May 2024: Embracing the Summer Slowdown

Google has officially begun to phase out third-party cookies by implementing a default browser feature called Tracking Protection. When activated, it will cut off a website’s access to third-party cookies. The browser feature began rolling out randomly to 1% of Chrome users globally today, marking the year’s first notable step toward privacy for consumers and third-party cookie deprecation for the industry. Marketers will adapt. “While it’s an adjustment for everyone, it’s actually a valuable move,” said Anthony Yell, Razorfish chief creative officer. “It might take some adjustment to communicate as effectively in a world with cookies, a world without cookies is a wonderful thing.”

The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a bill that would impose sweeping restrictions on tech companies' ability to serve content to minors and handle their data. But the measure's fate is uncertain, given that it's expected to face opposition in the House of Representatives. The Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act, approved 91-3, combines two previously separate bills -- the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), introduced by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0), introduced by Senators Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) and Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana).

Traditional search-engine volume and traffic to publisher sites is estimated to fall 25% in two years, with search marketing losing share to generative artificial intelligence (GAI) chatbots from Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI as well as other virtual agents, according to research published Monday. Alan Antin, vice president and analyst at Gartner, believes GAI tools will become the "substitute answer engines, replacing user queries that previously may have been executed in traditional search engines," forcing companies to rethink marketing channels and strategies. Organic and paid search remain vital channels for technology marketers seeking to reach awareness and demand-generation goals, according to data released in November 2023, but search and content generation is about to undergo massive changes.