{"id":10489,"date":"2025-10-21T15:30:38","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T21:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/?p=10489"},"modified":"2025-10-21T15:30:38","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T21:30:38","slug":"googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-needed-to-know-before-its-demise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/?p=10489","title":{"rendered":"Google\u2019s Privacy Sandbox: What you needed to know, before its demise"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/privacy-sandbox-rip-800x450.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Gravestone honoring Google Privacy Sandbox.\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Google officially killed its Privacy Sandbox, the once-flagship initiative aimed at replacing third-party cookies with privacy-preserving ad technologies.<\/p>\n<p>Privacy Sandbox was Google\u2019s answer to growing privacy regulation and industry backlash against cross-site tracking \u2014 but its complexity, limited adoption and regulatory scrutiny stalled momentum.<\/p>\n<p>In a blog post Friday, Anthony Chavez, VP of privacy sandbox, confirmed that Google is retiring 10 remaining Sandbox APIs, including Attribution Reporting, Topics and Protected Audience for both Chrome and Android. The move comes over a year after Google <a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/third-party-cookies-will-not-be-deprecated-from-chrome\/\">abandoned plans to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome altogether<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>You can read more about <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-officially-shuts-down-privacy-sandbox-463561\">the demise of Privacy Sandbox<\/a> from our friends at Search Engine Land.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What was Privacy Sandbox?<\/h2>\n<p>Google\u2019s Privacy Sandbox was a space where a series of complex proposals to protect user privacy have been developed and are undergoing (or have undergone) extensive testing. In short, Privacy Sandbox was an attempt to fill in the many gaps that were expected to open up in the advertising ecosystem with third-party cookies being deprecated in the Chrome browser. But Google then said  it <a href=\"https:\/\/privacysandbox.com\/intl\/en_us\/news\/privacy-sandbox-update\/\">would not deprecate third-party cookies after all<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>One key proposal was to replace tracking of individual users with Topics, assigning them (temporarily and in a way that does not identify them) topics of interest based on their browsing.<\/p>\n<p>But it wasn\u2019t not just about the Chrome Browser and it wasn\u2019t about Topics. There was also a Privacy Sandbox for Android that explored ways of preserving the app advertising ecosystem once users opted out of being tracked.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-yoast-seo-table-of-contents yoast-table-of-contents\">\n<h2>Table of contents<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/#h-what-was-privacy-sandbox\" data-level=\"2\">What was Privacy Sandbox?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/#h-third-party-cookies-will-not-be-deprecated\" data-level=\"2\">Third-party cookies will not be deprecated<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/#h-cma-report-more-than-doubles-the-number-of-google-sandbox-problems\" data-level=\"2\">CMA report more than doubles the number of Google Sandbox problems<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/#h-google-s-thankless-transparency\" data-level=\"2\">Google\u2019s thankless transparency<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/#h-final-iab-tech-lab-privacy-sandbox-fit-gap-analysis\" data-level=\"2\">Final IAB Tech Lab Privacy Sandbox Fit Gap Analysis<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/#h-uk-s-information-commissioner-s-office-ico-stepped-in\" data-level=\"2\">UK\u2019s Information Commissioner\u2019s Office (ICO) stepped in<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/#h-ad-industry-is-now-acting\" data-level=\"2\">Ad industry is now acting<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/#h-concerns-about-adequacy-of-privacy-sandbox-testing\" data-level=\"2\">Concerns about adequacy of Privacy Sandbox testing<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/#h-some-ad-industry-players-don-t-care-about-cookies\" data-level=\"2\">Some ad industry players don\u2019t care about cookies<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/#h-the-main-alternatives-to-third-party-cookies\" data-level=\"2\">The main alternatives to third-party cookies<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/#h-first-party-and-zero-party-data\" data-level=\"3\">First-party (and zero-party) data<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/#h-contextual-advertising\" data-level=\"3\">Contextual advertising<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/#h-identity-resolution\" data-level=\"3\">Identity resolution<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/#h-google-topics\" data-level=\"3\">Google Topics<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/#h-what-you-need-to-know-about-privacy-sandbox-for-android\" data-level=\"2\">What you need to know about Privacy Sandbox for Android<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/#h-privacy-sandbox-faces-continued-competitive-concerns-in-the-u-k\" data-level=\"2\">Privacy Sandbox faces continued competitive concerns in the U.K.