPP CEO Mark Read Theatre during a discussion at Cannes Lions 2024. In it, he clarified that his previous remarks weren’t targeted to advertisers as a whole and also agreed that advertisers have a right to appear next to content that they find compatible with their brands.

Singapore – PubMatic has announced the appointment of Laura Greally as marketing director for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. In this role, Greally will lead the development and execution of marketing strategies to increase awareness, consideration, and adoption of PubMatic’s innovative solutions across publishers, broadcasters, media buyers, and commerce partners.

With nearly two decades of experience in B2B marketing and deep expertise in the digital advertising and publishing industries, Greally brings a wealth of knowledge to PubMatic. 

She has previously held senior leadership positions at Thunderdome Marketing, CNN International, IAB Southeast Asia + India, and BBC Worldwide, where she played pivotal roles in driving programmatic advertising adoption, enhancing market penetration, and fostering industry collaborations across the APAC region.

At PubMatic, Greally will oversee the execution of regional marketing campaigns across digital, paid media, and account-based marketing strategies to drive product adoption and brand visibility. She will also lead PubMatic’s participation in high-impact industry events and product launches across the APAC region. 

Additionally, she will be responsible for managing the marketing teams in both Northern and Southern APAC, working closely with cross-functional teams to achieve business objectives. 

Greally will report to Emily Yri, vice president of international marketing at PubMatic.

Speaking on her new role, Greally said, “I’m thrilled to join PubMatic at such an exciting time for the APAC digital advertising market. With the dynamic evolution of programmatic advertising and increasing opportunities across media formats, I look forward to driving impactful marketing campaigns that further establish PubMatic as a leader in this space.”

Meanwhile, Yri commented, “We are delighted to welcome Laura to the team. Her comprehensive experience in strategic marketing and extensive knowledge of the digital advertising ecosystem will be instrumental in driving PubMatic’s continued growth and innovation across the APAC region.”

Sydney, Australia – Global adtech company PubMatic has announced the launch of a new collaborative approach to supply path optimisation (SPO) for global healthcare company, Haleon which owns healthcare brands such as Advil, Centrum, and Tums.

PubMatic has been selected by Haleon as a preferred supply partner to increase efficiency and streamline access to video, display, and connected TV (CTV) inventory globally, while also making media investments more sustainable. 

Moreover, PubMatic provides transparent bidding technology and actively supports Haleon brands including Advil, Centrum, and Tums through programmatic media buys, thus maximising efficiency and performance.

Since the launch of the original ISBA PwC study in 2020, Haleon has taken a proactive approach to improving supply path transparency. With this new partnership, Haleon benefits from direct access to inventory sources, maximising commercial efficiency, transparency, data-driven insights, and optimisation capabilities. 

In addition, by creating the most direct supply path, this SPO partnership enables the reduction of any carbon emissions related to Haleon’s media investments by directing it towards responsible media while decarbonizing the media supply chain.

Emma Newman, CRO for EMEA at PubMatic, said, “PubMatic is committed to promoting transparency, efficiency and responsible media across the digital advertising landscape, and SPO is a crucial component of achieving that objective. We’re thrilled to bring our SPO capabilities to Haleon, enabling them to make more informed, data-driven decisions about their programmatic ad spend and deliver better outcomes for Haleon’s brands.”

Meanwhile, Brook Minto, global investment director for marketing edge at Haleon Health, commented, “We are on a journey to optimize the quality of our media investments while reducing the carbon footprint of our media buying operations and driving effectiveness. Following initial tests, we identified opportunities to improve by working more closely with the sell-side. We selected PubMatic to remove undesirable inventory that is more than one hop away from the supply source.”

He added, “By creating a global marketplace that enables Haleon’s regional teams to work only with publishers that meet our inventory quality targets, we have been able to significantly increase our media impressions while improving the environmental footprint and effectiveness of our campaigns. This is only made possible because we are directly controlling our media supply chain through PubMatic.”

