Centralized data access is emerging as a key strategy for advertisers. In our next Ask the Expert segment, we explore this topic further and discuss the importance of data ownership and the concept of audience as an asset.
We’re joined by industry leaders, Andy Fisher, Head of Merkury Advanced TV at Merkle, and Chris Feo, Experian’s SVP of Sales & Partnerships who spotlight Merkle’s commitment to centralized data access and how advertisers can use our combined solutions to navigate industry shifts while ensuring consumer privacy. Watch our Q&A to learn more about these topics and gain insights on how to stay ahead of industry changes.
The concept of audience as an asset
In order to gain actionable marketing insights about your audience, you need to identify consumers who are actively engaged with your brand and compare them against non-engaged consumers, or consumers engaged with rival brands.
Audience ownership
Audience ownership is a fundamental marketing concept where marketers build, define, create, and own their audience. This approach allows you to use your audiences as an asset and deliver a customized journey to the most promising prospects across multiple channels. With this strategy, you enhance marketing effectiveness and ensure ownership over your audience, no matter the platform or channel used.
Merkle enables marketers to own and deploy said asset (audience) so that marketers can have direct control over their audience. With audience strategy, you can tie all elements together – amplify your marketing reach, while maintaining control of your audience. Merkle connects customer experiences with business results.
Data ownership
Data ownership refers to the control organizations have over data they generate, including marketing, sales, product, and customer data. This data is often scattered across multiple platforms, making it difficult to evaluate their effectiveness. Alternatively, owning this data, which is typically housed in a data warehouse, allows the creation of historical overviews, forecasting of customer trends, and cross-channel comparisons. With advertisers and publishers both claiming ownership over their respective data and wanting to control its access, there has been a growing interest in data clean rooms.
Data clean rooms
The growing interest in data clean rooms is largely due to marketers increasing preference to maintain ownership over their audience data. They provide a secure environment for controlled collaboration between advertisers and publishers while preserving the privacy of valuable data. Data clean rooms allow all parties to define their usage terms – who can access it, how it is used, and when it is used. The rise in the use of data clean rooms strengthens data privacy and creates opportunities for deeper customer insights, which leads to enhanced customer targeting. Data clean rooms unlock new data sets, aiding brands, publishers, and data providers in adapting to rapidly changing privacy requirements.
Why is centralized data access important?
Centralized data access is crucial for the effective organization and optimization of your advertising campaigns. It involves consolidating your data in one place, allowing for the identification of inconsistencies.
Merkle’s Merkury platform
The concept of centralized data is a key component of Merkle’s Merkury platform, an enterprise identity platform that empowers brands to own and control first-party identity at an individual level. A common use case involves marketers combining their first-party data with Merkury’s data assets and marketplace data assets to build prospecting audiences. These are later published to various endpoints for activation.
The Merkury platform covers three classes of data:
- Proprietary data set – Permissioned data set covering the entire United States, compiled from about 40 different vendors
- Marketplace data – Includes contributions from various vendors like Experian
- First-party data from marketers – Allows marketers to bring in their own data
Merkury’s identity platform empowers brands to own and control first-party identity at an individual level, unifying known and unknown customer and prospect records, site and app visits, and consumer data to a single, person ID. This makes Merkury the only enterprise identity platform that combines the accuracy and sustainability of client first-party data, quality personally identifiable information (PII) data, third-party data, cookie-less media, and technology platform connections in the market.
End-to-end management of data
Data ownership and management enables you to enhance the quality of your data, facilitate the exchange of information, and ensure privacy compliance.
The Merkury platform provides a comprehensive, end-to-end solution for managing first-party data, all rooted in identity. Unlike data management platforms (DMPs) that are primarily built on cookies, the Merkury platform is constructed on a person ID, allowing it to operate effectively in a cookie-free environment.
A broader perspective with people-based views
The Merkury platform is unique because it contains data from almost every individual in the United States, providing a broader perspective compared to customer data platforms (CDPs) which only contain consumer data. The platform provides a view of the world in a people-based manner, but also offers the flexibility to toggle between person and household views. This enables you to turn data into actionable insights and makes it possible to target specific individuals within a household or consider the household as a whole.
How Experian and Merkle work together
Experian and Merkle have established a strong partnership that magnifies the capabilities of Merkle’s Merkury platform. With Experian’s robust integration capabilities and extensive connectivity opportunities, customers can use this technology for seamless direct integrations, resulting in more effective onboarding to various channels, like digital and TV.
