Spurred by retail media and CTV spend, CPG brands are quietly leaving the cookie behind

Rising CTV ad spend, investment in retail media networks and a retreat to safe bets like paid social amid an unstable economy are some of the biggest storylines occupying the marketing foreground right now.

In the background, they’re also contributing to the end of CPG advertisers’ long-term reliance on the third party cookie.

The industry’s transition away from the cookie slowed, but hasn’t stalled following Google’s retreat from deprecation. Forrester’s Q2 2025 Pulse survey found that 35% of marketers were reconsidering spending on cookie alternatives in response to Google’s cookie deprecation walkback — but  53% expected to maintain existing ad spend, while continuing cookieless experiments or investments this year.

Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.