Singapore – Global adtech company PubMatic has announced a strategic partnership with Indonesia online marketplace giant Tokopedia to to empower Tokopedia’s sellers to extend the reach of their onsite advertising campaigns, through the ‘Iklan Rekomendasi (Recommendation Ads)’ feature for sellers.

This collaboration allows Tokopedia’s sellers to connect with and engage audiences across the breadth of premium, scaled inventory available via PubMatic’s platform.

Through this partnership, Tokopedia’s sellers can now target and engage their customers beyond Tokopedia’s network, ensuring that the right message reaches the right audience at the right time.

Moreover, by tapping into PubMatic’s vast array of premium publishers across Indonesia, Tokopedia’s sellers can significantly expand their advertising campaign reach, driving greater brand awareness and engagement.

The partnership will also leverage PubMatic’s programmatic expertise, allowing sellers to optimise campaigns in real-time and achieve higher ROI.

Lastly, the collaboration ensures a seamless integration process, allowing sellers advertising on Tokopedia to quickly and efficiently extend their campaign strategies from Tokopedia’s site to the broader open web.

Jason Barnes, chief revenue officer for APAC at PubMatic, said, “We are thrilled to partner with Tokopedia, a leader in the e-commerce space. This partnership underscores our commitment to providing our commerce partners with powerful tools to support their commerce media strategies. By leveraging PubMatic’s extensive premium inventory, advertisers can connect with high-value audiences across the open internet, to maximise campaign reach and derive improved ROI.”

Meanwhile, Alfredo Setiabudi, senior vice president of ads solution at Tokopedia, commented, “Recommendation Ads is an advertising solution offered by Tokopedia to sellers, enabling their products to be showcased on various strategic pages within Tokopedia’s inventory and across its strategic partners, including PubMatic. Through this collaboration, Tokopedia enhances the marketing capabilities of Recommendation Ads, allowing sellers to reach a broader audience beyond Tokopedia, including the users across PubMatic’s platform, as ads can be displayed across PubMatic’s publisher partners’ inventory.”

He added, “Tokopedia also prioritises the principles of security and protection of personal data based on existing regulations. Moving forward, Tokopedia is committed to supporting businesses of all sizes and categories in Indonesia to accelerate their performance on Tokopedia.”

India – Global independent technology company PubMatic has announced its association with Disney+ Hotstar to transform the advertising landscape for digital advertising in India. 

Disney+ Hotstar, India’s streaming platform offering a wide range of content across Indian and international titles, has selected PubMatic to enable programmatic monetization of content across multiple buying channels, including audience-based and 1:1 private marketplace (PMP) and programmatic guaranteed campaigns. 

PubMatic’s sell-side technology allows publishers to connect with a broad set of global buyers while allowing them to maintain control over their user experience and maximize revenue yield. 

Jason Barnes, chief revenue officer for APAC at PubMatic, said “We are thrilled to collaborate with Disney+ Hotstar. With a rich and diverse catalog of premium on-demand content, Disney+ Hotstar offers premium video advertising at scale for advertisers. By leveraging PubMatic’s sell-side technology platform, advertisers across India and globally can now reach vast and highly engaged audiences.” 

Meanwhile, Dhruv Dhawan, head of ads at Disney+ Hotstar, commented, “Collaborating with PubMatic aligns with our goal to provide a premium viewing experience for our users, while delivering measurable results for our advertisers. Utilising sell-side technology like PubMatic offers the advantage of not limiting access to one set of buyers. This approach makes Disney+ Hotstar’s highly engaged audiences available to a broad spectrum of advertisers, and ensures advertising is relevant and engaging for our users.” 

After multiple delays and continued discussion about third-party deprecation, Google has announced that it is shelving its plans to phase out third-party cookies. However, it is also worth noting that Google is introducing another solution for Google Chrome, focusing more on a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing.