“Experian’s role in Merkury’s data marketplace is essential as they are considered the gold standard for data. It significantly contributes to our connectivity through direct integrations and partnerships. Experian’s presence in various platforms and technologies ensures easy connections and high match rates. Our partnership is very important to us.”
andy fisher, head of merkury advanced tv
Through this partnership, Merkle can deliver unique, personalized digital customer experiences across multiple platforms and devices, highlighting their commitment to data-driven performance marketing.
Watch the full Q&A
Visit our Ask the Expert content hub to watch Andy and Chris’s full conversation about data ownership, innovative strategies to empower you to overcome identity challenges, and navigating industry shifts while protecting consumer privacy.
Tune into the full recording to gain insights into the captivating topics of artificial intelligence (AI), understanding how retail networks can amplify the value of media, and the growing influence of connected TV (CTV). Dive into the Q&A to gain rich insights that could greatly influence your strategies.
About our experts
Andy Fisher, Head of Merkury Advanced TV
As the Head of Merkury Advanced TV, Andy’s primary responsibility is driving person-based marketing and big data adoption in all areas of Television including Linear, Addressable, Connected, Programmatic, and X-channel planning and Measurement. Andy has held several positions at Merkle including Chief Analytics Officer and he ran the Merkle data business. Prior to joining Merkle, Andy was the EVP, Global Data & Analytics Director at Starcom MediaVest Group where he led the SMG global analytics practice. In this role, he built and managed a team of 150 analytics professionals across 17 countries servicing many of the world’s largest advertisers. Prior to that role, Andy was Vice President and National Lead, Analytics at Razorfish, where he led the digital analytics practice and managed a team of modeling, survey, media data, and business intelligence experts. He and his team were responsible for some of the first innovations in multi-touchpoint attribution and joining online/offline data for many of the Fortune 100. Andy has also held leadership positions at Personify and IRI. Andy holds a BA in mathematics from UC Berkeley and an MA in statistics from Stanford.
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
Experian is excited to announce that Experian Audiences are now accessible on FreeWheel, a global technology platform for the TV advertising industry. This includes FreeWheel’s leading sell-and-buy-side programmatic advertising platforms, which provide premium inventory for digital and TV campaigns. With Experian Audiences available within FreeWheel, advertisers can access the data they need to create and activate high-impact, targeted, and personalized campaigns across linear, digital, and advanced TV. Unlock unmatched audience precision With this integration, FreeWheel customers gain access to Experian's syndicated audiences powered by Experian Marketing Data. Experian offers 2,400 ready-to-use audiences across 15 data verticals, including demographic, lifestyle and interests, retail purchases, and auto. Backed by a deep understanding of people in the offline and digital worlds, Experian's data is ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset, giving advertisers confidence that they are reaching the right people. “With the expansion of our collaboration with FreeWheel, we're enabling digital and television advertisers to access Experian Audiences with unprecedented ease. This integration equips brands with ready-to-use audiences, allowing them to build highly personalized campaigns that precisely reach the right consumers. This helps drive measurable impact and improves the effectiveness of brands' advertising strategies.”ali mack, vp of adtech, experian Publishers using Audience Manager, FreeWheel’s audience-enabled solution, can unify audiences across devices and ad types, including linear, through the FreeWheel Identity Network. Advertisers using Beeswax, FreeWheel’s demand-side platform (DSP), can target these audiences across multiple devices and platforms to ensure their campaigns resonate and deliver better results. Whether advertisers are targeting holiday shoppers or in-market car shoppers, Experian's data ensures campaigns are timely, relevant, and effective. Boost your campaigns with targeted audience solutions When it comes to capturing the interest of car buyers or connecting with valuable holiday shoppers, our collaboration provides audience targeting to ensure a marketer's message hits home when it counts. Capture TV viewers at the right moment. Developed in partnership with the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), Experian's TV viewership audiences allow advertisers to reach households based on actual viewing habits, from how a household consumes TV to the brand of TV they own. Drive auto sales with in-market targeting. Reach in-market and near-market car buyers to support vehicle launches and end-of-year promotions, ensuring advertisers’ messages hit consumers actively looking for a vehicle. Maximize retail success during the holiday. The holiday shopping season presents an ideal opportunity to capture attention, drive sales, and build lasting customer relationships. Experian can help you capitalize on the holiday season with precisely targeted audiences, including shopping styles, discount-seekers, gift-givers, and holiday travelers. Transform your campaigns with Experian Audiences With Experian Audiences available in FreeWheel’s platforms, advertisers can access the data they need to create high-impact campaigns across TV and digital platforms. Whether your goal is to drive sales during the holiday season or reach in-market car shoppers, Experian's trusted data ensures you'll reach the right audience at the right time with the right message. For a full list of Experian’s syndicated audiences and activation destinations, download our syndicated audiences guide. Download now Latest posts
