Tuesday 25th January: German publishers oppose Google phase out of third-party cookies

January 25, 2022

Good morning! Today's newsletter is brought to you by Peter.

OMGFG! Will it never end?

Germany’s largest publishers are calling for the EU to intervene over Google's plans to decommission third-party cookies. The complaint is basically that removing third-party cookies is a critical blow to how the industry generates revenue, stopping advertisers and publishers 'analysing' user preferences.

This is lazy from publishers who really just need to figure out a better way to keep tabs on their readers' preferences than wholesale, indiscriminate tracking. Less intrusive and more effective ways for publishers to gain audience insights are out there - the industry just needs to invest in them. And other browsers have done it already so 🤷🏼‍♂️

Of course there are valid concerns about how Google will control the data it will continue to collect and this Twitter thread from Jason Kint outlines them. But not ditching third-party cookies? Please make it stop.

Politico Magazine has used its 15th birthday as an excuse to ask some experts what media will look like in the next 15 years. The result is a wild ride of gloomy pessimism in which we're swamped by information and sink into a perpetual culture war and an optimistic re-balancing where the world rediscovers journalistic purpose helped by regulation and increased localism. Thankfully, I'm not a betting man.

Good question and well answered by The Podcast Host in this post looking at the good, the bad and the ugly of NFTs. There is no doubt that some NFT plays are 'glorified pyramid schemes' but this focus on member-benefits while acknowledging the environmental downsides is exactly the kind of conversation podcasters and publishers need to be having about this technology.

This magazine industry round up from Magnetic makes for much easier reading. Five senior publishers share their thoughts on what advertisers and agencies can look forward to from magazine media brands in 2022. The post-pandemic optimism is palpable.

This week's podcast:

This week’s guest is Rob John, MD of the Content Marketing Association. He discusses what the CMA does and who its members are, how content marketing might fit within a publisher’s revenue mix, and the panel they’re running at The Publishing Show in London in March.

Become a supporter of the Media Voices team today! ❤️ Just head over to our KO-FI page and make a one-off contribution or sign up to support us every month. Every contribution help us to keep doing what we do and plan for more in the future.