On January 4, 2024, Google announced plans to disable third-party cookies for 1% Chrome users as part of a gradual reduction process aimed at completely eliminating them by the end of the year. First introduced in 2019, Google's Privacy Sandbox project requires the cooperation of stakeholders to enable advertising without violating user privacy. Privacy Sandbox on the Android operating system is Google's solution to help solve problems related to private advertising. However, compared to Apple, the Privacy Sandbox solution still retains the advertising business but will reduce cross-platform user tracking. Let's look at the measures and guidance Google has announced and how we can prepare for the challenges ahead.
What's changing?
Google Sandbox focuses on two pillars on the web and apps on Android. The most important change on the web is the deprecation of third-party cookies. At the same time, Android is limiting tracking through advertising IDs (Google Advertising ID, GAID) (which have been used to identify users) to build a safe web/app environment. This update is Google's next step after the announcement on June 2, 2021 that, from the Android 12 operating system onwards, if users opt out of receiving personalized ads by turning off this option in device settings (opt-out), their Android Advertising ID will be removed.
However, the bottom line is that the changes you will see in your business now are not as dramatic as you think. Especially when it comes to measuring attribution performance in Airbridge. Installs via Google's install referrer (Google Play Install_referrer) will still be recorded, and deep links and UTM web parameters will still exist. Based on this, the cross-platform identifier (Airbridge ID) that Airbridge uses to measure performance will also exist.
However, it's important to note what will be affected and how you can specifically prepare for it.
What does it mean to stop using third-party cookies?
Cookies are small data files that are stored when users visit a website. A third-party cookie is a collection of data stored by a third-party service that is not the owner of the website the user visits. The advertising industry may use this information to track users across web browsers and display customized advertising to that user. It is these third-party cookies that allow products you search for on the website to appear as ads later on social networks or other platforms. However, privacy concerns have arisen due to the collection of user behavior on the website without their consent, leading to the decision to discontinue support in 2024.
Stop using GAID (Google Advertising ID) on Android
Android is also planning to stop supporting Google Advertising ID (GAID) - a user identifier. Luckily, you can still take advantage of Google Play's Install_referrer, or the identifier that MMPs like Airbridge use to measure performance. However, since GAID has long been used to track users in Android apps and plays an important role in measuring performance, now is the time to look for alternatives to measure advertising effectiveness. fox.
Suggestions from Google
Use Topic API and Protected Audience API to display ads and related content
Google plans to make the following alternatives available as APIs to the digital advertising industry. The industry is facing a need for new methods due to significant changes.
While traditionally, unique user identifiers are used to understand user behavior and thereby infer their interests, Topic API helps you attract new users through targeted advertising based on the history of their recent interests in the browser or app. Among approximately 400 officially designated topics or topics of interest to customers, machine learning assigns relevant topic categories to users based on their search and access history. If a user frequently visits travel-related websites, then travel will be on the user's list of topics. Topics are only kept for 3 weeks, after which they are deleted. Of course, categories related to personal information such as gender and race will not be collected. When the publisher calls the Topic API, three topics will be randomly selected and shared. Google ensures user anonymity by only sharing general interests instead of analyzing user behavior patterns in detail. Additionally, Topic API gives users maximum control. You can see which topics have been assigned to you, delete topics you're not interested in, or even turn off the Topic API feature entirely. These features help protect your privacy while allowing publishers and advertisers to further personalize digital advertising for new users.
Google also offers a Protected Audience API that allows advertisers to perform remarketing using custom audiences. To enhance user privacy, these objects will be created and stored directly on the device or browser, eliminating the reliance on unique identifiers or third-party cookies currently used. use. To dig deeper into how the Protected Audience API works, advertisers and publishers (DSPs) will pre-define interest groups along with specific behaviors (like add to cart and purchase) for the campaign. their. When a user triggers an action, the Protected Audience API is called and adds that user to the custom audience. When a user visits an advertising site (SSP or the site itself) or the publisher's app later, the Protected Audience API is called and ad bidding is performed based on pre-created audiences. to distribute the most suitable ads to users. This enhances the safety of remarketing because the device or browser owns the information about the user's preferences, not a third party. Furthermore, ad bidding is done on-device without any external leakage.
Digital advertising measurement – Attribution Reporting API
Traditional advertising IDs and third-party cookies also play a key role in measuring advertising performance. These identifiers allow you to match users who saw your ads with users who generated conversions in your web/app. It gives you a bird's-eye view of how your campaigns are performing across different channels and how many users they're bringing in. To help you in this regard, Google offers another way to measure ad performance using the Attribution Reporting API.
