Black Friday trends from 2023 and the outlook for 2024

Our next segment in our Ask the Expert series dives into the importance of data enrichment and its benefits across connected TV (CTV) advertising. Ask the Expert features a series of conversations with product experts where we focus on topics that matter the most in AdTech. In our latest segment, Natalia Irmin, Director of Strategic Data & Media Partnerships at a4 Advertising, joins us to chat with Experian's SVP of Sales & Partnerships, Chris Feo. a4 is an advanced advertising and data company that offers audience-based, multiscreen advertising solutions for local and national advertising businesses. In their conversation, Natalia and Chris review: The benefits of data enrichment First-party data enrichment across advertising Data enrichment in CTV advertisingHow Experian and a4 work together What is data enrichment? Data enrichment enhances first-party data sets using third-party data sources. This process involves merging first-party data from internal sources with data gathered from other internal sources or from external third-party sources. Examples of data that can be part of the enrichment process include:  Demographic information Contextual signals Behavioral patterns Interests Purchase-intent The more you know about your customers, the better equipped you are to reach them where they are with the right message. By enriching your data, you can enhance your messaging, provide personalized offers, and establish a loyal customer base. First-party data enrichment across advertising Businesses are transitioning from cookie-based third-party targeting to first-party data enrichment solutions as a result of cookie deprecation. When data enrichment is paired with internal first-party data, you can generate a more holistic customer profile. a4 has a rich set of first-party data, based on the subscriptions to their services. a4 uses first-party data enrichment across advertising in two ways:  Measure performance using their viewership dataAdvise their customers on where they should focus their advertising efforts based on the customer's viewing behavior a4 supports the enrichment of their customers' first-party data so they can get the most out of their insights. With Experian’s privacy-first approach, a4 can continue to rely on their first-party data while protecting personally identifiable information (PII). Data enrichment in CTV advertising CTV advertising refers to digital advertising that appears through a streaming service during a viewer’s video content, like a movie or TV show. CTV ad campaigns allow businesses to personalize their digital marketing messages while the viewer watches content on various platforms. CTV offers a highly measurable opportunity to increase brand awareness. Benefits of data enrichment in CTV advertising Data enrichment provides three key benefits that can enhance targeting, personalization, and campaign effectiveness in CTV advertising. Understand your target audience By using enriched data such as demographic information, viewing behavior, and interests, you can gain deeper insights into your target audience, refine your targeting strategies, and create highly personalized ad experiences. Data enrichment also enables better measurement and optimization of ad campaigns, maximizing ROI. Integrate enriched data with other marketing channels You can integrate enriched data into CTV with data from other marketing channels. This enables the creation of comprehensive and cohesive marketing strategies that provide consistent messaging and enhance cross-channel targeting. Enhance the value of ad inventory Data enrichment can also benefit content publishers and broadcasters by enhancing the value of ad inventory and providing more targeted and effective advertising opportunities. Enabling your marketers to target specific audiences will result in improved campaign performance. Through data enrichment, you can increase return on your ad spend and boost the value of your publisher’s ad inventory. a4 and Experian can help your business attract additional demand with audience enrichment. a4 uses Experian’s vast offering of audiences and combines it with Experian’s Graph. This data can later be used to activate across a4’s parent company, Altice’s owned and operated properties, as well as beyond Altice’s own footprint via premium publisher partners. How Experian and a4 work together a4 and Experian have a long-standing partnership that enables a4 to enhance its data. Through our Consumer View and Consumer Sync products, a4 can add audience attributes to its subscriber and viewer data to precisely pinpoint the audience that its clients are targeting. Experian helps a4 in building a comprehensive customer profile, which helps expand the customer base for a4's advertising clients. We form partnerships, like we do with Experian, to enhance our data further, so that we can combine the power of the viewership and exposure data for those other attributes that clients might need.” – Natalia Irmin, Director, Data & Strategic Partnerships, a4 Advertising Through Experian's audience attributes and Graph, a4 can assist advertisers in targeting audiences beyond their usual reach, creating a better user experience. a4 can personalize experiences and promotions to prioritize customers with a higher likelihood of making a purchase. By tailoring messages and promotions to individual customer preferences, businesses can improve their advertising efforts and deliver them through their preferred channels. Watch the full Q&A Visit our Ask the Expert content hub to watch Natalia and Chris's full conversation about data enrichment and its benefits across the advertising world. In the Q&A, Natalia and Chris also share their thoughts on the importance of first-party data enrichment, addressability, and measurability in CTV advertising. Watch now About our experts Natalia Irmin, Director, Strategic Data & Media Partnerships, a4 Advertising