The cookie stays crumbled: APAC experts weigh in on Google decision

"If you went to sleep five years ago and woke up today, you would have missed nothing. Isn’t that kind of soothing in this crazy world?"

Brian O’Kelley, founder and CEO of Scope 3, perfectly captures the frustration of an industry stuck in limbo. After five years of promises, billions spent on preparation, and endless talk of a cookieless future, Google has decided to abandon its abandonment of third-party cookies in Chrome. Privacy Sandbox, once hailed as the privacy-first alternative to invasive tracking, is effectively dead and the tech giant is holding on to the very system it once vowed to dismantle.

And it's more than a technical adjustment. The timing for many experts Campaign spoke to, right on the heels of the US antitrust ruling that found Google guilty of monopolistic practices, feels calculated. With calls to break up its adtech empire growing louder, particularly around Chrome, Google’s reversal looks like an attempt to ease regulatory pressure. 

James Rosewell, co-founder of Movement for an Open Web, calls it what it is: “This is an admission by Google that the Privacy Sandbox project is all but over.” While regulators may welcome the return of the status quo as a way to level the playing field, for brands, agencies, and publishers, it’s a gut punch. Billions invested in cookieless solutions are now in limbo. The long-awaited transformation of digital advertising is delayed yet again.

The decision has broader implications in Asia Pacific, where clamour for privacy is getting louder and stronger. As Ramakrishnan Raja from Resonant observed, “Google’s retreat has created a vacuum in privacy leadership. CMOs must step up and own the narrative because audiences will trust the brand far more than they’ll trust the pipe.” 

According to Dentsu’s Sunil Naryani, this leaves brands grappling with a dual reality: operating within legacy infrastructure in Chrome while innovating for cookieless environments like Safari, Firefox, and tightly regulated markets such as Singapore and Australia.

What does this mean for advertisers in the region? Experts Campaign Asia spoke to agree that the future isn’t just about abandoning cookies—it’s about diversifying strategies to adapt to a fragmented, privacy-first ecosystem. As Geoffroy Martin, CEO of Ogury, puts it, “The real winners will be those who embrace this hybrid landscape, building platforms and models that work across both ID-based and ID-less environments.”

Read below for the detailed analysis on the decision and how brands can balance innovation with trust in an increasingly privacy-conscious world.

Matt Coote, country manager Australia, GumGum

I’ll talk about it from the Australian context because deciding to stick to third-party cookies without offering an opt‑out, flies in the face of what Australians expect from their online experience. We worked on a research (Australian Digital Advertising Pulse Check) and found that 69% of Aussies feel traditional tracking‑based ads ‘invasive’ or ‘unsettling’. This figure makes it clear that the problem has less to do with targeting and more to do with eroding consumer trust. Hence, clinging to outdated surveillance tactics won’t win back wary audiences. The smarter approach now for brands is to pivot to new models that respect privacy and meet people at the right moment, using technologies like contextual advertising and attention measurement, which honour Aussies’ appetite for control while still delivering relevant messages.

Top tips for brands:

1. Prioritise context over cookies so place ads in environments that naturally complement your message. Meeting consumers where they are, in the right mindset, is the key to unlocking an ad’s full potential.
2. Measure attention, not just views. It's key to understand how people engage with ads drives better results.
3. Place more emphasis on creativity. Strong, contextually relevant creatives are what ultimately capture attention.

Sunil Naryani, president partnerships & product solutions, Dentsu APAC

This development will land differently depending on where you sit in the ecosystem. For some brands, it may come as a welcome extension—preserving performance continuity and allowing more time to evolve their data and measurement strategies. For others, especially those who have spent the last few years investing in privacy-first, cookieless solutions, it may reintroduce uncertainty and delay return on transformation efforts.

In Asia Pacific, where digital maturity and privacy regulation vary widely across markets, the effect is especially nuanced. The update amplifies the need for regionally adaptive strategies—ones that balance short-term efficiency with long-term resilience. Brands now face a dual reality: operating with legacy infrastructure in Chrome, while innovating for cookieless environments in Safari, Firefox and tightly regulated markets like Singapore and Australia.

