Whenever you open a website, you have to accept ‘cookies’ to continue your work on the site. It is basically a small form of data that is sent from the server to the browser so the website can recognize users' preferences when they open the website again. Many users immediately accept these cookies without knowing their purpose and how they are going to help the server. Now a recent study by HEC Paris Business school has found out that a single cookie stays on the browser for 279 days on average and helps publishers and advertisers make $2.73 USD (or €2.52 Euro) per cookie.
The study analyzed cookies of over 54K users who saw 128 million ads for two and a half years. Only 54.8% cookies that were analyzed stayed on the browser for a month while the rest of them were deleted. 28% of the cookies survived for a year and 15% of them were still on the browser after two years. The average value of a single cookie was 2.522 euros. This value was calculated with ad impression prices on the cookie.
Researchers also said that there are about 12% of the cookies whose values grow with time passing. It can even reach an average of 11 euros in its lifetime and some can even decrease in value over time. But most of the cookies maintain their value over time.
The whole purpose of this research was to know how online tracking restrictions can affect the revenue made through ads. In Europe, cookie based ad revenues often reach 10.60 billion euros annually. Advertisers are saying that if the world’s biggest browser restricts cookies, then they won’t be able to collect users’ data to give them personalized ads. The study concludes that the loss publishers will be facing after restricting cookies on browsers will be about 8.534% of cookies’ total lifetime value. The yearly loss will reach 904 million euros in display ad revenues. If the life of a cookie is just limited to 30 days, there will be a decrease of $1.475 billion in total revenues.
It is worth mentioning here that many browsers are blocking third-party cookies and Google is also trying it out on Chrome. It has set a deadline of 2024 to block all the third-party cookies from its browser. In 2019, Apple also began blocking cookies on its Safari Browser with Intelligent Tracking Prevention. But for now, many browsers are using cookies to track users even if there is digital fingerprinting and advertising identifiers available for tracking.
Read next: CounterPoint Research Predicts 43% Annual Growth for IoT eSIM Connections, Reaching 2.2 Billion by 2030
The study analyzed cookies of over 54K users who saw 128 million ads for two and a half years. Only 54.8% cookies that were analyzed stayed on the browser for a month while the rest of them were deleted. 28% of the cookies survived for a year and 15% of them were still on the browser after two years. The average value of a single cookie was 2.522 euros. This value was calculated with ad impression prices on the cookie.
Researchers also said that there are about 12% of the cookies whose values grow with time passing. It can even reach an average of 11 euros in its lifetime and some can even decrease in value over time. But most of the cookies maintain their value over time.
The whole purpose of this research was to know how online tracking restrictions can affect the revenue made through ads. In Europe, cookie based ad revenues often reach 10.60 billion euros annually. Advertisers are saying that if the world’s biggest browser restricts cookies, then they won’t be able to collect users’ data to give them personalized ads. The study concludes that the loss publishers will be facing after restricting cookies on browsers will be about 8.534% of cookies’ total lifetime value. The yearly loss will reach 904 million euros in display ad revenues. If the life of a cookie is just limited to 30 days, there will be a decrease of $1.475 billion in total revenues.
It is worth mentioning here that many browsers are blocking third-party cookies and Google is also trying it out on Chrome. It has set a deadline of 2024 to block all the third-party cookies from its browser. In 2019, Apple also began blocking cookies on its Safari Browser with Intelligent Tracking Prevention. But for now, many browsers are using cookies to track users even if there is digital fingerprinting and advertising identifiers available for tracking.
Read next: CounterPoint Research Predicts 43% Annual Growth for IoT eSIM Connections, Reaching 2.2 Billion by 2030
