Despite industry-wide concern about the disappearance of cookies in advertising, only 40% of marketers say they are preparing and 48% are worried that their companies won’t be able to provide impactful performance in a cookieless world. 

The concern is greatest among media publishers versus advertisers and agencies, according to Kantar’s Media Reactions Marketer’s Supplement report, which surveyed advertisers, agencies and media publishers. The nearly published insights for marketers were not included in the original Media Reactions report.

The team surveyed 4,000 consumers across seven major media marketers worldwide, alongside more than 733 interviews with senior marketers globally — 236 advertisers, 349 agencies and 148 media companies and publishers.

From the analysis, the company identified three themes: Managing the complexity of media and content, navigating data in a cookieless world, and planning for and proving performance

Marketers are trying to balance their offline and online media mix, but there are gaps in the data that can provide more confidence.

Some 61% of the organization participating in the survey say they found their “sweet spot,” up from 59% in 2019, but help don’t feel they have all the data they need to make decisions.

• Advertisers show a 7% drop in confidence in their organizations’ overall media mix, while media agencies saw a big confidence boost from 47% in 2019 to 64% in 2020
  
• 42% are testing little or no creatives, citing the risk or cost and speed as top reasons
  
• The industry is still attempting to balance short- and long-term ROI, but advertisers feel pressure for results And short-term sales
  
• The degree to which marketers have been measuring the performance of their campaigns has dropped slightly, especially for advertisers, likely due to budget cuts by COVID-19

Marketers’ confidence in their understanding of context has grown from 65% to 72%, but many seem less confident they are tailoring creative pieces to the media channel. Advertisers have the least confidence, with only 63% understanding context and only 49% tailoring creative executions.

When it comes to building brand equity, marketers are confident in their strategies, but they aren’t confident they have the right balance between brand building and short-term, performance marketing in their programs.

Among advertisers, only half are confident that their organizations have the proper balance.

The data also shows a drop in the how marketers have been measuring the performance of their campaigns, likely due to budget cuts.

Fewer marketers indicate they are measuring all of their marketing activities, and those that report ROI measurement is “always-on” has dropped, especially among advertisers.