“Early testing from ad tech companies, including Google, has indicated that the Privacy Sandbox APIs have the potential to achieve these outcomes. And we expect that overall performance using Privacy Sandbox APIs will improve over time as industry adoption increases,” Anthony Chavez, VP at Privacy Sandbox at Google said.

He further added, “As this moves forward, it remains important for developers to have privacy-preserving alternatives. We’ll continue to make the Privacy Sandbox APIs available and invest in them to further improve privacy and utility. We also intend to offer additional privacy controls, so we plan to introduce IP Protection into Chrome’s Incognito mode.”

With that in mind, the question is: how prepared the industry is in terms of leaning towards more privacy-centric advertising solutions? Are we really prepared to let go of third-party cookies despite Google still having it? To answer these questions, MARKETECH APAC sought insights from various industry leaders to learn more about their insights from this update, and why should the industry continue to strive away from third-party cookies.

Stephen Rhodes, Head of Emerging Markets, APAC at Quantcast

In the context of the Philippines as an advertising market, it’s important to recognise that Google’s announcement does not change the fact that a significant portion of the online landscape is already “cookieless.” Marketers must not overlook this substantial and evolving audience, as it represents a crucial opportunity in today’s digital ecosystem.

Third-party cookies were never intended for advertising purposes anyway, and they are certainly not a reliable means of measurement in a world where consumer preferences can change rapidly across channels in real-time. 

Businesses that no longer see the removal of third-party cookies as an issue are the ones who are actually ahead of the situation. Marketers who continue to rely on third-party cookies will effectively only be able to target 50% of their addressable audience as the rest are already browsing in “cookieless” environments such as Safari.

Genelle Hung, Country Manager (SEA) at PubMatic

At PubMatic, we are dedicated to enhancing user privacy while ensuring the vitality of the digital advertising ecosystem. Publishers must continue adopting diverse signals beyond third-party cookies. Google’s decisions and timelines should not hinder our industry’s progress toward a superior supply chain for digital advertising across the open internet. We have seen that alternative signals can provide better outcomes for advertisers and consumers alike and help provide a more sustainable addressability strategy.

We value the collaborative efforts across the industry, including Google’s responsiveness to feedback, and are eager to help shape a more effective, privacy-focused digital advertising landscape. We understand that APIs must evolve in light of Google’s announcement, and we will continue partnering with our peers to inform the specifics and timing. Throughout this transition, PubMatic’s goal remains supporting publishers in maximising revenue while respecting user privacy.

Niall Hogan, General Manager for JAPAC at GumGum

The industry shouldn’t interpret Google’s delay as a reason to abandon privacy-centric advertising. Consumer expectations are clear: they want control over their data and transparency in its usage. This situation presents a golden opportunity for contextual advertising, which should be the primary focus. 

Unlike third-party cookies, contextual advertising employs a privacy-first approach by analysing the content of a webpage rather than user behaviour to deliver relevant ads. This method respects user privacy and aligns with their preference for a non-intrusive experience. As consumer awareness of data privacy continues to grow, it is crucial for brands to enhance transparency and build user trust by clearly communicating their data practices and providing users with control over their data.

[Moreover] Google’s new solution remains a question mark. Their focus on “user experience” and “informed choice” sounds promising, but it’s unclear how it will balance privacy with ad effectiveness. The industry should approach these solutions with caution, as any approach that does not prioritise user privacy could face backlash from increasingly privacy-conscious consumers. 

Kat Warboys, Senior Marketing Director of APAC, HubSpot

The latest news on third-party cookies is ultimately a win-win for advertisers and consumers. But the multi-year journey on cookie deprecation has been tough on marketers who have been trying to prepare. After all of this, one thing is clear: relying on third parties is no longer enough. Businesses need to take control of their first-party data to get a complete understanding of their customer, especially given the level of personalisation expected by today’s consumers.