It’s also important to zoom out. If you view the ecosystem more holistically, much of the real fragmentation already exists in the cookieless world—within mobile apps, gaming platforms, creator ecosystems and social commerce. These channels are central to the APAC media mix and operate with different signals and identity frameworks. For brands, this means building modular, flexible strategies that aren’t reliant on any single data source or tracking method.

At the same time, trust and transparency continue to rise as competitive differentiators. In APAC, where scrutiny around data usage is intensifying, there’s an opportunity for Google to reframe its commitment to privacy beyond the cookie conversation—by deepening investment in Sandbox APIs, open measurement standards and region-specific transparency efforts.

However, the bigger picture remains unchanged: the future of digital advertising is privacy-respecting, AI-powered, and reliant on consent-based, first-party ecosystems. This announcement hasn’t altered that direction—it’s simply extended the timeline.

Ramakrishnan Raja, principal, Resonant

It is clearly strategic and a business-first move, designed to calm regulators, reassure the ad industry, and keep their revenue engine intact. There are no two ways about it.

For the better part of five years, Google played the ‘privacy champion’ role with Privacy Sandbox, urging the industry to co-create a post-cookie world. Hundreds of agencies, platforms and brands invested billions preparing for a ‘cookieless future’. But in the end, the Sandbox failed to resolve the profoundly fragmented ad tech ecosystem and entrenched interests. And Google knows it and just admitted it.

Google's blog is very cleverly worded. By quietly shelving the global opt-out prompt, Google actually retains control under the guise of complexity and pushes the responsibility squarely on the audience. In essence, this is good for business and bad for privacy-conscious audiences. And it has broader implications in APAC as the region is rapidly evolving into a privacy-first landscape, particularly in sectors like healthcare, financial services, telecom, and, increasingly, even FMCG. 

For CMOs in APAC, this pivot cuts both ways: Those with privacy-mature audiences now have an opening to lead, adopting contextual targeting and first-party data strategies that build long-term brand trust.
Those under pressure to deliver performance can breathe easier for retargeting is alive and well for the foreseeable future. 


But make no mistake, Google’s retreat has created a vacuum in privacy leadership. CMOs must now step up and own the privacy narrative for their brands. Because in a world of opaque middlemen and shifting policies, audiences will trust the brand far more than they’ll ever trust the pipe.

Top tips for brands:

1. Audit your tech stack and embrace privacy-first tools. Test contextual DSPs and attention-based platforms.
2. Make privacy part of the user experience and not just a legal checkbox that everyone loathes.  Don’t hide behind browser settings. Design clear, intuitive consent flows that drive opt-in and reinforce trust. Seamless privacy UX will soon become a brand differentiator.

3. Measure what matters: Attention, not just clicks. Attention metrics, scroll depth, time-in-view, active engagement are stronger signals of intent and trust especially in vertails where trust matters. They align privacy with performance and elevate the quality of media buying.

4. Last but not least, privacy is no longer a compliance issue. It’s a strategic brand asset. The smartest CMOs will now think like chief privacy officers, steering their brands to own the trust equation between them and their audiences before another platform pretends to and makes a mockery out of the millions spent.

Ash Dharan, head of paid media, NP Digital Australia

This announcement has come immediately after the adtech anti-trust ruling against Google and as the Search trial enters the remedy phase, so it’s fair to say it is linked to Google's legal exposure. In the Search antitrust trial, Google was found to have a monopoly and the DOJ will argue that as part of remedies, Google should divest Chrome, which they do not wish to do.

Most people forget that Google has wanted to deprecate third-party cookies from Chrome for some time now and it does not need them due to its vast first-party data and ad inventory. It instead designed Privacy Sandbox alternatives to replace third-party cookie functions for its competitors; the underlying goal of Privacy Sandbox was to address concerns that Google would gain an unfair advantage by controlling the alternatives in a post–third-party cookie world.