<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/#h-nextroll-and-audigent-announce-details-of-a-successful-privacy-sandbox-test\" data-level=\"2\">NextRoll and Audigent announce details of a successful Privacy Sandbox test<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/#h-the-return-of-cookies-and-the-future-of-privacy-sandbox\" data-level=\"2\">The return of cookies and the future of Privacy Sandbox<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Third-party cookies will not be deprecated<\/h2>\n<p>Google repeatedly delayed the complete deprecation of third-party cookies, although at the beginning of 2024 it did roll out the option to opt out to <a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/google-has-started-phasing-out-third-party-cookies\/\">some 1% of Chrome users worldwide<\/a>. Then, on July 22, 2024, Google announced it will not deprecate third-party cookies on Chrome after all. Instead, it will continue to develop Privacy Sandbox alternatives and allow users to make an \u201cinformed choice\u201d about whether or not to accept cookies.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/google-is-rolling-out-topics-based-tracking-for-chrome\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><em>Google is rolling out\u00a0Topics-based tracking for Chrome<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">CMA report more than doubles the number of Google Sandbox problems<\/h2>\n<p>On April 26, 2024, the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which has primarily been looking at anti-competitive issues arising from Privacy Sandbox, issued <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/cma-cases\/investigation-into-googles-privacy-sandbox-browser-changes#quarterly-reports\">a new report<\/a> listing around many more potential problems that need to be addressed than identified in its previous report in January. <\/p>\n<p>Among other things, it appears that the CMA has adopted wholesale the concerns of the Information Commissioner\u2019s Office, a U.K. data regulator, regarding the preservation of use privacy (see below). Google likely saw this coming over the horizon as they pushed back the cookie deprecation deadline again earlier the same week.<\/p>\n<p>There is a sense that Google is slipping further behind when it comes to resolving regulators\u2019 concerns.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Google\u2019s thankless transparency<\/h2>\n<p>Throughout the multi-year lifespan of the Sandbox, Google has \u2014 on the face of it \u2014 gone out of its way to offer transparency into its proposals and timeline (here\u2019s the <a href=\"https:\/\/privacysandbox.com\/open-web\/?mkt_tok=NzI3LVpRRS0wNDQAAAGSXCBUtri5TCdWs9pig8AjNNniWqRqdHPDmjei4NSDOIiWmkdKetwgKK_pkXHFHoNrKbwuYV2BQelsCljpr0SiCf_odtWjBF-yoBVWa7b7Qu14ZN8#the-privacy-sandbox-timeline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Web timeline<\/a> as of April 2024). It has worked with the CMA on antitrust issues <a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/google-agrees-to-not-favor-its-own-products-in-commitments-with-uk-regulator-on-floc\/\">since 2021<\/a> and has collaborated with the IAB Tech Lab industry consortium to refine Privacy Sandbox proposals.<\/p>\n<p>Google might feel that the transparency has not been appreciated. The CMA\u2019s concerns have not yet been resolved and in a scathing report released in February, 2024, the Tech Lab said:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201c(T)he changes mandated by Privacy Sandbox will require substantial development and infrastructure investment costs for both buy and sell-side technology companies. Additionally, operational, business, financial, and legal processes for brands, agencies, and media companies will need extensive reworking<\/p>\n<p><cite><a href=\"https:\/\/info.thirddoormedia.com\/NzI3LVpRRS0wNDQAAAGSXCBUtuqAny0BOp2RXvJS63f5nDdjGJbq-2Sm2cMSR1xD9E7YCbVx2eH3Bdlhz87BgQu998A=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IAB\u00a0Tech\u00a0Lab slams Google Privacy Sandbox<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Google was not slow to clap back:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201c(T)he analysis contains many misunderstandings and inaccuracies, which we consider important to correct in order to provide accurate information to the ecosystem. Overall, the report appears to ignore the broader objective of Privacy Sandbox to enhance user privacy while supporting effective digital advertising.