With card or with cookies?
You've probably noticed. Some apps or websites, starting with online newspapers, have been pioneers in this area. They offer us the option of "Reject cookies" to continue browsing their pages, but only after paying a small amount of money, for example, 0.50 euros to consult their website for 24 hours, or directly offering a subscription fee.
This is not a new revenue policy implemented this January on its own initiative. The micropayment has been a solution, we will see if it is provisional, to deal with the entry into force in Spain of the new guide on the use of cookies drawn up by the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD), a document that requires the option to reject cookies to be offered in a visible and clear way when we visit a website. Accepting or rejecting must be at the same level of visibility because we choose. It is not that until now it did not exist, it is that what was placed in front of it was very accessible “Accept” and that was it… later it had to allow selection by type of cookie use but “Reject” remained well hidden. Without cookies there is no personal information of value and so advertising loses relevance. In other words, income escapes.
Cookies track browsing habits and this allows us to personalize the ads we see. If they are relevant, there is a greater likelihood of a click, that is, an income for the person who shows the advertising on their medium. Without cookies, without tracking, advertising is generic, potentially less interesting, less profitable.
Faced with this forecast of a decline in advertising revenue, some websites are asking us how we want to pay for content. Because nothing is free. They give us two options, pay with cookies and personal data or pay with a card. If you accept cookies, you allow your usage information to be processed to show you “content and advertising adapted to your preferences”. If you do not accept and reject them, they offer you to go through checkout. You will continue to see advertising, believe it or not, but it will be generic, not personalized. The most traditional way of seeing advertisements from sports brands on sports content websites.
It is worth noting that not all cookies are subject to this new regulation. It only affects external cookies, that is, it does not imply changes to cookies that have the strict purpose of measuring the audience of the site or application and are processed exclusively on behalf of the publisher to obtain anonymous statistical data.
In short, any website that uses cookies requires an urgent and strict review. Now more than ever, it is necessary to know which ones are used and for what purpose. We must clearly provide this information and allow the user to manage them to the point where they have every right to reject them.
