Five steps retail media networks should consider when choosing a data partner

At Experian, we power data-driven advertising through connectivity. Today, we're excited to introduce our newest offering, which drives that connectivity: Experian Third-Party Onboarding. This new capability empowers third-party data providers by streamlining the monetization of their audiences through Experian’s expansive network of over 20 programmatic, social, and TV platforms. Data onboarding typically presents challenges, including complicated integration processes, limited ID matching capabilities, and opaque pricing structures, all compounded by less-than-ideal customer service. Experian Third-Party Onboarding eliminates the common barriers in the onboarding process and leaves users with a simple yet powerful solution for data providers to increase the adoption of their audiences and maximize their revenue. A leap forward in data connectivity Experian Third-Party Onboarding builds upon the investment and infrastructure used to distribute Experian's own audience segments. Notably, in 2020, we began the transformation of moving away from third-party partners to using our own direct connections for audience distribution. Compared to the competition, Experian’s Third-Party Onboarding capabilities offers data providers: Enhanced programmatic addressability: 50% increase in programmatic addressability compared to the competition. Superior CTV addressability: As a top identity partner in TV, we provide a 73% increase in CTV addressability as compared to the competition. Vast digital reach: Approximately 3.8B digital IDs that are active and addressable on a weekly basis. The first data providers to use Experian’s third-party onboarding capabilities are Adentro, Kontext, L2, and Webbula.  "Moving beyond cookie-only third-party onboarding solutions is critical for our users in the age of cookie deprecation, and Experian's identity capabilities do that. Experian's match rates and speed to turn around audiences to a large number of platforms is critical for our political buyers during this very busy campaign season."paul westcott, evp, l2 Benefits to Experian Third-Party Onboarding Experian’s unique onboarding process enhances current capabilities and sets new benchmarks in the industry. The comprehensive benefits of Experian’s Third-Party Onboarding include: Future-proof your addressability: With Experian's advanced digital and offline identity capabilities embedded within this new onboarding solution, user audiences will automatically be expanded to a deep set of identifiers (e.g., CTV IDs, MAIDs, IPs, UID2s, ID5s, and more) to ensure scale and maximum addressability. Seize the CTV opportunity: Tap into the explosive growth of connected TV (CTV), the fastest-growing major ad channel in the U.S., with connectivity to more than ten TV destinations.  Simple pricing structure: Straightforward revenue-share pricing structure free of hidden costs, ensuring clarity and trust in all financial dealings. Streamlined reporting: Gain valuable insights with self-service reporting available within days of receiving data from the platform. Drive growth and adoption with faster reporting, allowing you to track usage by segment, advertiser, or destination effortlessly. Efficiency and support: A self-service, user-friendly interface gives you control over taxonomy field names, CPMs, and destinations. It is complemented by a dedicated account team, which reduces the burden on user resources and guarantees a seamless experience from onboarding to activation to reporting. Support for syndicated and custom audiences: Seamlessly onboard bulk syndicated audience taxonomies and custom audiences to programmatic, social, and TV platforms through our existing integrations. “Both activation platforms and data providers familiar with our world-class identity capabilities and top-notch service have proactively asked Experian to provide third-party onboarding services. After listening carefully to how we can improve upon their current setup, we are excited to bring a solution to the market that directly addresses their needs.”scott kozub, vp, product management, experian Stay ahead of the curve Maintaining a competitive edge with your data is no longer optional; it's imperative. Experian Third-Party Onboarding arms users with advanced connectivity, unparalleled data expertise, and thorough support, positioning them at the forefront of industry innovations.  Reach out to our team today to learn more about Experian Third-Party Onboarding and how it can make your data go further. Go further now Read the AdExchanger press release about Third-Party Onboarding Learn more Latest posts

Retail media networks (RMNs) rank among the fastest-growing media channels. According to eMarketer, retail media spend is forecasted to account for more than a fifth of overall digital spending in 2025, and retail media spend will grow by 21.8%. For RMNs, the path to realizing this opportunity is marked by navigating through a series of critical stages, each with its own set of challenges and solutions. Retail media strategies Simply put, RMNs need to know who their customers are, where they are, and how to reach them to succeed. But we know nothing is that simple. This blog post reviews the three pivotal stages of RMN success, offering a roadmap for networks aiming to optimize their operations and claim their share of the rapidly growing category. Stage 1: Develop a data foundation In a world where traditional tracking methods are fading, first-party data has become essential for targeted advertising. Retailers have a wealth of this valuable data due to their direct consumer relationships. The initial step in establishing an RMN is to organize and utilize this data effectively. Steps to develop a data foundation: Organize data: Bring together fragmented shopper data, loyalty program information, and other customer data into a unified location. Clean and deduplicate this data to create consistent customer profiles. Enhance profiles: Gain insights into your customers and your brand’s customers so you can learn who your best, lapsed, and non-customers are. Append additional attributes to your shopper data, including media consumption habits, lifestyle preferences, demographic information, and more. Use identity graphs: Identity providers, like Experian, enable you to