Natalia Irmin is the Director of Strategic Data & Media Partnerships for a4 Advertising. With over 10 years of experience working with data in the Defense, Finance, and Advertising industries, Natalia currently leads the a4 Strategic Partnerships team in the development of advanced data and media products in support of the organization’s media planning, buying, and advanced analytics business. Natalia holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts from Tel Aviv University in Israel. Chris Feo, SVP, Sales & Partnerships, Experian As SVP of Sales & Partnerships, Chris has over a decade of experience across identity, data, and programmatic. Chris joined Experian during the Tapad acquisition in November 2020. He joined Tapad with less than 10 employees and has been part of the executive team through both the Telenor and Experian acquisitions. He’s an active advisor, board member, and investor within the AdTech ecosystem. Outside of work, he’s a die-hard golfer, frequent traveler, and husband to his wife, two dogs, and two goats! Latest posts

Based on the Q1 U.S. Travel Association Consumer Quarterly Tracker conducted by Ipsos, 52% of American adults are eagerly planning to embark on leisure travel within the next six months. With the pandemic limiting travel opportunities for so long, people are more willing than ever to prioritize travel and make up for lost time. With the summer vacation season upon us, it's crucial to identify consumers who are eager to travel and implement a targeted travel advertising strategy. To help you stand out in the competitive marketplace, we’ll share five audiences you should consider when building out your summer travel advertising activation plan. Five travel advertising audience categories With so many travel audiences out there, it can be overwhelming to figure out which ones to target. That's why we've compiled a list of the top five audience categories you should focus on: Seasonal spenders Frequent travelers Travel transportation methods Luxury travelers Vacation type Let's break down each category so you can better understand the travel behaviors and preferences of each group. Seasonal spenders These travelers are known for their willingness to spend during peak travel seasons. They're willing to spend more for travel experiences and have a high propensity to travel. Let's take a look at a few audience segments included in this category that you can activate as part of your summer travel advertising strategy. Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Travel > Vacation/Leisure Travelers: Summer Trips: Consumers in this segment are frequent, high spenders of summer travel. Mobile Location Models > Visits > Summer Break Travelers: Consumers in this segment are likely to travel during summer break. Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based With Experian's Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based audiences, you can reach consumers who have a high propensity to buy in specific categories like toys, furniture, apparel, and more. This audience is created by combining known credit and debit transactions with advanced modeling to ensure the highest likelihood of future purchases. You can use these audiences to find travelers interested in the outdoors that spend their money on related gear and activities, or travelers who use rental cars throughout their trip. Mobile Location Models Our Mobile Location Models are based on a statistical analysis of mobile location data from devices. The model is built from individual, household, and area-level Experian Marketing Data. You can use these audiences to find travelers that like to visit theme parks, travel during the July 4th holiday, and travel during summer break. Frequent travelers Consumers in this audience category prioritize travel as a lifestyle choice and they're always looking for their next adventure. They're willing to spend money to make their travel dreams come true and often participate in loyalty programs to earn rewards. Here are just a few examples of the audience segments you can activate to target frequent travelers as part of your travel advertising strategy: Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Travel > Frequent Flyer Program Member: Consumers in this segment are likely to be members of frequent flyer programs. Retail Shoppers > Purchase Based > Travel > Hotels > Frequent Spend: Consumers in this segment frequently spend at hotels like Holiday Inn, Hyatt, Marriott, and Wyndham. Lifestyle and Interests Experian’s Lifestyle and Interests audience segments make it easy to identify and target consumers based on their lifestyle characteristics. These audiences cover a wide array of lifestyle categories, such as: Activities/Interests Purchasing Behavior Contributors/Memberships Lifestyle/General You can use these audiences to find travelers that enjoy boating, like to visit zoos, and are fishing enthusiasts. Travel transportation methods This audience category consists of the transportation methods travelers use to reach their destination or use throughout their travel experience. Here are just a few examples of the audience segments you can activate to target travelers based on their preferred mode of transportation as part of your travel advertising strategy: Autos, Cars, and Trucks > Vehicle Lifestyle Ownership > Recreational Vehicle (RV) Travelers: Consumers in this segment are likely to currently own an RV and use it for travel. Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Travelers > Air Travel (FLA / Fair Lending Friendly): Consumers in this segment are interested in traveling by plane based on their internet activity in the last 90 days. Luxury travelers These high-end travelers seek exclusive, high-end experiences, from top-tier dining to luxurious accommodations. Here are just a few examples of the audience segments you can activate to target luxury travelers as part of your travel advertising strategy: Consumer Financial Insights > Discretionary Spend – Travel > $10,000+: Consumers in this segment are likely to spend more than $10,000 for travel. Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Travel > Hotels: Luxury: Consumers in this segment are frequent, high spenders at high-end hotels like Renaissance Hotels, Westin, and Hilton Hotels. Vacation type Unlike the previous categories, our vacation type category focuses on the type of trip a traveler is planning and the destination they're heading to. Whether it's a beach getaway or an adventure-filled trip, segments within this category can help you target consumers looking for those particular experiences. Here are just a few examples of the audience segments you can activate to target travelers by vacation type as part of your travel advertising strategy: Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Travel > National Park Travelers: Consumers in this segment are likely to travel to national parks. Travel Intent > Activities > Winery Distillery Brewery Tours: Consumers in this segment are likely to visit wineries, distilleries, and breweries while traveling. Family size and structure In addition to our five recommended summer travel advertising audience categories, it's important to add audiences related to family size and structure to your targeting strategy for the summer travel season. Families with children, for example, are a significant market for summer travel, as parents are looking to create memories with their kids before they go back to school. Families with children have distinct needs and preferences when it comes to travel. For instance, they may need larger accommodation options, kid-friendly activities, and safe environments. On the other hand, married couples with no children or single travelers may have different preferences for their travel experiences. These groups may be looking for more adventurous or adult-oriented experiences, such as camping, hiking in national parks, or winery tours. By segmenting your audience based on family size and structure, you can provide more relevant and personalized recommendations to your target audience, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates. Here are just a few examples of the audience segments you can activate to target travelers based on their family size and structure as part of your travel advertising strategy: Demographics > Marital Status > Single: Consumers in this segment are likely to be single. Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Moms, Parents, Families > Married Mothers: Consumers in this segment are likely to be married females with at least one child under the age of 18 years old. Demographics > Presence of Children > Ages: 0-18: Consumers in this segment are likely to have children between the ages 0 to 18 years old in a household. Demographics > Presence of Children > Ages: 7-9: Consumers in this segment are likely to have children between the ages 7 to 9 years old in a household. We can help you reach summer travelers From seasonal spenders to luxury travelers, there are a host of audiences you should keep in mind as you build out your summer travel advertising strategy. Experian audiences can help you tap into the potential of your summer campaigns by enabling you to identify, reach, and engage with a variety of travelers in their preferred channels. Contact us Latest posts

We’re excited to introduce the next segment in our Q&A series, Ask the Expert! Ask the Expert features a series of conversations with product experts where we dive into the areas you care most about like identity resolution, targeting, attribution, and more. Our next segment features a conversation about sell-side targeting. Mike Chowla, SVP of Product at OpenX joins us to chat with Experian’s SVP of Sales & Partnerships, Chris Feo. OpenX is the world's leading sell-side platform for audience, data, and identity targeting. In their conversation, Mike and Chris review: The shift to targeting on the sell-side How first- and third-party data are being used on the sell-side How OpenX is thinking about alternative IDs Watch the recording What is sell-side targeting? Sell-side targeting optimizes the way buyers and supply-side platforms (SSPs) work together. This approach moves the responsibility of inventory and audience targeting from the demand-side platform (DSP) into the SSP, providing advertisers with increased reach and better performance. With sell-side targeting, locating your target audience becomes easier as you have a more direct connection with publishers. This increases your ability to scale against a target audience. Specifically, the SSP directly matches the buyer's audience or data segment to the publisher inventory and audience and automatically sends the impression to the buyer's DSP of choice via a deal ID, providing advertisers with improved reach and performance metrics as well as control over their inventory. With more direct access, your budget can likely go further, and you can decrease your effective cost per mille (eCPM) and get more working media. "Supply-side targeting is the next phase of how supply path optimization (SPO) and buyers will need to work more closely with SSPs." – Mike Chowla, SVP, Product, OpenX Buying on the sell-side vs. open exchange When buying on the open exchange, you have access to a vast number of impressions. With sell-side targeting, you can apply your campaign targeting directly on the supply-side and activate those impressions through a deal ID. Sell-side targeting works across various formats including web display, mobile, in-app, and connected TV (CTV) for a seamless advertising experience. OpenX offers the unique capability to match users using their device graph within their SSP. This means you can target users from traditional data sources such as cookies or mobile ad IDs (MAIDs) and reach them in CTV or app environments. This gives you even more reach and precision in your advertising efforts. The role of