Google abandons Privacy Sandbox as ad industry shifts to AI and first-party data

Kerry Flynn,
Sara Fischer

A line chart that tracks U.S. programmatic digital display ad spending from 2013 to 2027 by transaction method. Open exchange declines from 74.5% to 6.7%. Programmatic direct rises from 24% to 76%. Private marketplace grows from 1.5% to 17.3%, showing a shift toward direct and private transactions. — Data: Emarketer; Note: Ad revenue includes banner ads and other static displays such as Facebook's feed ads, classifieds, embedded email, rich media, search ads (contextual text links and paid listings; excluding display formats on social), sponsorships, lead generation. Rich media for 2017-2022 includes in-stream and outstream video ads. Data prior to 2017 includes only outstream. Excludes mobile messaging; Chart: Axios Visuals

Google has killed Privacy Sandbox, its yearslong effort to create an industrywide standard to replace internet-tracking cookies, after struggling to wrangle uniform acceptance.

Why it matters: Ad industry leaders have long been wary of letting Google — one of the world's biggest ad companies — dictate the future of ad targeting. And now in the AI era, Google's privacy pivot pegged to cookies is essentially moot.

Google abandons Privacy Sandbox as ad industry shifts to AI and first-party data

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