learn about the anonymous – and known – visitors on your platform and organize disparate customer data points into households. This will allow RMNs to connect addressable identifiers to the household, making it easier to reach customers across channels. Create audience segments: With a solid data foundation, RMNs can build audience segments beyond basic shopper data. These segments will make your data more attractive and actionable for media buyers. For example, consider a retailer that knows its shoppers are primarily young professionals, but a CPG brand wants to target not only these shoppers but also young professionals who are parents. By partnering with an identity solution provider like Experian, the retailer can append additional data to identify and target the young parents within their existing customer base, enabling the CPG brand to reach both audience segments effectively. “Retail media networks thrive on clean, accurate, and actionable data. Simply put, it's crucial to know who your customers are, when they're most engaged, and where to reach them to drive effective marketing strategies and maximize ROI.”anne passon, sr. director, sales, retail Stage 2: Become a publisher for optimal retail media growth The next step for RMNs is to transition from building a data foundation to helping marketers reach their target audience, essentially becoming a publisher. This involves two main processes: organizing advertising inventory and connecting it to demand. Steps to become a publisher: Audit and organize inventory: Conduct a thorough review of all existing ad spaces, including websites, apps, and in-store placements. Identify gaps and consider creating new advertising opportunities, such as website and app features, interactive digital experiences, or expanded in-store touchpoints. Connect inventory to demand: Integrate the organized inventory with platforms, allowing advertisers to access it easily. This often involves using supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-side platforms (DSPs). Continuing with our example, the CPG brand can work with its DSP or SSP partners and easily access your ad inventory, and effectively target the young professional and young parent audience segments. Stage 3: Scale inventory for retail media growth As RMNs progress to the final stage of their success journey, they may face the challenge of limited inventory within their owned and operated (O&O) channels. To meet marketers' expansive reach requirements and to continue to drive growth and profitability for their organizations, RMNs must expand their inventory beyond O&O. Steps to scale inventory: Utilize data collaboration tools: Clean rooms allow secure merging and enrichment of data from various sources, creating richer audience profiles while maintaining privacy. Resolve identity and enhance addressability: Identity graphs help resolve known customer identifiers (e.g. emails) into addressable IDs (e.g. mobile IDs and connected TV IDs), which can be used to reach customers across all the platforms they consume media. Expand audience reach: Onboarders, like Experian, help extend data and audiences to programmatic destinations beyond a retailer's O&O inventory. By mapping audiences to digital identifiers maintained by identity partners, RMNs can significantly widen their reach, meeting advertisers' needs for engaging with broader and more diverse audience segments. The CPG brand can now reach young professionals and young parents on the retailer’s platform and in all the other places where they consume media, like watching their favorite shows on connected TV (CTV) or browsing the web on their phones. Measurement across stages for retail media growth Measurement is crucial and must be conducted during and after a campaign to understand and validate performance. Here are two types of measurement to consider: Cross-device campaign measurement: Measure performance by connecting an ad exposure in one environment (e.g. CTV) to an action in another (e.g. mobile purchase). This holistic, cross-device approach requires a partner for identity resolution as it will ensure that the impact of a campaign is fully understood. Aggregate performance analysis: Understand performance in aggregate across several campaign studies. Receive independent third-party measurement validation that you can promote to advertisers to drive increased spend. For our CPG brand, these measurement reports ensure that they can track the performance of their campaigns from the initial exposure on a CTV to the final purchase made on a mobile device, providing comprehensive insights and validation of their advertising strategy. The retailer can aggregate these studies and promote their network’s effectiveness to prospective advertisers. Accelerate retail media growth with strategic partnerships The journey through the stages of RMN success is riddled with deep technical challenges that are often beyond the institutional capabilities of non-media businesses. The intricacies of data management, audience insights, identity resolution, precise cross-device targeting, and measurement require specialized expertise and technologies that may not be readily available in-house. RMNs stand to benefit from forging strategic partnerships with companies that possess not only the necessary technological tools but also a profound understanding of the media landscape. The steps outlined here will accelerate your growth and ensure you capitalize on the opportunity in front of you. Connect with a member of our team to learn how we can support your journey toward RMN success. Contact us to enhance your retail media strategies Contact us Latest posts

