Adobe Study: Brands make progress weaning off third-party cookies, yet feel less prepared than ever for a world without them

Delivering an exceptional customer experience today requires data — lots of it — and traditionally, brands have used a combination of data they collect themselves, so-called “first-party” data and data they collect from external sources, “second” or “third-party data.” Much of this external data has been collected from third-party cookies, tracking placed on websites to collect user data.

However, most major browsers — including Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari — have either removed or are phasing third-party cookies out. In the case of Google, an extended timeline is providing brands more time to prepare. All this has created new challenges for marketers.

New Adobe research surveyed 2,841 marketers in key markets (U.S., Australia, France, Germany, India, Japan, U.K.) to understand how brands are preparing for success in a world without third- party cookies. Adobe ran the same study in 2022, as a comparison point.

Adobe found that brands have become less reliant on cookies (49 percent say their marketing strategy still depends on this data, compared to 75 percent in 2022), though only 60 percent of brands feel “mostly” or “very” prepared for the deprecation of third-party cookies (down from 78 percent in 2022). More than 1 in 3 marketers also said the deprecation of third-party cookies has negatively impacted their ability to track, target and measure consumer engagement. With brands relying less on third-party cookies but also feeling less prepared for a world without it, there are unmet needs from both an organization and technology perspective to reimagine a holistic customer data strategy.

The study also found that 78 percent of brands have adopted a customer data platform (CDP), heeding the message that a first-party data strategy is crucial. And while building a first-party data strategy is a powerful imperative, its scale can also be limited. Brands still need the ability to execute key use cases for which they relied on third-party cookies, such as discovering new audiences for prospecting and acquisition, and enriching data for increased personalization.

To meet these needs, CDPs must expand beyond only first-party data, and evolve to safely handle second- and third-party durable data from trusted partners, allow for new audience discovery, and enable privacy-first data collaboration — helping brands achieve their most pressing business objectives, and build lasting and loyal customer relationships.

As the industry grapples with a new normal, Adobe’s study shines light on the current state:

1. Marketing budgets have shifted away — but not by enough: 28 percent of companies still spend 50 percent or more of their budgets on activations that rely on cookie-based targeting. This is a drop from 2022, however, when 45 percent of companies were doing so. For companies looking to decrease spend on cookie-based activations, 62 percent plan to shift budget toward direct spending with platforms like social media, 49 percent on activating first-party data, and 42 percent directly with publishers.

2. Marketing teams have become more optimistic: 47 percent of marketers believe the end of third-party cookies will have a negative impact to their business — Of them, 14 percent believe it will cause significant harm or devastation (a drop from 2022 when it was 40 percent). 53 percent of marketers feel cookie deprecation will have little-to-no impact — We attribute this in part to progress made in the move away from third-party cookies.

3. Brands are struggling to activate first-party data: A minority of respondents (26 percent) said their companies have successfully brought data together across the organization and are producing actionable insights — 65 percent are in the process of doing so, with varying success. It highlights the inherent challenges in linking together disparate data, a key ingredient in building direct relationships with customers and drive marketing performance.

4. Brands seek embedded solutions around data collaboration: 71 percent of respondents said that when it comes to selecting a CDP, data collaboration workflows to augment first-party data with trust partner data is “very important”, yet most CDPs do not enable this.

Marching confidently into a world without third-party cookies

The interplay between data and content is more important than ever, driving impactful customer experiences in a cookieless world. Adobe’s research shines light on the needs of brands around extensible data and scalable content — key to achieving full-funnel marketing and delivering engaging experiences at every moment in the customer lifecycle. Building a strong and actionable first-party data strategy is a critical foundation, but extending beyond this data to discover and engage new audiences is a clear imperative for preparedness and success.