• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, November 3, 2022

Google Topics, the purported replacement for third-party cookies, is already beating authenticated email as a customer ID despite a certain cynicism about the reason for Google delaying the end of cookies.  

Authenticated email use for ID has grown to 67%, up from 63% in 2021. But Google Topics is utilized by 71%, according to Beyond the Cookie: Next-Generation Customer Acquisition & Retention For Marketers and Publishers. 

Despite Google Topics now being No 1, 36% are concerned about growth if they can’t target beyond walled gardens. And 31% feel constrained by having to work within them, although nearly 37% will spend more in Walled Gardens in 2023—at publishers’ expense. 

The reasons for this apparent flatness in email use?  

Of the marketers polled, 30% see limits in scale with email authentication. And 30% are unable to prospect/acquire new customers based on email alone.  

Moreover, 58% say email-based identity solutions still use third-party cookies.  

But authenticated email still tops probalisitic analysis (used by 42%, up from 28% in 2021), cohorts (42%, compared to 33% last year) and contextual (54% versus 52%).

Email is also seen as hampering use of clean rooms—those supposedly safe spaces for exchanging data.  

Of those polled, 48% of publishers and 37% of makreters use clean rooms.  But 31% of marketers say the staleness of emails is an obstacle to utilizing them. And 34% of publishers agree.

Of course, the main hurdle to using clean rooms is privacy, cited by 49% of marketers and 45% of publishers. Budget is second, with 41% of marketers and 37% of publishers agreeing it is a challenge. 

The list changes when respondents are asked for the reasons they will not use clean rooms.  

Budget is the main reason, mentioned by 58% of marketers and 35% of publishers. Staleness of emails is in the single digits for both groups.  

Asked to list the perceived motivations for Google’s cookie delay, marketers and publishers cited:

• Privacy legislation changes—47% 
• Marketer/publisher calls for more time—38%
• Failure to gain consensus/support around alternative Google options—33% 
• Antitrust pressure—30%  

All that aside, 37% now see the ID issue as urgent, up from 18% at this time last year. And 35% of publishers agree, compared to 14% in 2021. 

Their plans going forward? Altogether, 37% plan to adopt data management platforms within the next six months to a year.  

Customer data platforms are now deployed by 44%, and 61% of those are satisfied, although the remainder see room for improvement.  

PureSpectrum surveyed more than 1,400 industry professionals, marketers and publishers, across the U.S., Australia, Colombia, India, Mexico, Singapore and the UK in September 2022.