Better late than never ' unless we're talking about third-party cookies.'

When it comes to going cookieless, we'd honestly prefer never.'

After months of coverage about the impending doom, countless memes, and global virtual hand-wringing, Google has delayed blocking third-party cookies until 2023.'

And although increased privacy answers the immediate concerns of content consumers, this move will benefit all parties, including consumers.'

Advertisers are the bridge that connects quality, ungated content to its users. Advertising is also the foundation on which publisher businesses are built, which is ultimately why Google decided to delay.

'This will allow sufficient time for public discussion on the right solutions, continued engagement with regulators, and for publishers and the advertising industry to migrate their services. This is important to avoid jeopardizing the business models of many web publishers which support freely available content. And by providing privacy-preserving technology, we as an industry can help ensure that cookies are not replaced with alternative forms of individual tracking, and discourage the rise of covert approaches like fingerprinting.'

The good news is obvious - we have more time.'

The bad news is that the band-aid isn't getting ripped off any time soon, and there's a lot left to figure out.

PUBLISHERS - LEAN IN

Putting off the looming disruption (or destruction, depending on your perspective) means publishers can continue to take advantage of the current boom. It's time to capitalize on the momentum created by the pandemic and learn how to drive more revenue while we still have a clear runway.

ADVERTISERS - CARRY ON

Keep calm, because we've got the time to figure this out. The goal is to find the right solutions for users, advertisers and publishers alike. Thanks in large part to you, free, ungated content is still the best place to reach consumers looking for diverse solutions to complicated problems.

MEANWHILE - WE PREPARE

It feels good to relax for a second, but there's no question that change is coming.'

Now is the time to come together to collaborate and share strategies for success in a post-cookie world. (And you can't afford to wait and see what happens!)

At ASW, you'll find thousands of advertisers and publishers who want to build powerful partnerships. You'll meet and learn from the people who have cracked attribution and incrementality, you'll be ready for a cookieless world, and you'll find all the support and data you need to prove the value of partnership marketing. And by the way, it's really, really fun.