Chris Hogg, Chief Revenue Officer, Lotame

Google may no longer be ending third-party cookies by its own hand, but the slow march of progress will still see them rendered obsolete sooner or later. Users and regulators are increasingly privacy-focused and, given cookies will be “opt-in” across the board, there will still be a need for other signals to fill the gaps — especially across channels where cookies are long gone or were never present to begin with.

The fate of third-party cookies will be as a small part of an ever-expanding array of data points, becoming less relevant over time as more privacy-first, platform-agnostic solutions evolve. No one that wishes to remain competitive should think they can take their foot off the pedal of first-party data collection and strategic data collaboration.

Xiaofeng Wang, Analyst at Forrester

It’s no surprise that Google eventually scrapped its cookie deprecation plans after three delays in four years. Most marketers in APAC have seen this coming. According to Forrester’s Marketing Survey 2024, 53% of B2C marketing decision-makers in APAC do not believe that Google will deprecate the third-party cookie, increased from 49% in 2023. This would further dampen advertisers’ urgency to adopt Privacy Sandbox, Google’s initiative to replace third-party cookies with privacy-preserving technologies.

Marketers who strive to use personalisation to improve customer experiences must also adopt a privacy-first approach to earn consumer trust and ultimately win a competitive advantage. Marketers should be transparent and granular about data collection and usage and learn to communicate to consumers that the value is not just in free content or free samples but better personalisation, more customised services, and products that ultimately yield better customer experiences.

Giovanni Gardelli, Vice President of Ads Data Products at Yahoo

We remain committed to supporting efforts that align with our focus on transparency and providing user choice, which includes continuing to invest in our own proprietary Yahoo Identity Solutions. Additionally, we will continue partnering with industry leaders to integrate and develop privacy-friendly solutions enabled by emerging web browser technologies that balance advertiser and publisher goals, while respecting user privacy.

Harshana Ariyaratne, Chief Marketing Officer at Affinidi

At Affinidi, we prioritise consumer rights to data control and privacy. We were encouraged by Google’s initial plan to deprecate third-party cookies, recognising it as a significant step towards honouring consumer data rights and rebuilding trust between consumers and businesses. 

While the decision to abandon third-party cookie deprecation may appear to be a setback for user privacy, Google’s commitment to developing solutions that enhance user experience and informed choice is promising. This approach presents an opportunity for businesses to adopt privacy-by-design, user-centric solutions, even in the presence of third-party cookies. 

Google’s efforts to create a privacy-conscious and user-centric framework have the potential to rebuild trust and meet evolving privacy expectations. However, the success of these initiatives will hinge on their ability to address the needs of all stakeholders and provide genuine privacy improvements. 

Our privacy-by-design suite of solutions within the Affinidi Trust Network, and the Affinidi Iota Framework (the world’s first consent-based data-sharing framework built on open standards) adheres to latest privacy regulations while giving consumers true data sovereignty. By prioritising consent-first principles in digital transactions, we ensure that the data collected is accurate and relevant, enabling brands to create personalised solutions that enhance user experience and satisfaction based on trust and transparency.

Focusing on users’ needs and rights [also] fosters a trustworthy and enjoyable online environment. By embracing this direction, we protect privacy while fostering innovation, creating a digital world that is transparent, responsive, and built on trust. 

Timmy Bankole, Director, Advertising Business Operations at South China Morning Post

At SCMP, we are continuing to invest in advertising strategies that put users first, including first-party data, zero-party data, and contextual approaches. We’ve been moving towards an ecosystem that respects user privacy and builds real trust with our audiences. 

As an industry, we’ve actually been given more time to get ahead of this and work towards a more user-centric, data-driven ecosystem. Whether that is identity IDs, Topics API, or contextual strategies, the smart play is to reduce dependency on third-party cookies It’s not a revolutionary concept, but it is an important one for us to start addressing head-on. The sooner we can adapt and move in this direction, the better off we’ll all be in the long run.

