Cookies got a stay of execution from Google today, but with the end still on the horizon, testing to replace them moves forward.

The Association of National Advertisers announced today it’s joining Comscore to pilot test a “Virtual People ID” as a privacy-preserving measure to track audiences across digital and TV platforms. The pilot test is part of a broader initiative announced at last week’s ANA Media Conference to find a way to measure audiences and manage ad frequency across platforms in a world without cookies in Google’s ubiquitous Chrome browser or app-to-app data transfer in Apple devices.

Procter & Gamble Co. Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard said last week that the marketing industry needs time to test such solutions, and it got that time this week, at least from Google, which said it will wait until the end of 2023 to fully turn off cookies. Bill Tucker, an ANA executive VP who is leading the group’s Cross-Media Measurement effort, said the extra time is welcome, but that the ANA doesn’t plan to slow down testing efforts.

The group in a release today described the test of a Virtual People ID (VID) methodology with Comscore “capable of reporting both demographics and cross-platform deduplication.”

It’s part of a series of component pilot tests through research and experimentation with independent vendors, though others weren’t identified today. And Trucker said in an interview that other VID solutions from other providers as well as panels and other technology components will begin testing soon.

The group hopes to have a fully assembled prototype for cross-media measurement to begin testing by late this year or early next. That still conceivably gives the ANA two years before Google turns off cookies in late 2023, and the extra time is welcome, Tucker says.

He noted that Pritchard made clear last week that the industry needs more time to test solutions.

“We are appreciative that the feedback has been internalized” by Google, Tucker says. “We’re going to be as aggressive as ever in solutioning. But having the time to do it well is what we needed.”

“It’s a privilege to partner with the ANA to help advance cross-media measurement by joining TV and digital data in an innovative and effective manner,” said Bill Livek, CEO of Comscore, in a statement. “We’re excited to begin validating the VID methodology, including television, using Comscore’s set-top box and connected TV data sets.”