Google limits the use of its free solutions and that is debated. For customers and partners alike, it's a cold shower : recent developments in Google tools (Analytics, Looker Studio, Tag Manager) lead to paying for what was previously free. But the end of free is not limited to Google and represents a fundamental movement... Michael Froment's explanations, director and co-founder of Commanders Act, publisher of the cookieless marketing platform Tagco.
A painting whose meaning we only really understand by taking three steps back. This is the experience experienced by many analytics managers throughout Google’s announcements regarding its solutions., from Google Analytics to Looker Studio via Google Tag Manager. A soap opera that asks several questions. Is this the end of free solutions ? And how to bounce back ? To grasp the issue, a summary of previous episodes is necessary. Episode one, spring 2022 : Google announces the end of Google Universal Analytics 3 in favor of Google Analytics 4 (GA4) with a changeover set for July 1, 2023. Episode two, October 2022 : during the Google Cloud Next’22 event, a rebranding is announced ; Data studio devient Looker Studio, from the name of the company purchased two years previously. A “pro” version is announced, designed for large-scale teamwork. No one suspects at this time that the free version will see its scope of action narrowed…
The surprise of the quota system
Episode three, November 2022 : Google announces a quota system that caps GA4 data consumption from its application programming interface. A complex scale of tokens is put in place, per hour, per day, by type of tokens… A complexity which is however materialized in a very simple way in Looker Studio : even in simple dashboards, the widgets become empty and an error message reminds us of the harsh law of GA4 quotas.
Companies up against the wall
Among clients and their agencies, it's a cold shower. And the race for replacement solutions which are often no longer… free. If this development has manifested itself in a very concrete way in the eyes of users – dashboards that glitch in the middle of a meeting – it is part of a much broader movement. Due to its anchoring in the Martech stacks, Google sees each of its decisions causing a lot of ink to flow. More, let's recognize it, Google is following the same movement as many publishers. A movement started several years ago and resulting from two opposing forces. On the one hand, everyone is now convinced of it, data is considered an essential commodity for good marketing management ; the other, the collection and use of data have become much more complex and technical than they were. Consent management (in the wake of the GDPR) like server-side mode toggles (with the announced end of third-party cookies) have been there and are asking for investments.
Customer-side questions
If the end of free for tracking solutions has been underway for several years, why do customers and partners experience this development as a sudden shock ? No doubt because publishers have had to invest and monetize their platforms faster than users and partners change their habits. No wonder in fact that these transitions lead brands to question the risks that arise from the use of free solutions.. Said differently : stick to free solutions, does it not amount to accepting a risk that is now disproportionate given the importance of data to manage marketing? ? Of course, business solutions, they too, are subject to change. More, committed to their customers, their publishers must anticipate, to report and propose reasonable development scenarios. This is not the first time that marketers have had to compare the benefits between free solutions and commercial solutions.. The deployment of CMPs (Consent Management Platform) had given rise to this type of procrastination. Until the criticality of the issue (in the wake of CNIL directives) leads businesses to opt for proven business solutions, with key commitments.
Opportunities on the partner side
The discussions are also intense on the partner side. The end of free solutions opens a window giving everyone the opportunity to review their ecosystem, to possibly build new relationships. For these partners – media agencies, communication agencies, data marketing specialist firms –, this new era also opens up the opportunity to upgrade their consulting services. Fact, a brand is much more likely to consume advice to secure its investment in a paid solution than it is for a free solution. This involves ensuring the proper deployment, to good practices and, in fine, to the KING. If the shifts from free to paid are more or less well experienced, they are therefore part of the evolution of an ecosystem now faced with more complex issues. And support the growing use of data. Nothing fatal ; just a natural maturation with, at the key, some healthy and legitimate questions for everyone.