Get ready for Cannes Lions 2024—the advertising industry is buzzing with excitement. This year's event promises to be a center of innovation, ideas, and networking. Here are five themes we expect will take center stage in conversations and how Experian can help marketers be prepared for what’s ahead. Cookie deprecation and signal loss At Cannes Lions 2024, the theme of transitioning to a cookieless advertising ecosystem is likely to dominate discussions. The saga of cookie deprecation continues to unfold, with Google recently pushing back the demise of third-party cookies once again. Experian remains fully committed to prioritizing continued testing of different industry solutions, including the Google Privacy Sandbox, to help customers prepare for a future without cookies. We've identified six viable alternatives to third-party cookies, how these alternatives fall short, and how Experian can help you navigate these alternatives. With Experian, the loss of cookies does not equate to a loss of coverage. With our strong roots in offline data and significant investments in our Graph, Experian ensures uninterrupted and effective marketing with robust signal coverage, with or without cookies. Based on early tests, we expect our Graph to maintain 97% of its household coverage. Read how MiQ, a leader in the cookieless era, strengthened its Identity Spine with the integration of Experian’s cross-device Graph here. Commerce The theme of commerce is poised to be a central topic of discussion at Cannes Lions 2024, reflecting the emergence and growth of retail media networks (RMNs). Evolving customer expectations are a key driver, with consumers demanding seamless and personalized experiences across all touchpoints of their shopping journey. The importance of bridging physical and digital experiences to create a cohesive customer journey will undoubtedly feature prominently in discussions at Cannes. Experian's Consumer Sync offerings facilitate seamless integration between online and in-person interactions, fostering a cohesive approach to engaging audiences across various platforms while measuring campaign effectiveness. As we heard at Shoptalk 2024, the evolution of retail media is propelling us into a new era of advertising and first-party data monetization. The integration of e-commerce with advertising presents an exciting opportunity for brands to drive direct sales through ads displayed within retail platforms, blurring the lines between marketing and commerce. Our Consumer View solutions provide access to over 5,000 demographic and behavioral data points, enriching your customer profiles for deeper insights. By combining first-party data with Experian's industry-leading data sets, you can create bespoke audience segments that drive increased return on investment (ROI), going beyond conventional category-based targeting strategies. Looking ahead, the future outlook for RMNs remains promising, with anticipated growth and expansion as brands increasingly recognize the value of reaching consumers precisely at the point of purchase. Connected TV At Cannes Lions 2024, we anticipate discussions to focus on how connected TV (CTV) can continue to live up to its promise. CTV is the most rapidly expanding advertising channel in the U.S and 95% of advertisers plan to increase their share of spend on programmatic CTV in 2024, according to The Trade Desk's latest CTV report. The growing adoption of CTV among viewers, driven by factors like quality content, reduced ad interruptions, and cost-saving alternatives to traditional cable, signals a shift in consumer behavior that marketers cannot afford to overlook. Experian supports the growth of advertising interest in CTV through our signal-agnostic Graph that connects CTV IDs, universal IDs like Unified I.D. 2.0 (UID2), IPs, and mobile ad IDs (MAIDs) for effective activation. Our digital identity resolution with Activity Feed provides insights into CTV viewership behavior, linking CTV exposure to e-commerce conversions. CTV also enables greater collaboration, and we've recently announced new partnerships with CTV industry leaders Microsoft, Samsung, Attain, Sonobi, and EDO. Consumer privacy Consumers are increasingly aware of privacy concerns surrounding their data and numerous laws are going into effect across the U.S. at the state level. Most recently, there has been momentum on a federal data privacy law. We expect consumer privacy to be a significant topic of discussion at Cannes Lions 2024, reflecting the growing importance of ethical data practices in advertising. In a recent Q&A with Datavant, Jeremy Meade, VP of Marketing Data & Product Operations at Experian, highlights the importance of balancing data privacy and utility, focusing on "data for good" practices while using de-identification techniques to support research without compromising consumer privacy. Our Geo-Indexed audiences are an example of how Experian can help you reach your audience while balancing data privacy and accuracy. Our Geo-Indexed audiences combine location data with audience insights to deliver targeted marketing solutions. These audiences are created without the use of sensitive personal information, so you can confidently reach your target audience without sacrificing data privacy. With deep roots in data protection and security, you can confidently partner with Experian as we proactively stay ahead of regulations and strictly follow all consumer privacy laws.​ Campaigns and competition The theme of campaigns and competition is poised to be an important discussion point, driven by the convergence of major global events like the U.S. presidential election and this summer’s games—both occurring once every four years. These landmark occasions present opportunities for marketers to craft targeted campaigns that resonate with specific audience segments. As we approach the 2024 election season, the advertising landscape is primed for growth, with political ad spending projected to exceed $10 billion. Effective audience targeting during this crucial period can sway voters, shape public opinion, and influence election outcomes. Experian's 240+ politically relevant syndicated audiences, including our 10 political personas, enable a nuanced understanding of voter viewpoints and empower tailored engagement strategies to connect more effectively with constituents. At the same time, this summer’s games in Paris offer a unique opportunity for sports marketing. With one billion viewers expected to tune in, the global spectacle presents a platform to engage with passionate sports audiences worldwide. Using Experian's syndicated audiences, marketers can precisely target sporting goods shoppers, avid fans, athletes, and spectators alike. The combination of these major events emphasizes the need for careful planning and data-driven strategies and marketers should take advantage of the excitement surrounding both events. Follow us on LinkedIn or sign up for our email newsletter for more informative content on the latest industry insights and data-driven marketing. Latest posts