Tech at Work: How the End of Cookies Will Transform Digital Marketing

Google is planning to phase out third-party cookies by the end of 2025. Consumers may be cheering the improved privacy online, but what will this huge shift in advertising technology mean for digital advertising, online publishing, and the open Internet?

Tech at Work is a four-part special series from HBR IdeaCast. Join senior tech editors Juan Martinez and Tom Stackpole for research, stories, and advice to make technology work for you and your team.

In this episode, researcher Garrett Johnson and executive Jamie Seltzer discuss the new technologies that are already being tested to replace cookies. They explain the trade-offs and how digital marketers are preparing for this change, as well as share how the online advertising and publishing industries may be affected.

Johnson is an associate professor of marketing at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business.

Seltzer is global executive vice president at Havas Media Network, where she leads CSA, Havas Media’s global data and technology consulting group.

New episodes of Tech at Work publish in the HBR IdeaCast feed every other Thursday from May 2, after the regular Tuesday episode. Please let us know what you think of the series and which technology topics you want us to cover at ideacast@hbr.org.

Further reading:

• • Privacy-Centric Digital Advertising: Implications for Research (Garrett Johnson, Julian Runge, Eric Seufert)
  • The Cookies are Crumbling: What’s Next for Digital Advertising? (Garrett Johnson)
  • A New Gold Standard for Digital Ad Measurement? (Julian Runge, Harpreet Patter, and Igor Skokan)