In June 2021, Google announced they were extending their deadline to deprecate third-party cookies (in Chrome, Google's web browser) until late 2023. It was clear that more time was needed to further develop their solution, Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC).

Last week, Google announced an update, scrapping the short-lived FLoC and introducing a new, interest-based solution called Topics.

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The Topics API will assign a user three topics (from an initial list of 300, based on the IAB content taxonomy) derived from the user's browsing behavior over the past three weeks. This data is shared with advertisers, allowing them to target these users based on their assigned topics. The topics are kept for three weeks before expiring, at which time the user is assigned new topics.

There are many unanswered questions, which will likely be addressed and expanded upon after developer trials. Reach & frequency, the limiting nature of only three topics per user, and measurement overall are all questions we'll be looking to gain more info on in the coming months. As stated on their website, "The final design of the user controls and the other various technical aspects of how Topics works will be decided based on your feedback and what we learn in the trial."

"...it's important to note that the fastest growing sectors of the open internet, such as streaming TV and mobile, have never used cookies."

The Moran Group uses a variety of targeting solutions to ensure we are reaching the right audience and the right time. While we currently rely on third-party cookies, we also make use of unified IDs and device IDs. The Moran Group's programmatic solution, Amplifi, powered by The Trade Desk, has been a leader in the space in developing an alternative solution to cookies. The Trade Desk created UID 2.0 (Unified ID), which is being widely adopted by industry leaders as the standard for cookie replacement. While the industry collaborates on alternative solutions for cookie deprecation, it's important to note that the fastest growing sectors of the open internet, such as streaming TV and mobile, have never used cookies.

We will continue to monitor the updates as they are released and will address any potential impacts to you as soon as we get them. In the meantime, please reach out if you have any questions. Thank you!