The advertising industry faces a critical moment with the ongoing cookie deprecation testing in Chrome. Google's Privacy Sandbox aims to reduce cross-site and cross-app tracking while keeping online content and services free. However, early testing has revealed latency issues, particularly with the Privacy Sandbox's Protected Audiences API (PAAPI).

Testing from various sources, including the IAB Tech Lab’s Privacy Sandbox Task Force and Mediavine, shows that PAAPI causes increased latency, leading to reduced viewability and yield for publishers. Latency, which results in slow delivery, can cause lost impressions, revenue, non-viewable ads, and a poor consumer experience. The current state of the Privacy Sandbox suggests a potential threat to revenue for publishers.

When PAAPI wins an auction, there's an average increase of 1500 milliseconds of additional latency. The viewability rate drops to 39%, well below the industry standard of 70%. Google recommends a traditional server-side auction followed by a Privacy Sandbox auction, doubling the average auction time and posing a direct threat to revenue. The high latency impacts the probability of ad display and devalues available inventory.

Publishers need more controls and reporting capabilities within the Privacy Sandbox to address these issues. The industry is urged to take immediate action, share results, and continue testing despite setbacks. The deprecation of third-party cookies is transformative, and while the Privacy Sandbox may not be the expected solution, rigorous testing is essential to adapt and take control of the cookieless future.