While many marketers were breathing a little easier this week following Google’s decision to once again delay third-party cookie deprecation, “this is NOT a reprieve,” said our analyst Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf. “The industry just has more time to reach the finish line. Let’s not squander it.”

Here are four important takeaways from the delay:

1. This news is no surprise

“Candidly this [announcement] has been met widely with a bit of a playful eyeroll,” said Valerie Schlosser, group director for paid search at VML. “The industry has been preparing for this for almost five years. Back in 2020, it lit a fire under conversations we were already having about the need to diversify channel tactics, break down silos, and reduce dependency on third-party data,”

2. The delayed timeline is a good thing

“Google saying, ‘This is going to take more time to do it right,’ is a good thing,” said Colleen Harris, director and project manager at Ansira. “The shift to removing the third-party cookie is such a huge data change that it must be done correctly, which means taking the time to analyze data and make changes as necessary.”

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