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><cite><a href=\"https:\/\/info.thirddoormedia.com\/NzI3LVpRRS0wNDQAAAGSXCBUtuqAny0BOp2RXvJS63f5nDdjGJbq-2Sm2cMSR1xD9E7YCbVx2eH3Bdlhz87BgQu998A=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IAB\u00a0Tech\u00a0Lab slams Google Privacy Sandbox<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Final IAB Tech Lab Privacy Sandbox Fit Gap Analysis<\/h2>\n<p>The IAB Tech Lab\u2019s Privacy Sandbox Task Force issued their last deliverable, the final version of the Fit Gap Analysis, on June 27, 2024. Its conclusions were no more comforting for Google \u2014 or indeed the ad ecosystem \u2014 than the February report.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cThe Task Force\u2019s concerns with the Privacy Sandbox remain unchanged. We maintain that it falls well short of what is needed to support a robust open web by balancing advertising utility for brands against media companies\u2019 ability to maximize revenues. In its current form, the Privacy Sandbox will restrict the digital media industry\u2019s ability to deliver relevant, effective advertising, placing smaller media companies and brands at significant risk. The lack of functionality will throttle their ability to compete, ultimately impacting the industry\u2019s growth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><cite><a href=\"https:\/\/iabtechlab.com\/iab-tech-lab-releases-final-privacy-sandbox-fit-analysis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Blog post accompanying report<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The full analysis can be <a href=\"https:\/\/iabtechlab.com\/privacysandbox\/\">accessed here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">UK\u2019s Information Commissioner\u2019s Office (ICO) stepped in<\/h2>\n<p>The Privacy Sandbox was being challenged by another U.K. regulator responsible for information rights and public privacy. The ICO is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the U.K. government\u2019s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.<\/p>\n<p>Concerns are being raised about adequate protection for user privacy within the protocols being developed by Privacy Sandbox, according to documents obtained by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/tech\/google-cookies-replacement-not-enough-to-protect-uk-consumer-privacy-580d1b16\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>. It believes there are loopholes that could be exploited to track users \u2014 something Google was set on eliminating. The ICO has shared its concernes with the CMA.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ad industry is now acting<\/h2>\n<p>After a lengthy period of prevarication, strongly recalling the run-up to GDPR, the ad industry <a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/ad-industry-steps-up-to-meet-signal-loss-privacy-challenges-iab\/?mkt_tok=NzI3LVpRRS0wNDQAAAGSXCBUtidE2p9XRQrTRi0aIsywn5TOm4FQO0-CV0605mTnpnLnlLrbOGcx_TjqK1Xx1mb6Y9yiDL2bY0F30JqjleMuh-NEQiVk4vwpONOeekLLZ18\">has begun taking steps<\/a> to prepare for cookie deprecation. It is making major investments in order to adapt to the new privacy-by-design ecosystem, according to an IAB survey of 500 advertising and data experts at brands, agencies and publishers.<\/p>\n<p>The 2024 edition of the IAB\u2019s annual \u201cState of Data\u201d report shows how the industry is addressing the new privacy-by-design ecosystem in which the deprecation of third-party cookies and other privacy-protective measures are expected to lead to significant signal loss. In particular, the new environment is expected to put obstacles in the way of targeting, personalization and measurement.<\/p>\n<p>More than half those surveyed anticipate challenges in tracking conversions, attributing conversions to campaign or channel performance, measuring ROI and optimizing campaigns; almost 50% expect to struggle to measure reach.<\/p>\n<p>Against this background, some 90% are shifting their personalization tactics, their ad spend, and the balance of first- and third-party data in their ad strategy. Eighty percent are planning to train their staff on privacy-related issues, while many expect to create dedicated teams or employ external experts to work on these issues.<\/p>\n<p>Brands, agencies, and publishers are planning to grow their first party data-sets at a rate almost double two years ago (71% vs. 41%). In other words, we will see an attempt to leverage first-party (and <a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/how-to-extract-value-from-zero-party-data\/\">zero-party<\/a>) data as a replacement for the third-party data collected through covert tracking. There are two concerns however. The first is that, due to the comparatively limited quantity of first-party data, this approach just won\u2019t achieve the results seen with third-party cookies. The second is that using first-party data means addressing only existing customers (or subscribers, or members, etc.). Other tactics will be needed to support acquisition.