Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics

Posted Jan 27, 2022 4:55 UTC (Thu) by dmarti (subscriber, #11625)
In reply to: Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics by pabs
Parent article: Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics

The answer to that one is in the company's origin story: because stacks of generic PC hardware worked better for them than a big Digital or Sun server. Using the cheap generic option for a task means you get to keep the money that the competition is spending on the more expensive solution.

What worked for server hardware is also working for Google in the web ad market: Google can make more money by introducing ads on cheap, low-engagement sites into the same market with ads on higher-cost sites. And since no advertiser would believe audience info from a cheap, low-engagement site, the only way to make it work is with some kind of third-party tracking. It's all about commodity inputs, in this case commoditizing web content.