Google has once again delayed the deprecation of third party cookies, as it works to meet the requirements of the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which has raised various concerns in regards to how the move will impact the broader digital marketing industry, and Google’s competitors in the space.

Back in 2022, the CMA highlighted that the removal of third party cookies in Chrome would negatively impact Google’s competitors, giving it an unfair advantage. As a result, the CMA called on Google to revise its approach to the phase out, in order to address its noted concerns.

Google has complied on all fronts, but as it currently stands, the company has not yet been able to adequately address all of the highlighted concerns from the CMA.

As a result, Google has announced that third party cookies will not be removed by the end of the year, as had been the plan.

As explained by Google:

“We recognize that there are ongoing challenges related to reconciling divergent feedback from the industry, regulators and developers, and will continue to engage closely with the entire ecosystem. It's also critical that the CMA has sufficient time to review all evidence including results from industry tests, which the CMA has asked market participants to provide by the end of June. Given both of these significant considerations, we will not complete third-party cookie deprecation during the second half of Q4.”

It’s the third time that Google has delayed the removal of cookie tracking, with the lingering update causing much angst among ad industry folk. Google’s been working to develop its “Privacy Sandbox” proposals to replace cookie tracking, and minimize the impact of the loss of data in campaigns. But no matter what replacement Google comes up with, it is going to cause a significant industry shift, with data insights reduced as a result of the change.

And while Google’s confident that its anonymized data alternatives will provide much the same results, the industry impact is still expected to be significant.

Which is why the CMA has raised such specific concerns, in the hopes that disruption can be avoided, and that advertisers are not negatively impacted as a result.

So, now you have some more time to prepare for the phase out, though reports suggests that many marketers are simply waiting for the change to hit, then they’ll adjust accordingly.

Which, given Google’s alternative options, could be a viable approach, but it is worth ensuring you understand what’s happening either way.

You can learn more about Google’s cookie alternative proposals here.