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Concerns about adequacy of Privacy Sandbox testing<\/h2>\n<p>The protocols in the Privacy Sandbox became available for testing in January this year. The problem that some experts see is that it requires large-scale adoption within the ad ecosystem for the results of the testing to be reliable. While it may be possible to test whether something technically works on this scale, it\u2019s hard to evaluate the effects it would have when adopted across the ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s some really good ideas in there to protect privacy and continue with advertising, but they need to be tested properly. From the second an ad is created to when it is delivered, there are many \u201chops\u201d and those \u201chops\u201d have been created over 20 years and each one provides, or should provide, value. All the companies in this ecosystem need to be connected in order for Privacy Sandbox to work and not everyone has done that work yet. Everyone has to connect to the framework to test it properly,\u201d said Quantcast CMO Amit Kotecha.<\/p>\n<p>Said Ken Weiner, CTO at contextual advertising platform GumGum, \u201cSome people have prototyped it and what I\u2019ve heard is, it\u2019s kind of working but the CPMs are lower. But when more people adopt it, we might get back up to normal levels.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Data clean room and collaboration platform Optable has a direct integration with Privacy Sandbox and is one of the organizations involved in testing its capabilities. Bosko Milekic, co-founder and chief product officer, said: \u201cWe have some sense that it works for audience targeting; it\u2019s designed to enable that kind of campaign to continue to run once cookies are gone. It\u2019s still difficult to draw conclusions on performance, the reason being that the amount of inventory currently available to bidders such as Optable through the Privacy Sandbox mechanisms is quite limited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Optable is finding that the targeting and measurement mechanisms work. \u201cBut it\u2019s still to early to draw definitive conclusions as to broad performance,\u201d said Milekic.<\/p>\n<p>By Q3, the 1% testing period will be over and Google will be able (CMA permitting) to roll out cookie deprecation everywhere without a clear idea of what will happen when it goes from 1% to 100%.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Some ad industry players don\u2019t care about cookies<\/h2>\n<p>There are some members of the advertising ecosystem that are not just resigned to the loss of third-party cookies, but aren\u2019t even mourning it. <\/p>\n<p>GumGum, with its stake in contextual advertising, is one. Another is marketing analytics firm ChannelMix. \u201cWe have a solution that doesn\u2019t rely on cookies,\u201d said Michelle Jacobs, ChannelMix\u2019s President and co-founder, \u201cso it doesn\u2019t really matter to us what Google ends up doing.\u201d Nevertheless, she views the Privacy Sandbox proposals as a step backwards. \u201cMarketers aren\u2019t going to be able to execute media like they\u2019re doing today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jacobs\u2019 co-founder and ChannelMix CEO Matt Hertig believes that \u201cstraight-line attribution\u201d based on cookie-tracking has actually been dead for years. \u201cWe\u2019re excited because this is forcing the industry to adopt practical measurement strategies based around first-party data.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another agnostic player is Optable, the data collaboration and clean room vendor that was created in conscious anticipation of the deprecation of third-party cookies on Chrome. \u201cWe created Optable specifically to make it possible to do relevant advertising effectively without third-party cookies,\u201d said Milekic.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The main alternatives to third-party cookies<\/h2>\n<p>Although there seem to be countless proposed alternatives to cookies out there, they generally fall into one of the following categories: reliance on first-party (and zero-party) data, contextual advertising, identity resolution (including data clean rooms) or purported substitutes like Privacy Sandbox\u2019s Topics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think there are going to be lots of different tactics to get through this,\u201d said Tara DeZao, product marketing director for adtech and martech at Pega . \u201cBrands that don\u2019t have a lot of first-party data \u2014 say, for example, CPG brands \u2014 are going to rely on their retail media partners, the Targets and the Walmarts, to get them the reach that they need. In terms of other industries, there are lots of first-party data options available.