Google’s Privacy Sandbox Will Land On Android

We’ve written about Apple’s latest privacy measures in the last year, along with our best tips for being purposeful in your marketing as privacy changes continue to pick up steam. But wait! There’s still more - the Google Privacy Sandbox, to be exact. You may have heard this term, or the buzz that it’s coming to Androids, and wondered how this next step for consumer privacy will affect your advertising. To help you understand this a bit more, here’s a look at these Google privacy updates.

Google Privacy Sandbox

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First, a quick recap of what this is. The Privacy Sandbox initiative “aims to create technologies that both protect people's privacy online and give companies and developers tools to build thriving digital businesses. The Privacy Sandbox reduces cross-site and cross-app tracking while helping to keep online content and services free for all.”

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In other words, it’s Google’s response to pressure to protect customer data while also wanting to placate advertisers - a tricky tightrope to walk, indeed. While the Privacy Sandbox has been in the works for a while, Google recently announced it was being rolled out for Androids.

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Privacy & Advertising

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Google is saying that Privacy Sandbox on Android “will introduce new solutions that operate without cross-app identifiers – including Advertising ID – and limit data sharing with third parties.” Put simply, advertisers will have far less access to consumer data once these changes take effect.

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Eric Schmitt, the senior director analyst at Gartner, said: "Google's deprecation of device IDs is another step in the journey toward less targeted, less precise advertising. They telegraphed this move middle of last year, and now they're essentially following in Apple's footsteps a little more slowly [and] in a more watered-down form from a privacy perspective, but it's the same overall theme that we've seen.

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”With all of this in mind, what are advertisers to do? Well, as with most of these recent privacy changes, you don’t need to do anything right now. This particular initiative won’t be fully phased in for about two years, which means advertisers have no need to panic.

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Despite taking strong stances around privacy, such large-scale changes take a long time to put in place. So, for now, continue with your current strategy while keeping in mind that it has an expiration date (if it’s built around precise tracking).

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Need help evaluating your digital ad strategy, or planning for these future changes? We’d love to help!