Key Product Changes for Existing Consent Mode in 2024
As you may remember, in November 2023, Google introduced two additional consent mode parameters in the consent mode API to support specific user consent for data sent to Google. Those are:
Starting March 2024, for customers who have implemented consent mode, their ad_storage parameter will be automatically mapped to the new ad_user_data parameter. This means that when consent is granted or denied for ad_storage, ad_user_data will respect the same setting, ensuring that the performance measurement capabilities of your original implementation continue to work as expected.
Do you have to do something about this?
No action is required for existing users for consent mode for measurement purposes. Starting March 2024, the consent states (“granted” / “denied”) associated with ad_storage will be automatically mapped to ad_user_data. This means that both the default consent state and user-selected consent state for ad_storage will also applied to the ad_user parameter, and measurement features for consent mode will continue to work as expected.
Now, if you do not want ad_user_data settings automatically mapped, you may implement the new consent mode parameter directly in your Google Tag setup to set and control the parameters independently.
Finally, no changes will be made to your configuration for the new ad_personalization parameter.
Google decided to focus more on Apps this time and if it notices that an unlinked Google Play app is associated with your Google Analytics property, you may now see a recommendation to link your Play Console account to Google Analytics. By linking your Play Console account, you can access in-app purchase and subscription metrics in your Google Analytics 4 reports.
At present all Google Services can receive data labeled with consent by default. This is due to the Digital Markets Act (DMA). You can find this feature under Data Stream → Configure tag settings → Scroll down and click Show More → Manage data use across Google services. The following should be available:
Note that, in case you don’t want a specific tool to receive the data, the Configuration menu also provides an option to select a specific one to receive, or not, the data.