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">First-party (and zero-party) data<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cConsumers are amenable to giving you their data as long as there\u2019s a value exchange there,\u201d said DeZao. \u201cI think brands haven\u2019t cracked the code 100% on what the value exchange is going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Closely associated with first-party data is zero-party data, data that is not personally identifying but which is offered up by the consumer through engagements like quizzes. One example\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/how-inkbox-steers-customers-through-its-huge-online-catalog-of-temporary-tattoos\/\">we wrote about<\/a>\u00a0was an online temporary tattoo brand that collected information about a visitor\u2019s style preferences and showed them relevant products; collecting first-party data could wait.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Contextual advertising<\/h3>\n<p>In a sense, contextual advertising goes back to the days of soap opera when Madison Avenue confidently identified the demographic watching daytime television dramas as the demographic responsible for buying soap powder. But there are new forms of contextual advertising out there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cContext is going to be huge,\u201d said DeZao. \u201cAs someone working for an AI company, we know that consumers are moving so rapidly through all their channels and devices, so you need real-time data and information. Context is one of those categories where you can get the freshest take on what your consumer is doing in the moment.\u201d In other words, regardless of identity, consumers scrolling through camping websites might like to see ads for tents.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Identity resolution<\/h3>\n<p>There are many vendors today offering identity resolution solutions that \u2014 largely probabilistically \u2014 stitch identifiers like postal or email address to transaction activity or other trackable behaviors. Some of these solutions are interoperable \u2014 for example, The Trade Desk\u2019s UID is interoperable with LiveRamp\u2019s RampID. Does that bring benefits?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you look at our marketing stacks today they\u2019re so, so bloated,\u201d said DeZao. \u201cWe\u2019re actually using less of the stack than we ever did, but we\u2019re continuing to add things into it. So I think, when a brand is looking for new solutions \u2014 and it\u2019s going to be multiple, because there\u2019s not one solution to replace this functionality \u2014 they need to be reducing the number of vendors they have versus adding. Consider technologies that are interoperable with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Google Topics<\/h3>\n<p>The winning alternative to cookies that has emerged from Privacy Sandbox is Topics, a browser-based approach that assigns a rotating and limited number of topics to a browser based on activity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a seven-day cadence,\u201d DeZao explained, \u201cand I think there\u2019s something like 460 or 470 categories, and they\u2019re not super granular. Criteo is a Google partner; they\u2019ve been testing Topics and a year ago they found that Topics was five times less effective than cookies. They have added a hundred or so categories since then but the granularity is not there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTopics is not going to have demographic information or categories,\u201d she said. \u201cYour first-party data is your best bet. If you\u2019re in industries like finance, telecoms and potentially arts and entertainment, you\u2019re going to want that demographic info.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If DeZao had to place a dollar on which solution will ultimately win out? It sounds like she\u2019s bet on contextual advertising. \u201cContextuality and real-time data \u2014 like, the freshest possible data.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What you need to know about Privacy Sandbox for Android<\/h2>\n<p>Most discussion of Google\u2019s Privacy Sandbox proposals have focused on what they mean for the Chrome browser. After all, it\u2019s Chrome\u2019s deprecation of cookies that has seemed to be the motivating force for the Sandbox and for proposals like Topics and Protected Audiences. But it raises significant issues for mobile marketing too.<\/p>\n<p>Privacy Sandbox for Android will deprecate identifiers just as Apple\u2019s iOS already has. \u201cPrivacy Sandbox is introducing APIs and solutions that basically remove the Android Advertising ID, a unique identifier at device level that is consistent across all apps on that device,\u201d said said Itai Cohen, SVP marketing and strategy at Digital Turbine. It is possible to reset the ID, but Cohen expects only a minority of tech-savvy users to do that. Consent is easier on iOS, but consent rates are still below 20%.