The Cookie Apocalypse: A Tasty Opportunity for Public Media

What is the “Cookie Apocalypse?” Sounds like a chocolate chip-ageddon, which really wouldn’t be all that bad if you like chocolate chip cookies. But, the “Cookie Apocalypse” is the current name for the disappearance of tracking cookies in digital ads. Browser cookies identify a computer and its user(s) and help advertisers serve up more relevant ads. But have you noticed that websites now ask your permission to “track you across apps”?

When you say “No, don’t track,” then the tracking cookie can’t be used and those programmatic digital ads that used to follow you around everywhere are no longer viable. This is a new IAB best practice that advertisers are adopting.

“Yay!” many say, and rightly so.

The IAB published in their Post-Cookie Whitepaper that “the proliferation of cookies has increased anxiety over online privacy. Data collection is fragmented over many websites, devices, browsers, apps, etc. making it exceedingly difficult for consumers to understand who may be doing what with their data and to apply privacy controls centrally and consistently, while ensuring these choices persist over time. For third parties, the reliance on cookies has resulted in a battle between a rapidly degrading economic model, and the costly, persistent, and high-volume deployment of cookies.”  

What does this mean for public media digital sponsorship?

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It means that programmatic digital ads are becoming undesirable to marketers. But digital ad sponsorship on public media’s “trusted website environment,” membership email newsletters, and strong streaming audio is positioned to be even more desirable than ever before as a digital marketing alternative.

This is yet another evolving media trend that helps public media position against programmatic. 

“It’s enough to send ad buyers screaming back to the old faithful shelters of print and broadcast media,” says Borrell Associates CEO Gordon Borrell. “Buyers are on the hunt for someone who can help them sort out better solutions. The phenomenon is more along the lines of, ‘Let me talk to a real person about my marketing.’”

Borrell adds, “They’ve got questions – mostly about digital – and radio sellers should be prepared to answer them. That’s the opportunity that this storm offers.” 

The big takeaway? The public media brand is trusted and digital ads in a trusted environment are a win-win for sponsorship and the sponsor. Multiple touch-points are key to effective marketing campaigns.