As Oracle exits the advertising space, we understand that this may present a challenge. Experian is here to support you with a seamless transition in your audience targeting. As one of Oracle’s primary data providers that powered their audiences, we’ve mapped Oracle audiences to Experian audiences, helping you to switch your audience targeting with no impact on your campaign’s performance. In this blog post, we highlight four audience categories that we know marketers are actively seeking to replace and target: auto, restaurants, lifestyle and interests, and demographics. Experian’s approach to best-in-class audience targeting 2,400+ syndicated audiences powered by marketing data ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset offers advertisers the ability to reach people based on demographic, geographic, and behavioral attributes Our audiences span 15 data categories including demographics, auto, retail purchases, lifestyles and interests, financial, and travel Audiences are available on-the-shelf on 30+ major ad platforms, including TV, social, and programmatic, or distribute them to 200+ media platforms Experian’s audience solutions are rooted in offline, deterministic data — like name, address, phone number, and email — that rarely changes. Our deep understanding of people in the offline and digital worlds provides marketers a persistent linkage of known offline data and digital identifiers, which means you get accurate and consistent audience targeting across all channels. Auto, Cars, and Trucks As the premier auto partner contributing to Oracle auto segments, Experian can help you reach and target consumers based on their known and predictive auto shopping behaviors. Experian’s auto audiences are built utilizing insight from our North American Vehicle Database℠ and other data attributes from Experian Marketing Data to provide highly accurate audiences for digital and TV advertising. Unlike some of our competitors who are also positioning themselves as a replacement audience provider, Experian owns all our Vehicle, Consumer, and summarized Credit data under one umbrella and refreshes our audiences every 30 days. This ensures tighter audience composition, superior data hygiene, and best in-class data fidelity, which means you get to target the most accurate audiences. With over 750 syndicated audiences segmented by make, model, price, vehicle age, fuel type, and more, our data is accessible through Experian’s distribution power across all platforms — digital, TV, programmatic, and social — allowing activation wherever our partners need it. Here are the 10 most popular Experian audiences that align with Oracle’s auto audiences: Audience by OracleExperian audienceAudiences by Oracle > Auto, Cars and Trucks > In-Market > Body Styles > SUVs and CrossoversAutos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-Body Styles > SUV and CUVAudiences by Oracle > Auto, Cars and Trucks > In-Market > Body Styles > Trucks > Mid-Size Pickup TrucksAutos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-Body Styles > Mid-Size TruckAudiences by Oracle > Auto, Cars and Trucks > In-Market > Body Styles > Trucks > Full-Size Pickup TrucksAutos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-Body Styles > Full-Size TrucksAudiences by Oracle > Auto, Cars and Trucks > In-Market > Body Styles > SUVs and Crossovers > SUVs > Small to Mid-Size SUVAutos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-Body Styles > Small Mid-Size SUVAudiences by Oracle > Auto, Cars and Trucks > In-Market > Body Styles > SUVs and Crossovers > SUVsAutos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-Body Styles > SUVAudiences by Oracle > Financial Services > Insurance > In-Market > Auto InsuranceLifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > In-Market > Auto InsuranceAudiences by Oracle > Auto, Cars and Trucks > Merchant Category Audiences > Auto Insurance High SpendersRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Automotive (Cars & Trucks) > Auto Insurance: High SpendersOracle BlueKai > In-Market > Auto, Cars and Trucks > Condition > Used Cars > More than 5 years oldAutos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-New/Used > Used car 6+ yearsAudiences by Oracle > Auto, Cars and Trucks > In-Market > Condition > Used > Less than 5 years oldAutos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-New/Used > Used car 0-5 yearsOracle BlueKai > In-Market > Auto, Cars and Trucks > Classes > Cars > Compact and Sub-Compact CarsAutos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-Body Styles > Compact or Subcompact