IAB Europe has ‘comprehensively’ updated its Guide to the Post-Third-Party Cookie Era as it looks to prepare brands, agencies, and tech intermediaries for the future of the advertising ecosystem.

The guide, which is developed by IAB Europe’s Programmatic Trading Committee and was first released in May 2020, provides the latest insights into the alternative solutions that are being developed to replace third-party cookies.

“With less than 12 months to go until third-party cookies are fully deprecated, now is the time for every company within the digital advertising ecosystem to work together to deliver the solutions that are outlined in the IAB Europe Guide,” said Helen Mussard, IAB Europe CMO. “As the European voice for digital advertising and marketing, our role is to help our members navigate these changes and ensure the €23bn European programmatic industry can continue to innovate and thrive in this new era.”

The 14,000-word guide delves into the contributing factors to the depletion of third-party cookies, the impact on stakeholder usage of proprietary platforms, and the impact on measurement and ad verification, while providing an overview of each of the current third-party post-cookie solutions and information on how stakeholders can contribute to the ongoing development of these solutions.

An IAB Europe poll of more than 100 industry professionals found that nearly 50 per cent of all respondents believe it is critically important to find an alternative to the third-party cookie, compared to just 13 per cent who feel it is not very important. Despite this, the survey also found that, while it is high priority, most people in the industry are not prepared.

“Consumer privacy and respect in advertising is paramount. Recent moves to ensure privacy through corporate and government initiatives – including the deprecation of third-party cookies – means that advertisers need new tools and resources to ensure efficient and effective campaign measurement and targeting,” said David Goddard, Chair of the IAB Europe Programmatic Trading Committee and Senior Director of Business Development at DoubleVerify.

“This Guide – a collective effort of the IAB Europe’s Programmatic Trading Committee – includes input from companies across the digital ad ecosystem and is meant to provide an understanding of where we are now, and what options we have to move forward. This collaborative effort exemplifies how players across the value chain can and should work together to meet the needs of advertisers and consumers alike – fostering a healthy, well-lit ad ecosystem.”