Google asks publishers if it can use first-party cookies on their websites

Google this month started asking publishers if it can use first-party cookies on their websites. Google may use first-party cookies when third-party cookies are not available.

The control is available since this week, but Google says the choice won’t affect ad serving until October 16.

If browsers limit the third-party cookies, and a publisher decides to not enable Google’s first-party cookies, all advertising with frequency cap will not enter on the publisher’s auction. So the publisher’s revenue can drop if they don’t allow Google to use first-party cookies.

Google is telling first-party cookies from Google may increase publishers’ revenue because it enables features like frequency capping on ads and allows ads with a frequency cap to serve on the websites.

Last year, Google told advertisers it was already using machine learning to manage ad frequency in DV360. Machine learning based on aggregated level data across Google Ad Manager publishers, without user-level information shared across websites.