Google Reportedly Looking To Replace Third-Party Cookies With New AdID

USA Today is reporting that Google is looking to upend the way the industry tracks online activity for advertising purposes. According to the newspaper, a source at Google says the company is developing an AdID, an anonymous identifier that would replace the third-party cookie as the industry’s primary tool for tracking browsing activity and gathering […]

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Google Logo - basic featuredUSA Today is reporting that Google is looking to upend the way the industry tracks online activity for advertising purposes.

According to the newspaper, a source at Google says the company is developing an AdID, an anonymous identifier that would replace the third-party cookie as the industry’s primary tool for tracking browsing activity and gathering information about user interests for ad targeting. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Google has not made the plans public, told USA Today:

The AdID would be transmitted to advertisers and ad networks that have agreed to basic guidelines, giving consumers more privacy and control over how they browse the Web.

Apparently, Google plans to connect with industry and consumer groups and government entities to discuss the proposal in the coming months. The company may be met with its share of skepticism. Clark Fredricksen of digital advertising reporting firm, eMarketer, told USA Today, “There could be concern in the industry about a system that shifts more of the benefits and control to operators like Google or Apple.”

Furthermore, Mike Zaneis, general counsel for the Interactive Advertising Bureau, says of having a few corporate behemoths control advertising identifiers, “They could deprecate the use of that ID on a whim basically, and severely undermine billions of dollars in digital ad spending.”

Advertisers will need to adhere to Google’s terms of the program to get access to AdIDs. The source did say the tool will give users the ability to control ad tracking through browser settings and that users may be able exclude specific companies from the list of approved advertisers through the browser controls.

Google has declined to comment on the matter.


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About the author

Ginny Marvin
Contributor
Ginny Marvin was formerly Third Door Media’s Editor-in-Chief, running the day-to-day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin wrote about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

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