Benjamin Combe, Senior Director, Data Optimization and Personalization, APAC at Monks

Google’s data shows that 80% of APAC consumers feel that transparency on their data is a must-have, so the move toward giving users greater control over their preferences in Chrome is broadly in line with consumers’ growing expectations for data/privacy controls. It remains to be seen how far these features go. Still, if anything like Apple’s rollout of ATT, it appears likely that these new Chrome controls will essentially see a ‘user-driven’ deprecation of 3rd Party Cookies via opt-outs rather than a Google-enforced one as a tech vendor. Whether it’s best to give users a choice vs deprecating them entirely is a different debate. But, if executed properly, the move toward transparency and controls for end users does align with how consumer sentiments and regulations have evolved over the years.

Tyler Stewart, Media Solutions Architect Lead, APAC at Monks

Google’s change of step on 3PCD doesn’t change the imperative for privacy-centric advertising strategies—between regulatory changes and 3PCD across other browsers and devices, the need for privacy-preserving alternatives is still as pressing as ever.

At the end of the day, consumers globally have significant concerns about their data privacy and want the businesses they transact with to address these and treat the information they share with respect – rather than as a commodity. It was never really Google’s place to be the arbiter of the private web (in many ways, it never wanted to be) and its decision here will hopefully better enable the industry at large to act more openly and collaboratively to develop solutions that meet both the needs of the industry and the rights and expectations of consumers.

Brands that have already started exploring initiatives like the judicious use of first-party data, consent management, modeled measurement solutions, and conversion recovery mechanisms will continue to see benefits from these investments and should continue down this road. Those who haven’t shouldn’t see this announcement as an excuse to “kick the can down the road” like the many 3PCD postponements that have come before. To avoid being left behind – both in terms of advertising capability and trust with their customers – they, too, need to take the path towards privacy.

Despite the shelving of third-party cookie deprecation, industry leaders continue to advocate for the exploration of alternative measures. This encouragement underscores the necessity of evolving towards a privacy-by-design advertising ecosystem. Such a shift is crucial not only for maintaining consumer trust but also for fostering a more sustainable and ethical digital landscape. By prioritising privacy in the foundational design of advertising practices, we can ensure that the future of digital marketing aligns with the growing demands for user data protection and transparency.

London, United Kingdom – IPG Mediabrands, Interpublic Group’s media and marketing solutions subsidiary, global adtech firm PubMatic, and SeenThis, an adaptive streaming firm, have signed a landmark deal to establish the Climate Action platform (CAM), the industry’s first green advertising platform.

CAM takes advantage of adaptive streaming technologies from SeenThis, PubMatic’s flagship inventory, as well as the technological competence of IPG Mediabrands’ performance agency, KINESSO.

Since 2021, IPG Mediabrands and SeenThis have worked together to achieve better campaign performance, creative outputs, and the possibility of transferring less data when compared to traditional advertising technology, which would minimise carbon emissions. Beginning in Q2 2024, all clients of IPG Mediabrands will have access to the new service. By lowering carbon emissions and utilising the advantages of collaborating with Orion opted-in partners, CAM seeks to advance sustainability.

With the least amount of data waste, SeenThis’ adaptive streaming technology loads creatives promptly in the best quality. The digital carbon footprint of a brand is decreased because data is only transported for the purpose of seeing creative assets. With the new arrangement, all campaigns may make use of SeenThis’s adaptive streaming, which offers a better performance and viewing experience while consuming a lot less bandwidth than traditional advertising technologies. 

Using PubMatic’s premium supply, SeenThis’ video-in-display systems provide reduced data waste and cost-efficiency. SeenThis’ adaptive streaming technology cuts load times, removes file-size constraints, and avoids wasteful data transfer, lowering CO2 emissions while providing performance benefits. Clients of IPG Mediabrands can integrate CAM into their go-to-market investment strategy at no additional expense.

