Adtech Execs Are Terrified That Google Will Create A New 'Monopoly' If It Abolishes Cookies

As we've written before, the much-discussed death of the cookie could very well create a scenario where a small group of internet behemoths control all of the consumer data marketers need to make sure their online ads reach the right people.

If websites are no longer able to tag users with cookies - the small bits of computer code they use to track internet surfing - the knowledge of the browsing history and consumer profiles of the people visiting their sites could rest solely with the companies whose services users are continuously logged in to.

This is bad news for online ad-buying companies - demand-side platforms and agency trading desks like GroupM's Xaxis - which use cookies to place bids on online advertising slots on behalf of their clients. Without cookies, they might only be able to get this data from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, or Apple.

It's no wonder, then, that some of the companies who rely on the cookie are beginning to get spooked by Google's plan to introduce its own universal tracking system called "AdID."

In an interview with Adweek, Michael Greene, director of research and marketing strategy for the data management and ad targeting firm AudienceScience said that the elimination of the cookie could give Google even more control of the internet than it already has.

"Dependence on Google alone for user IDs would not only give Google monopoly power in display, mobile and video in addition to search, it would also give it total control of advertiser data," Greene told Adweek.

Keep in mind, Google's stranglehold on the internet advertising business is already pretty impressive. It currently owns an 11.7% share of the entire global ad market, and the company is expected by analysts to pick up another 1% of the market each year moving forward.

For its part, Xaxis is currently working on its own technology to identify internet users, according to Adweek's report. In theory, the "statistical ID" would recognize people by their devices and other characteristics and use that combination to target ads.