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Last June, Google told publishers that it would no longer monetize users that reject the consent to store and access information on a device. As a result, Google promised the imminent arrival of Limited Ads which allows publishers to monetize users without the need for consent. At last, Limited Ads have been launched following its integration with the updated version IAB Europe’s Transparency and Consent Framework 2.0.
What is Google’s Limited Ads solution?
Limited ads provide publishers with a way to monetize their website traffic without the need to obtain consent for the use of cookies or other local identifiers. Cookies have long been used in programmatic advertising for a range of purposes, including measurement, tracking and targeting. However, amid heightened public concern over data privacy, Google announced that support for third-party cookies will be deprecated in Chrome by 2022 (subject to a few caveats).
As a result, an alternative solution that does not rely on the use of cookies was needed, which is where Google’s limited ads feature comes into play. Limited ads serve in a limited way, as the name suggests. When cookie consent is rejected, the limited ads feature is triggered and all personalisation is disabled as well as any features that require the use of a local identifier. Any line items that utilize ad personalisation, remarketing, targeting, conversion tracking, frequency capping will not be eligible for limited ads. Limited Ads are not supported on Google AdSense.
The tool will allow publishers to serve their reservation and mediation demand to users who have specifically opted out of sharing their data. Programmatic demand is not eligible for limited ads including the following:
- Open Auction for Google demand and third-party demand
- Private Auction
- Programmatic Guaranteed
- Preferred Deals
Though limited ads do not rely on cookies or mobile identifiers, they do use data like IP addresses in order to serve the ads.
How do Limited Ads differ from non-personalised ads?
Unlike limited ads, non-personalised ads (NPAs) still use cookies for features like frequency capping and ad reporting. With limited ads, these features are not possible. NPAs are only classed as non-personalised because they do not track users’ past behaviour to target impressions.
Final Thoughts
By removing the use of cookies, advertisers’ ability to accurately track, target and measure performance of campaigns is also removed. As a result, revenue performance for limited ads is expected to be poor. A report published by Google in 2019 studied the revenue impact of disabling third-party cookies in programmatic advertising. Results showed that on average, publishers’ revenue dropped by 52%.
