What are the latest updates?
In line with updates to Safari and Firefox, Google Chrome will restrict website access to third-party cookies by default. It was rolled out to 1% of Chrome users globally (roughly 30 million), in what Google called a key milestone as part of its Privacy Sandbox initiative to phase out third-party cookies for all users in the second half of this year.
What does this mean for affiliate marketing?
Any affiliate link tracking from an advertiser’s program that still relies on third-party cookies will be blocked by these browser updates and no longer able to be tracked. For both publishers and advertisers this results in loss of revenue and ultimately makes the advertiser’s program unfeasible to promote.
This revenue loss can be prevented simply by upgrading the tracking mechanisms from third-party to a robust tracking solution. Awin offers a hybrid setup using both the Awin MasterTag and server-to-server tracking. This provides the advertiser’s tracking with the right infrastructure to shield them from further browser and other privacy-led updates. More importantly this will ensure publishers do not lose out on commission from sales that aren’t accurately tracked.
What does this mean for Awin customers?
Upgrading your tracking setup as an advertiser is no longer optional, and all Awin advertisers are required to upgrade by July 2024. Failure to implement a tracking upgrade plan by July will result in measures for these advertisers including reducing their visibility in our platform, penalties to cover compensation payment to publishers and eventual account closure.
This is not a decision we’ve taken lightly. However, with the latest Chrome update increasing the impact of third-party cookie phase out and therefore the threat to publisher businesses, we believe it’s necessary to protect publisher revenue.
Since 2018, Awin has proactively communicated with advertisers to strongly recommend and support advertisers to upgrade their tracking. While this has resulted in the majority of Awin advertisers seamlessly upgrading their tracking, we need to ensure every single advertiser is no longer relying on third-party cookies and impacting publisher revenue.
We’re here to help
We urge any advertisers who need to upgrade their tracking setup to get in touch with your account representative or local tech support team as soon as possible. We know upgrading your tracking might seem like a daunting task but it’s essential for the success of your campaigns. As such, our teams are equipped and ready to help seamlessly transition your current tracking to our robust, privacy-conscious solution. All impacted advertisers have been contacted by us directly with guidance on how to get support with upgrading their tracking.
For publishers, we’re committing to being as transparent as possible during this transition. We understand as a publisher you need reassurance an advertiser you want to partner with has an upgraded tracking setup. The vast majority of Awin advertisers have already upgraded their tracking setup. While we help get all advertisers set up with upgraded tracking, we’re adding a new filter in the Awin platform to help you identify which programs still rely on third-party cookies, enabling you to make informed partnership decisions and mitigate any potential risk of untracked transactions.
Working together to navigate an evolving landscape
We aren’t able to control what new legislation will come into force, or the future updates browsers will need to make to adhere to it. However, we can collectively take action to make sure we’re best positioned to prevent these developments from impacting your revenues. We’re confident our hybrid tracking solution offers our advertisers and publishers the most robust infrastructure to weather any future changes.
If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch with your Awin representative or contact support.
