After years of timeline delays and changes, Google finally made the announcement many MadTech leaders had been anticipating: a full cancellation of the Cookiepocalypse… for now, at least. This decision has elicited a variety of reactions – surprise, panic, excitement, and dread.
The industry as a whole appears divided. Some see the delay as beneficial, providing extra time to innovate and test new solutions. Others have very practical reservations ranging from fears around readiness for an eventual cookiepocalypse to calling for more regulation.
The coverage of this topic is moving at lightning speeds – this article summarizes reactions and thoughts across the MadTech industry to help you get up to speed quickly.
But first things first – Our thoughts:
The Aqfer Perspective
Aqfer founder Dan Jaye has been on the cutting edge of technology innovation since the beginning of his career. He was on the team credited with founding behavioral targeting – so he’s no stranger to envisioning new solutions amidst challenging landscapes. Helping MadTech providers innovate quickly and efficiently is one of the key reasons why Aqfer exists.
All this to say, in the past few weeks, Dan (and our entire team) has been thinking hard about the Cookiepocalypse situation, and more importantly – how industry leaders should respond.
For more insight from Dan, check out these pieces:
In Lieu of Cookie Deprecation: A Suggestion for Google
2026: The Real Year of the Cookieless Revolution (And Why You Shouldn’t Panic)
The Industry Perspective
Now, let’s explore more thoughts and reactions from leaders across MarTech, AdTech and Data Tech.
An Opportunity to Innovate
Industry optimists see the Cookiepocalypse cancellation news as a much-needed opportunity to further refine and test alternative solutions.
Iván Markman, Chief Business Officer at Yahoo, emphasized the importance of ID-less strategies and leveraging consumer-consented data sources:
“The future of identity lies in the ability to leverage direct, consumer-consented sources and to be smarter about signals that are not attached to a consumer’s identity.”
Similarly, Sergii Denysenko, CEO of programmatic platform MGID, noted that 30% of ad budgets are already allocated to cookieless ads, highlighting the industry’s proactive approach to finding privacy-first alternatives like first-party data solutions and contextual targeting.
“For now, the open web is at a huge competitive advantage; the postponement of the cookie’s demise gives platforms outside the walled gardens a chance to strengthen alternative targeting methods in order to thrive in the privacy-first world.”
Investing in privacy-centric solutions is a huge topic of conversation. Typeform CRO Kristen Habacht commented on the importance of developing compliant solutions that empower the consumer while meeting business goals:
“Companies would do well to continue the evolution toward using privacy-centric strategies and technologies that work for both the company and the customer, and that could provide a leg up on the competition. Data collection shouldn’t be a one-way street that leads to an incomplete picture — you might be surprised just how wrong your cookie-based assumptions are.”
And of course, AI is predicted to be central to short and long term solutions. Kelly Anderson of Emodo suggests that the industry should pivot towards ID-less solutions, leveraging AI and dynamic creative strategies. She argues that focusing less on identity-based targeting could spur innovation in privacy-first advertising methods.
“There is an opportunity for businesses building and supporting alternative ID-less targeting solutions, like those using artificial intelligence and dynamic creative, to leverage this extra time to understand what’s really working and perfect their solutions.”
Similarly, Eli Goodman, CEO of Datos expects AI to play a leading role in solutions developed this year.
“Over the next few months, I expect to see an influx of new advertising solutions that utilize AI to analyze cookie-based data to better target customers.”
The industry’s positive response to Google’s announcement goes further than reactions from thought leaders. AdTech stock has surged following the Cookiepocalypse cancellation, CNBC reported.
“Several ad tech players saw stocks shoot up Thursday following the announcement. The Trade Desk shares closed up 16%, Magnite shares closed up nearly 10%, PubMatic shares closed up 13%, Criteo shares closed up 12% and LiveRamp shares closed up 6%.”
Fears and Concerns
Of course, the response to Cookiepocalypse cancellation hasn’t been entirely positive. Industry leaders also raise fears and concerns around viability and readiness, ambiguity, and the need for more regulation.
Many criticize Google for delaying the inevitable, and effectively delaying the future of digital advertising in the process. This sentiment is captured in ExchangeWire CSO Ciarán O’Kane’s critique:
“Kicking the “privacy can” down the road helps nobody. We already have an industry heavily indexed for programmatic marketing on Chrome. That’s just 50% of the web. Traders are telling us that barely 60% of that is actually addressable due to people using incognito and activating aggressive privacy settings. That means a multi-billion dollar addressable market is only interested in 30% of the open web. All we are doing is giving a decaying legacy business more runway. Google needed to be brave and accelerate the timeline to a privacy-first era – but as usual it bottled it.”
And if the industry continues to rest on the laurels of outdated tracking methods, innovation will suffer. James Colborn of Teads worries about readiness when Cookiepocalypse finally does arrive:
“No matter how long Google takes to finally deprecate third-party data, if brands and publishers delay the integration of these solutions, it will only mean less cookieless readiness when the axe does finally swing.”
Matt Engstrom, VP of Marketing at Digital Remedy emphasized the ambiguity this delay introduces for companies investing in alternative solutions like independent web IDs.
“As much as this announcement is a blessing for advertisers and partners looking to cement a strategy for tracking and measurement beyond the cookie, it also creates ambiguity around when this preparedness needs to be finalized.”
As usage of third-party cookies drags on, we can expect legislators to continue developing regulations to protect user privacy. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) released a statement in response to Google’s announcement:
“We are disappointed that Google has changed its plans and no longer intends to deprecate third party cookies from the Chrome Browser… We will monitor how the industry responds and consider regulatory action where systemic non-compliance is identified for all companies including Google.”
James Rosewell, the Movement for an Open Web co-founder, called for legislators to keep Google in check:
“There’s nothing in the announcement that prevents Google [from] doing this all over again in the future. Regulators will need to ensure there are legally binding commitments on Google to guarantee interoperability in perpetuity.”
Relatedly, from a UX perspective, the continual usage of third party cookies will likely lead to negative experiences for users – think consent popups akin to Europe’s GDPR-driven browsing experience. Rio Longacre, of Slalom consulting group shared the following:
“Expect more annoying EU-style pop-ups on every site you visit. This will be bad for UX, but will keep the regulators happy on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Where To Go From Here
Regardless of where your company falls on the glass-half-full or empty spectrum, it’s clear that action is required. Google has canceled cookie deprecation for now. But the tide of the industry is moving away from cookie-based tracking, towards future-ready, privacy-centric solutions.
Ready to develop those solutions for your customers? Aqfer is here to help. Explore our use cases and get inspired to level-up your approach to data capture, processing and activation for your brand client