Cars Lifestyle and Interests Experian’s Lifestyle and Interests data helps you reach and target consumers based on their predicted lifestyle and behavioral characteristics with data sourced from consumer surveys, research panels, and online behaviors, enabling more personalized and impactful marketing strategies. Here are five of the most popular Experian audiences that align with Oracle's lifestyle and interest audiences: Audience by OracleExperian audienceAudiences by Oracle > Hobbies and Interests (Affinity) > Pets > DogsLifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Pets > Dog OwnersAudiences by Oracle > Hobbies and Interests (Affinity) > Pets > CatsLifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Pets > Cat OwnersAudiences by Oracle > Hobbies and Interests (Affinity) > Health and Fitness > ExerciseLifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Health & Fitness > Fitness EnthusiastOracle DLX (Datalogix) > DLX Finance > InvestorsLifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Investors > Active InvestorAudiences by Oracle > Lifestyles > Merchant Category Audiences > Sports LoversLifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Sports and Recreation > Sports Enthusiast Demographics Experian’s demographic data allows marketers to tap into the accurate data from Experian Marketing Data to refine audiences to meet a brand’s target persona. Our demographic audiences deliver insight into age, gender, income, and household attributes such as home ownership, presence of children in the household, and length of residence. Based on customer feedback, we have expanded our range of age-based audience segments. These new segments cover various adult age groups and gender distinctions (e.g., Adult Females 18-39, Adult Males 35-54). Here are seven of the most popular Experian audiences that align with Oracle's demographic audiences: Audience by Oracle Experian audienceAudiences by Oracle > Demographics > Validated Demographics > Household Income > HHI: $100,000+Demographics > Household Income (HHI) > $100,000+Audiences by Oracle > Real Estate and Home Property Services > Real Estate Attributes > Ownership > Home OwnersDemographics > Homeowners/Renters > HomeownerAudiences by Oracle > Demographics > Age Groups > Adults 25-54Demographics > Ages > 25-54Audiences by Oracle > Demographics > Gender > FemalesDemographics > Gender > FemaleAudiences by Oracle > Demographics > Validated Demographics > Age Groups > Adults 25-54 > Females 25-54Demographics > Ages > Female 25-54Audiences by Oracle > Demographics > Age Broad > Ages 40-49Demographics > Ages > 40-49Audiences by Oracle > Demographics > Validated Demographics > Age Broad > Ages 65+Demographics > Ages > 65+ Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) Here are six of the most popular Experian audiences that align with Oracle's QSR audiences: Audience by OracleExperian audienceAudiences by Oracle > Restaurants > Merchant Category Audiences > In Store QSR Fast Food Frequent SpendersRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Food and Drink > Restaurants: Fast Food/QSR QSR Frequent SpendersAudiences by Oracle > Restaurants > Merchant Category Audiences > QSR Chicken Frequent SpendersRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Food and Drink > Restaurants: Fast Food/QSR Chicken Frequent SpendersAudiences by Oracle > Restaurants > Merchant Category Audiences > QSR Burgers Frequent SpendersRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Food and Drink > Restaurants: Fast Food/QSR Burger Frequent SpendersAudiences by Oracle > Restaurants > Cuisine Type > SandwichesRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Food and Drink > Restaurants: Fast Food/QSR Subs and Sandwich Frequent SpendersAudiences by Oracle > Restaurants > Dining Type > Casual DiningRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Food and Drink > Restaurants: Casual Dining Frequent SpendersAudiences by Oracle > Restaurants > Dining Type > Coffee Shops and CafesRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Food and Drink > Restaurants: Coffee Frequent Spenders Switch from Oracle to Experian audiences with ease Experian is here to make it easy for advertisers and agencies to find the right audience solutions after Oracle’s exit. By partnering with us, you work with a single data provider that offers access to a diverse range of audiences across multiple categories, including political and holiday shopping. Our audiences are available for activation on the leading demand, supply, social, and TV platforms. Reach out to your account representative or our audience team for information about our comprehensive audience mapping and finding the right audiences for your campaigns. Connect with our audience team Download our audience lookbook to discover more about Experian’s audiences. Latest posts