Speaking about the agreement, Martin Bryan, global chief sustainability officer at IPG Mediabrands, said, “Our advertisers strive to deliver campaigns of the highest quality and meet performance goals while simultaneously integrating strategies to minimise carbon emissions. With our Climate Action Marketplace, we can deliver on all fronts. By leveraging SeenThis adaptive streaming technology as a default across our media delivery, we can make an enormous positive impact for our clients and reduce data transfer – thus carbon emissions – in the process.”

Meanwhile, Kyle Dozeman, CRO at PubMatic, stated, “Our partnership with IPG Mediabrands and SeenThis provides brands with a solution that delivers incredible advertising experiences on premium content while also reducing their carbon footprint. It’s exciting to collaborate with other companies that are creating solutions that deliver both performance and sustainability at a global scale as we seek to build a better, more responsible supply chain for digital advertising.” 

Lastly, Susan Kravitz, head of commercial partnerships at SeenThis, said, “IPG Mediabrands is taking a bold step forward to create immediate improvements for their own business and for their clients. With SeenThis’ proprietary adaptive streaming technology, IPG Mediabrands is embracing the next generation of digital advertising with better performance, beautiful viewer experiences and reduced carbon emissions.” 

Singapore – The phase-out of third-party cookies by Google is hitting yet another roadblock, as the tech giant announced that the move will most likely be delayed until early 2025. This is the latest cookie deprecation delay from Google, with the phase-out initially intended to roll out back in 2022.

In a blog post in Google’s The Privacy Sandbox page, it stated that they recognise that there are ongoing challenges related to reconciling divergent feedback from the industry, regulators and developers and that they will continue to engage closely with the entire ecosystem.

“It’s also critical that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has sufficient time to review all evidence including results from industry tests, which the CMA has asked market participants to provide by the end of June. Given both of these significant considerations, we will not complete third-party cookie deprecation during the second half of Q4,” Google stated.

The first delay on the Google third-party cookie phase-outs happened by late 2023, then again to late 2024, and now to early 2025.

In light of yet another year of delay of third-party cookie phaseout, MARKETECH APAC reached out to multiple industry leaders in the region to learn more about what does this delay means for the future of a privacy-centric advertising strategy for marketers moving forward, and how brands should continue in their efforts to utilise first-party or zero-party data strategies for their marketing initiatives moving forward.

Genelle Hung, Country Manager for SEA at PubMatic

Adapting advertising technology for a more privacy-centric future is paramount and is an effort worth taking the time to get right. Google’s new timeline does not change our commitment to creating a vibrant ecosystem around Privacy Sandbox as well as other addressability innovation areas like alternative IDs, contextual signals and commerce media. At PubMatic, we are not taking our foot off the gas. We are continuing to test and innovate around Privacy Sandbox initiatives so we can best prepare our publishers and media buyers for an inevitable cookieless future.

Nishanth Raju, Managing Director for Asia at Lotame

Deja vu, Google. It’s really no great surprise that Google has pushed back the third-party cookie deadline again. It’s in an impossible polyamorous relationship where none of its partners (legislators, regulators, industry execs) are satisfied by its commitment. The message for brands and agencies is crystal clear. Do not slow down on divesting your advertising from cookies, as they will be retired at some point. It’s a matter of who controls your fate. Give into waiting on Google, and you’re unfortunately wasting precious time building a solid portfolio of options, whether it’s identity frameworks or data collaboration. 

Dan Richardson, Director of Data & Insights for AUSEA at Yahoo

Google’s new timeline helps the industry continue to test and adapt. Beyond even cookies, non-addressable inventory will only increase and the industry should act now to prepare for these changes. Either way, Yahoo is ready to support advertisers today, with solutions for addressable and non-addressable environments, as well as testing in the Privacy Sandbox.