Here's how the Attribution Reporting API works: When a user views or clicks an ad in your website/app, the Attribution Reporting API stores the corresponding touchpoint event. If a conversion occurs, such as when a user installs an app or makes a web purchase, the conversion event is also saved. The Attribution Reporting API then links the last touchpoints that occurred before that conversion to calculate attribution. This may seem similar to the traditional last touch attribution model, but the difference is that the process of storing touchpoints and attributing them all happens within the user's device or browser.
After calculating attribution in the device (or browser), the Attribution Reporting API provides two types of reports: event-level reports and summary reports. These reports will be delayed and delivered with a certain percentage of noise introduced into the data to protect user privacy.
1. Event level reporting
Event-level reports are reports provided to optimize your ads by measuring performance for each conversion event. In this report, you can check which conversion events happened by which campaign in which app through the three pieces of information below.
- Destination - The advertiser's application or mobile web address where the conversion event occurs
- Attribution Source ID – ID containing campaign information (channel and campaign information)
- Trigger type – The type of conversion event, such as an app install or purchase
2. Summary report
Summary reports aggregate the performance of multiple ads, allowing analysis from many different perspectives. Composite keys are criteria related to advertising campaigns and conversions, which can be predefined on the publisher and MMP side. Ad performance can then be analyzed based on that information.
There are two main components of the Summary Report.
- Aggregation Key – Information related to ad interactions, such as campaigns, ad groups, ads, targeting zones, etc.
- Aggregation Value – Aggregated information corresponding to conversion events, such as number of purchases and purchase amount
For example, by configuring Composite Key items on the publisher side, such as campaigns, ad groups, ads, and targeting areas, and on the MMP side, items corresponding to conversions such as lists product category, device information, and app version, you can see results like “A total of 300 purchases were made by campaign A on app B, and the total purchase amount was 5 million won. Half of the purchases were in the Seoul area.”
However, as you can see from the name of the report, you won't be able to get a report for each event; instead, reports are generated after events with the same attributes accumulate to a certain level. Therefore, to create the largest possible parameters, it is recommended to compose a Composite key with common items.
What do you need to prepare for the upcoming changes?
Airbridge has stopped collecting iOS advertising identifiers through counting Anti-application tracking feature (ATT) of Apple. As we learned from that experience, adapting to new changes is never easy but challenges can create new opportunities. In the case of Google's Privacy Sandbox, alternative proposals have been put forward in advance, and industry insiders are improving the project based on beta testing feedback. We anticipate a more stable and smooth transition this time because we have prepared in advance.
What should advertisers know ahead of time?
If GAID is deprecated on Android, we will see lower installs and conversions than before because the identifier linking ad clicks and in-app conversions will no longer be available . However, as mentioned above, appropriate attributions through the Google Play Install Referrer will still be recorded.
If your company is building internal user data based on existing advertising IDs, you should perform the following tasks.
- Check the unique identifier of user data in the internal database
- If you're identifying users by advertising ID (GAID), check to see if there are alternative identifiers that could be used (e.g., first-party data like email addresses, person IDs, etc.) (provided by MMP)
- Engage in discussions with publishers and MMPs to explore potential alternatives.
If Chrome stops supporting third-party cookies, sharing attribution results to subdomains may not be possible. For example, if you are using multiple subdomains and sharing attribution results from each site, this functionality will no longer be supported. (Attribution results from a.ab180.co will not be linked to b.ab180.co)
Prepare for Google's Privacy Sandbox with Airbridge
As a Google application attribution partner (AAP), Airbridge is currently beta testing the Attribution Reporting API with the Google Ads team. Additionally, we are internally evaluating various features of Privacy Sandbox.
Furthermore, we are actively rolling out new attribution methods supported by major publishers to enhance user privacy, such as Google click identifier (GCLID) and gBraid, as well as Meta's aggregate event measurement (AEM). At the same time, we are working on diverse strategies to address industry needs as an MMP.
Airbridge is dedicated to providing the fastest and most personalized service to the industry in line with the changes on the horizon. For any updates on Google's Privacy Sandbox and advice on your future marketing strategy, the team of marketing experts at Airbridge are here to help. We're happy to provide more information about the upcoming changes and insights into how to tackle new challenges.