At Experian, we understand the importance of audience targeting when it comes to crafting a successful marketing campaign. That's why we've invested in developing 2,400+ syndicated audiences, which span across multiple verticals and categories, including demographic, and lifestyle and interest data. We are excited to share a curated list of audience recommendations to support your campaign planning so you can confidently connect with your audience. What separates Experian’s syndicated audiences Readily available on-the-shelf for activation of most major ad platforms, including the Trade Desk, Cadent, Microsoft, and Yahoo. Our audiences span 15 data verticals and categories including demographics, auto, retail purchases, lifestyle and interests, financial, and travel. With our history in data management and participation in industry standards groups, we have the expertise to build audiences that are built for privacy and focused on accuracy. New audience segments to consider for Q4 campaign planning These new audiences, recently released on major platforms, offer unique opportunities to align your campaign planning with the latest consumer trends and behaviors. Here are four new Experian audiences to include in your Q4 campaign planning: Holiday Shoppers: Black Friday Holiday Travel – Budget Savvy Airline Geo-Indexed Audiences – Hybrid Vehicle 24-Month Future Car Buyers Seasonal audiences for Q4 Political audiences As the 2024 election approaches, moving beyond broad categorizations like “Democrat,” “Republican,” or “Independent” is crucial. Voters want candidates who align with their beliefs and values and Experian’s political personas offer a nuanced understanding of American voters to craft tailored engagement strategies. Experian has created 10 political personas to help better understand the American voter so you can reach consumers based on their viewpoints on key political issues. Additionally, over 200 politically relevant Experian audiences are available for activation on-the-shelf of the leading TV, demand, and supply platforms. Learn more here Holiday audiences This upcoming holiday season serves as the perfect opportunity to drive sales and build customer relationships. Experian has recently introduced 19 new audiences that can help you reach relevant shoppers across major ad platforms including TV and programmatic. By using Experian’s audiences in your holiday advertising campaigns, you can reach last-minute shoppers, discount-seeking shoppers, gift-givers, and holiday travelers. Just as shoppers seek the perfect gifts, your holiday advertising campaigns can capture the right shoppers this holiday season with the right strategy. Read our holiday audience guide now Our top 10 audience recommendations for Q4 Based on the top Experian audiences activated in Q4 of 2023, our top 10 list is designed to help agencies and media buyers plan data-driven advertising campaigns. Household income level 1) $100,000+: This segment contains consumers who are likely to have an estimated household income of $100,000+. 2) $75,000+: This segment contains consumers who are likely to have an estimated household income of $75,000+. Demographics 3) Ages: 25-54: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be aged 25-54. 4) Ages: 30-39: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be aged 30-39. 5) Ages: 35-39: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be aged 35-39. 6) Ages: 40-49: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be aged 40-49. Homeowners 7) Homeowner: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be homeowners. Military 8) Inactive: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be inactive military. Automotive 9) In-market for a small, mid-size SUV: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be in the market to buy a mid-size SUV in the next 180 days. 10) In-market for a full-size SUV: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be in the market to buy a full-size SUV in the next 180 days. You can find the complete audience segment name in the appendix. Activate the right audiences with Experian When you choose Experian’s syndicated audiences, you gain access to over 2,400 audiences that span across 15 verticals and categories. These audiences are directly available for activation on over 30 platforms and can be sent to over 200 media platforms. Experian is ranked #1 for data accuracy (as validated by Truthset), and Experian Marketing Data is the foundation for successful targeting, enrichment, and activation. For a full list of Experian’s syndicated audiences and activation destinations, download our syndicated audiences guide. Need a custom audience? Reach out to our audience team and we can help you build and activate an Experian audience on the platform of your choice. Connect with our audience team Appendix Here are the complete audience segment names (taxonomy paths) for all audience segments discussed in this blog post. New audiences Autos, Cars and Trucks > Near Market > 24-Month Future Car Buyers Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Black Friday Autos, Cars and Trucks > Ownership – Geo-Indexed > Geo-Indexed Audiences –Hybrid Vehicle Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Budget Savvy Airline Travelers Household income level Demographics > Household Income (HHI) > $100,000+ Demographics > Household Income (HHI) > $75,000+ Demographics: Ages Demographics > Ages > 25-54 Demographics > Ages > 30-39 Demographics > Ages > 35-39 Demographics > Ages > 40-49 Homeowners Demographics > Homeowners/Renters > Homeowner Military Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Occupation > Military – Inactive Automotive Autos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-Body Styles > Small Mid-Size SUV Autos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-Body Styles > Full-Size SUVs Latest posts