<\/p>\n<p>Having already lost identifiers on iOS, mobile marketers should know what to expect. Losing the device identifier meant losing two things: The database becomes far less useful for gauging the right level of bidding, and attribution becomes highly problematic. \u201cOnce you can\u2019t close the loop between purchase and user acquisition spend, measuring marketing efficacy is significantly hindered,\u201d said Cohen.<\/p>\n<p>The major difference between Apple\u2019s and Google\u2019s approaches is that users on iOS receive a prompt from each individual app where they can choose to actively opt-in to share their device identifier (albeit consent rates are still below 20%), whereas Google\u2019s Privacy Sandbox aims to remove user-level identifiers altogether and replace them with a set of APIs that support various advertising use-cases without relying\u00a0on identifiers.<\/p>\n<p>Said Cohen, \u201cWhile Chrome Privacy Sandbox is challenging to implement, mobile will be a much bigger lift. The IAB had a strong response to the Chrome Privacy Sandbox, and that was an easier process compared to the mobile side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/what-googles-privacy-sandbox-means-for-the-app-ecosystem\/?mkt_tok=NzI3LVpRRS0wNDQAAAGSXCBUtrR6_-pfkFzgOdntwxAjAhQnN8IHu0CXQfZZYD0ey_YK-8IcbS6T9xGnTyTevAjvIi7UQ6amQxsF7X4gSB0blHxlT8xA8Bqp4U8eKc82b7U\">More details on Privacy Sandbox for Android<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Privacy Sandbox faces continued competitive concerns in the U.K.<\/h2>\n<p>The U.K.\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) continues to closely monitoring Google\u2019s evolving Privacy Sandbox initiative despite the tech giant\u2019s major strategy shift to allow users to whether nor not to accept third-party cookies.<\/p>\n<p>In its latest assessment published Nov. 11, 2024, the CMA revealed that competition concerns around the Privacy Sandbox persist, even with Google\u2019s revised approach. The regulator is now working with Google to update the existing commitments to address these ongoing issues.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key details:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The CMA says its \u201cview is that competition concerns remain under Google\u2019s revised approach\u201d and wants to ensure any changes support continued competition in digital advertising.<\/li>\n<li>Specific areas of concern include Google\u2019s control over the Topics API taxonomy, auction dynamics in the Protected Audience API, and limitations in the Attribution Reporting API.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Read more about <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-privacy-sandbox-competition-concerns-448234\">Privacy Sandbox and the CMA <\/a>from Anu Adegbola on Search Engine Land.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NextRoll and Audigent announce details of a successful Privacy Sandbox test<\/h2>\n<p>NextRoll and Audigent announced in January 2025 a successful test within Google Privacy Sandbox. The two companies said they were able to activate Audigent Interest Groups on the AdRoll DSP with some help from the Sandbox\u2019s Protected Audience API (PAAPI).<\/p>\n<p>The goal of the test was to allow advertisers to retain upper funnel and retargeting tactics without the use of third-party cookies. <\/p>\n<p>Here are the details of the initial test:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>NextRoll connecting more than 1 billion browsers to an Interest Group across Audigent\u2019s network of publisher websites. NextRoll then ran a two-week campaign targeting the Interest Group across Privacy Sandbox inventory, delivering nearly 5 million impressions across 42,000 domains. This test enabled both companies to better understand the technical workflows and system requirements needed to support Interest Group creation and activation at greater scale.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>You can read more about the test on the <a href=\"https:\/\/audigent.com\/blog\/google-privacy-sandbox-first-audience-activation\">Audigent blog<\/a>. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The return of cookies and the future of Privacy Sandbox<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-May-1-2025-01_57_08-PM-600x600.png\" alt=\"The end of Google Privacy Sandbox.\" class=\"wp-image-399775\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>On April 22, 2025, Google announced it was changing course and <a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/google-is-keeping-cookies-in-chrome\/\">keeping third-party cookies in Chrome<\/a>. Replacing those was the reason Privacy Sandbox existed, so what\u2019s next?