When third-party cookies are blocked or restricted, frequency-capping functionality is impacted. As a result, users may experience the same ad repeatedly, some advertisers may decide to exclude certain media altogether, and publishers may earn less revenue as a result.
Cookies named __gads are first-party cookies set on the publisher’s domain and are currently used by Google Ad Manager on behalf of the publisher as a fallback for frequency capping on reservation campaigns, when third-party cookies are not available. These cookies may also be utilized on behalf of the publisher to support buyer frequency-capping on programmatic traffic, when Google Ad Manager third-party cookies are not available, to further improve publisher revenue while still respecting the user's choice to opt out of cross-site tracking.
Using first-party cookies for programmatic frequency caps is allowed by default. To disable this application of first-party cookies:
- Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
- Click Admin
Global settings.
The "Network settings" tab is selected by default. - Next to “Ad preference settings,” disable First-party cookies for programmatic frequency caps.
- Click Save.