first- and third-party data on the sell-side Buyers are showing a keen interest in bringing their own first-party data into the process of sell-side targeting. Meanwhile, certain agencies have been actively involved in working with identity and data. OpenX is currently collaborating with several agency ID solutions such as Choreograph, Merkel, and Horizon. Buyers are also purchasing third-party data and data segments from various providers through OpenX's platform for sell-side targeting purposes. By utilizing this data on the supply side, buyers are able to increase the match rate against their first- and third-party data segments in all environments. This ultimately maximizes scale against these audiences and drives a more efficient CPM due to eliminating waste. Measurement and attribution on the sell-side In the current state of SSP advertising, there is more of an emphasis on targeting capabilities than measurement and attribution. That said, SSPs can provide granular log level reports that can be utilized for multi-touch attribution (MTA) or mixed media models (MMM). These granular insights not only inform measurement and attribution models, but they also provide valuable optimization insights such as clearing price. Additionally, advertisers have all of the same reporting options that they’re used to getting through their DSP because their buys are activated via deal ID in the DSP of their choice. What to consider when transitioning to sell-side targeting There are two primary items you should consider when transitioning to sell-side targeting: Supply Reach Reach Collaborating with partners who have the right capabilities can greatly improve reach and audience extension across different devices. For instance, if you bring your first-party audience or a third-party audience and are identifying that consumer via a cookie or MAID, being able to extend that targeting segment to other devices and platforms can be highly beneficial. Supply It's crucial to collaborate with partners who have the right access to supply and direct connections with publishers. While targeting is essential, it's equally important to have high-quality supply to drive performance. Reaching consumers in a cookieless future Whether you're targeting on the demand or sell-side, it always starts with the consumer and who you're trying to reach. Significant changes in the consumer privacy landscape are impacting advertisers' ability to access various signals emitted by consumers through their devices and browsers. Recent developments from Apple and Google have further amplified this situation. Alternative IDs as a solution to signal loss In response, we're seeing the emergence of alternative IDs like UID2, Ramp ID, and ID5. OpenX supports these types of IDs and considers them crucial for audience buying in a privacy-centric cookie-less future. We are still in the early stages of this evolution. While some of the IDs have good coverage, cookies will continue to be the primary targeting method as long as they remain available. Nevertheless, we see alternative IDs as one of several solutions that will become increasingly important as third-party cookies disappear. Contextual buying will also emerge, and a set of solutions will come together to enable advertisers to keep finding their audience in a cookie-less world. Overcoming signal loss with identity resolution Looking ahead, as we continue to lose signals due to the evolving consumer privacy landscape, we will witness two things: Continued fragmentation A wide variety of identifiers Content will continue to be available on various devices. We're currently experiencing the emergence of connected TV, but who knows what other devices will surface over the next five to ten years. As cookies disappear, which have been the primary identifier, and alternative IDs are introduced, the wide variety of identifiers will create further fragmentation. This highlights the need for identity in the future. Identity resolution at Experian matches fragmented identifiers to a single profile to create a unified, cross-channel view of your consumers. Our identity resolution solutions can help future-proof your marketing strategies. How Experian and OpenX work together Experian is a key player in OpenX's OpenAudience solution and helps to power many of their data segments as well as their identity graph. While OpenX collaborates with a variety of providers and operates a fully interoperable platform, Experian remains valuable to the core technology within OpenX's SSP. "Experian powers a lot of the data segments and identity graph that OpenX has in our OpenAudience capabilities as part of our SSP." – Mike Chowla, SVP, Product, OpenX Watch the full Q&A Visit our Ask the Expert content hub to watch Mike and Chris's full conversation on sell-side targeting. In the Q&A, Mike and Chris also share their thoughts on the impact artificial intelligence (AI) will have on the AdTech industry and their go-to sources for staying up to date on all things AdTech. Watch now About our experts Mike Chowla, SVP, Product, OpenX Mike Chowla is the SVP of Product at OpenX where he leads product development and innovation, from customer discovery and user research to the development, delivery, and support of a market-leading product suite. Chowla holds a BS in Engineering from the University of Southern California, and an MBA from The University of Pennsylvania. Chris Feo, Chief Business Officer, Experian As SVP of Sales & Partnerships, Chris has over a decade of experience across identity, data, and programmatic. Chris joined Experian during the Tapad acquisition in November 2020. He joined Tapad with less than 10 employees and has been part of the executive team through both the Telenor and Experian acquisitions. He’s an active advisor, board member, and investor within the AdTech ecosystem. Outside of work, he’s a die-hard golfer, frequent traveler, and husband to his wife, two dogs, and two goats! Latest posts