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll continue to enhance tracking protections in Chrome\u2019s Incognito mode, which already blocks third-party cookies by default,\u201d Anthony Chavez, vice president of Privacy Sandbox at Google, said in a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/privacysandbox.com\/news\/privacy-sandbox-next-steps\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">blog post<\/a>. \u201cThis includes\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/GoogleChrome\/ip-protection\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IP Protection<\/a>, which we plan to launch in Q3 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His next comment was a masterpiece of understatement: \u201cIn light of this update, we understand that the Privacy Sandbox APIs may have a different role to play in supporting the ecosystem.\u201d Chavez then added something about \u201cgathering industry feedback\u201d and sharing an updated roadmap at a time to be determined.<\/p>\n<p>It seems safe to say that Privacy Sandbox will soon join Google Hangouts, Google+, Pigeon Transit, GooglePlay Movies &amp; TV, Google Jamboard and many other company initiatives at the Great<a href=\"https:\/\/killedbygoogle.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Google Graveyard<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START INLINE FORM --><\/p>\n<div class=\"nl-inline-form border py-2 px-1 my-2\">\n<div class=\"row align-items-center justify-content-center nl-inline-container\">\n<div class=\"col-12 pb-1\">\n<p class=\"inline-form-text text-center mb-0\">Fuel up with free marketing insights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-auto pb-2 pb-lg-0\">\n<p class=\"inline-form-text text-center mb-0\">Email:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-8 pe-lg-0\">\n<div class=\"form-nl-inline\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-auto\">\n<p class=\"text-center mb-0\"><a class=\"nl-terms\" href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/terms-of-service\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"opens in a new tab\">See terms.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- END INLINE FORM --><\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/googles-privacy-sandbox-what-you-need-to-know\/\">Google\u2019s Privacy Sandbox: What you needed to know, before its demise<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/\">MarTech<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google officially killed its Privacy Sandbox, the once-flagship initiative aimed at replacing third-party cookies with privacy-preserving ad technologies. Privacy Sandbox was Google\u2019s answer to growing privacy regulation and industry backlash against cross-site tracking \u2014 but its complexity, limited adoption and regulatory scrutiny stalled momentum. In a blog post Friday, Anthony Chavez, VP of privacy sandbox, &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/?p=10489\" class=\"more-link\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Google\u2019s Privacy Sandbox: What you needed to know, before its demise&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-May-1-2025-01_57_08-PM.png",0,0,false],"medium":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-May-1-2025-01_57_08-PM.png",0,0,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-May-1-2025-01_57_08-PM.png",0,0,false],"large":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-May-1-2025-01_57_08-PM.png",0,0,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-May-1-2025-01_57_08-PM.png",0,0,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-May-1-2025-01_57_08-PM.png",0,0,false],"inspiro-featured-image":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-May-1-2025-01_57_08-PM.png",0,0,false],"inspiro-loop":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-May-1-2025-01_57_08-PM.png",0,0,false],"inspiro-loop@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-May-1-2025-01_57_08-PM.png",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-May-1-2025-01_57_08-PM.png",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-May-1-2025-01_57_08-PM.png",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-masonry":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-May-1-2025-01_57_08-PM.png",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-masonry@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-May-1-2025-01_57_08-PM.png",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_cinema":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-May-1-2025-01_57_08-PM.png",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_portrait":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-May-1-2025-01_57_08-PM.png",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_portrait@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-May-1-2025-01_57_08-PM.png",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_square":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-May-1-2025-01_57_08-PM.png",0,0,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10489\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}