Third-party cookies increasingly blocked by consumers

Businesses using cookies to track webpage visitors are losing out as increasing numbers of consumers block them with anti-spyware, new research has found.

JupiterResearch found that more than 48 million internet users are running anti-spyware applications that delete third-party tracking cookies, and nearly 38 million are using aggressive anti-spyware applications that remove nearly 75% of tracking cookies.

First-party cookies are usually sent to visitor’s computers by the site they are visiting and often hold information such as user preferences. Third-party cookies usually come from other sites that provide some content on the viewer’s chosen page, such as advertisers.

JupiterResearch’s report, “Anti-Spyware and Tracking Cookies”, argues that the increased use of spyware is a threat to companies that use third-party cookies to collect data.

“Given that 32% of internet users, over 48 million people, report using an anti-spyware application that manages tracking cookies to some extent, the threat to third-party cookies is real,” said senior analyst Eric Peterson.

But Jupiter found that companies switching from third-party to first-party cookies typically saw a 10% to 15% increase in unique visitors and 13% to 30% more repeat visitors.