Gary Cheung, General Manager at NP Digital Hong Kong & Taiwan

From our point of view, the delay comes to no surprise, but the deprecation of cookies will happen eventually, and marketers and advertisers need to prepare for it. This further delay will allow marketers additional time to prepare for the loss of third-party cookies and how we should adopt a first-party-driven data strategy to drive accurate and impactful marketing. 

It is crucial for marketeers and brands to focus towards in maximising the acquisition of 1st-party data. This includes different types of data such as CRM, loyalty data, as well as online behavioural data gathered from digital assets like websites, apps, and media data such as clicks and views.

Bharat Khatri, Chief Digital Officer, Omnicom Media Group Asia Pacific

The cookieless future is not the whole story but one part of where we are headed in a privacy-first world. Effective advertising is powered by a wide variety of signals not just cookies. These traditional signals are bound to deprecate next year or soon due to high privacy concerns.

But there is a bigger issue — our industry is so focused on these declining traditional signals that they are not considering new developments like Google PAIR and The Trade Desk’s Unified ID 2.0. Privacy centricity is the now and the future for our industry. 

Nonetheless, this news does not slow down the comprehensive approach we are taking to help clients stay ahead of the curve. OMG is taking a privacy by design approach with clients and accelerating towards privacy-safe future signals to continue our commitment towards responsible advertising.

Fai-keung Ng, Director of Data Partnerships at The Trade Desk

This is a quintessential illustration of why tethering the future of your business to a highly uncertain solution is not advisable. Advertisers ought to persist in their first-party data building endeavours, while publishers must prioritise expanding their base of authenticated users, regardless of Google’s cookie deprecation decision.

It is worth noting that this third-party deprecation delay by Google doesn’t comes as a surprise for many of the industry leaders in Asia-Pacific, as many are optimistic in the alternative strategies they use for a privacy-centric advertising era ahead. Moreover, utilising first-party and zero-party data using various advertising strategies are becoming more and more commonly applied across the industry, with some saying as well that this delay will not slow down their approach for responsible advertising, as they aim to guide their clients to stay ahead of the curve. From a general perspective, this new delay from Google is another indication for many industry leaders to continue evolving towards a future where understanding of users’ privacy is at the heart of their responsible advertising mantra online.

California, USA – Popular sandbox game Roblox has teamed up with PubMatic to offer immersive programmatic video advertising in its platform. The partnership will allow more brands to seamlessly reach Roblox’s global community of over 71 million daily active users, nearly half of them representing the highly coveted Gen Z demographic, while Roblox will gain scaled access to premium brand advertising demand.

With one of the most robust virtual economies in the world, the expansion of Roblox’s advertising business will enable seamless access to this community and allow brands to activate on the platform without creating custom-built content.

Like all advertising on Roblox, programmatic ads must comply with the platform’s Community Standards and Advertising Standards grounded in principles of making advertising safe, transparent, and respectful of people’s privacy while still creating opportunities for the community to innovate, engage and earn. 

This also means Roblox users will know when they are interacting with ad content, and ads will continue to only be served to people ages 13 and up.

Stephanie Latham, VP of global partnerships at Roblox, said, “We are committed to making it easier for brands to foster connections with our highly engaged community on Roblox. Partnering with PubMatic unlocks the opportunity for more advertisers to seamlessly engage this community through preferred content formats, like video, while providing advertiser controls around brand suitability. The ad experience we offer on the platform is built to be immersive instead of disruptive, and true to the Roblox experience that our community of creators, users, and brands know and love.”

Meanwhile, Kyle Dozeman, chief revenue officer for Americas at PubMatic, commented, “We are thrilled to partner with Roblox to deliver a pioneering advertising solution that marries monetization with user experience. Advertising creates significant opportunities for many companies, and it funds and fuels the endless potential of the internet. We look forward to empowering Roblox to maintain full control over its advertising ecosystem while enabling advertisers to reach their target audiences effectively.”