By retaining third-party cookies, Google is attempting to show the trial judge that they’ve levelled the playing field for their competitors by not forcing them to use a Google-controlled privacy alternative; their competitors can continue to use third-party tracking instead, meaning Google no longer enjoys monopolistic advantages. Whether this will successfully mitigate remedies or prevent the divesting of Chrome remains to be seen.

Tips for brands:

1. People never buy products for what they are. They buy the transformation those products bring. And that’s the future of digital advertising—to create meaningful, human-first connections that align with what people truly care about.
2. Privacy-first models like contextual targeting and attention measurement offer more than a way forward. 
3. Brands must prioritise human connection. Use data responsibly, tell stories that reflect real value, and remember that no cookie replaces a genuine understanding of your customer.

Sarah Tukua, senior client partner, TBWA Melbourne

Is this a strategic move to safeguard its ad dominance under the guise of complexity, and how does it reshape trust in the brand—particularly in Asia Pacific, where privacy concerns are becoming impossible to ignore?

Google’s decision to stick with third-party cookies feels like a strategic stall. TBWA’s 2025 Data Rush Edge predicts the end of data free-for-alls, ushering in a more formalised data exchange economy where privacy is the default, and individuals truly own their data. Google has championed itself as a leader in privacy forward technology while simultaneously profits from the infrastructure it's now slowly trying to dismantle. It’s an ironic twist, and if you ask me, they are trying to avoid biting their own hand—protecting their own dominance while the rest of the industry seeks alternative solutions.

Geoffroy Martin, CEO, Ogury

This decision doesn’t change the trajectory of the industry. Identifiers have already disappeared from over half the open web, and that number keeps growing as consumer expectations, regulations, and platform fragmentation accelerate. What’s important now is how brands perform in a world with both ID-based and ID-less environments.

The real winners will be those who embrace this hybrid landscape, building platforms and data models that leverage all signals—whether identity is present or not. Relying entirely on IDs limits reach and creates fragile strategies, while ignoring them entirely means missing out on the value they still bring. The smartest approach isn’t about taking sides. It’s about integrating both methods intelligently and thriving in a world where the media reality will remain mixed.

Terry Hornsby, executive vice president & founder, Mantis

The industry has been preparing for this moment for years. Progress in alternative targeting can’t be wasted just because cookies are sticking around. Contextual solutions, for instance, allow us to identify interests—like gardening enthusiasts browsing sports content—without needing personal data.

This approach doesn’t just maintain ad performance, it empowers publishers to monetise content by aligning ads with context, not identity. When advertisers blend contextual targeting with privacy-first innovations, we move toward a more balanced ecosystem that respects privacy while delivering results.

Ameet Khabra, founder, Hop Skip Media

This isn't a reversal but a delay. As we've seen in North America, Google has kicked the third-party cookie can down the road again, but that doesn’t mean brands should do the same. If anything, this is a gift: time to get our tracking infrastructure, data collection strategies, and testing frameworks in order before the change becomes reality.

Is this a power move by Google? Absolutely. Removing cookies without a strong alternative would threaten their entire ad stack. Calling it ‘complex’ buys them time, but it also puts smaller advertisers in a tough spot. Many SMBs lack the resources or first-party data volumes to make privacy-first alternatives work effectively. That’s why brands, especially in APAC, need to act now to prepare for a cookieless future.

Top tips for brands:

1. Shift to first-party and zero-party data strategies, but also explore second-party collaborations.
2. Set up Enhanced Conversions and experiment with server-side tracking.
3. Test contextual targeting—it’s advanced quickly and delivers results.
4. Prioritise consent and transparency. Start using tools like Consent Mode now, before regulations tighten.
5. Diversify. Don’t rely entirely on Google; explore platforms and solutions that reduce dependency.

The future of advertising in APAC isn’t just cookieless, it needs to be diversified and proactive.

Ravi Balakrishnan contributed to this story.