Only 48% of UK Publishers are Actively Preparing for the Cookieless Future – New Teads’ Study Finds

The transition to a cookieless digital landscape has already taken significant strides, despite the delay in Google's phase-out of third-party cookies. With 45% of global web traffic now cookieless on Teads’ SSP, publishers, and advertisers are navigating uncharted territory.

This shift poses substantial challenges for UK publishers and advertisers. Teads' latest survey, which involves 555 publishers across 58 countries, reveals that only 48% of UK publishers say they are actively preparing for the cookieless future. 

Gwern Parri, publisher group account director at Teads UK, said: “Despite the fact that UK publishers appear to be more informed about the upcoming changes than their global colleagues, our survey still highlights a continued lack of readiness. This is surprising as the majority of respondents answered that they are still receiving a higher yield from cookie-based traffic, meaning that when final depreciation does eventually happen, it’s likely there will be a significant impact on their ability to monetise this supply.”

“At the IAB, we see this as a critical time to advance our guidelines and frameworks to support the industry’s transition. We’re accelerating our efforts to develop standards that address the needs of a cookieless web, ensuring that all parties can navigate this shift smoothly,” said Angelina Eng, VP of IAB’s measurement, addressability & data centre. 

Teads’ new study also shows that a staggering 85% of UK publishers are considering direct selling to advertisers and agencies, leveraging their first-party data, and have a strategy in place to increase the utilisation of logins. This, however, can have different implications for nationally renowned brands and smaller publishers.

A major challenge remains in encouraging user logins, with almost seven in 10 (67%) of UK publishers being concerned about the potential disruption of user experience and almost six in 10 (59%) expecting the potential impact on traffic. 

Finally, only 7% consider increasing the ad space and/or number of third-party monetisation partners to increase demand, which reinforces that UK publishers are resilient and aware of the tools that can help them successfully navigate the realities of a cookieless world.

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