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The concept of the “hedged garden” is gaining traction in the AdTech space as a promising new approach. It offers a more controlled and protected environment for advertisers, reshaping how digital advertising operates. But what exactly is a hedged garden, and could it be the solution we’ve been looking for? Let’s dive into the details and explore its implications.
Walled gardens vs. the open web
Walled gardens continue to disrupt the advertising industry to stay relevant. Google, Meta (Facebook), and Amazon, the largest walled gardens, offer consumer privacy and rich first-party data to advertisers. But, time spent within these platforms, Google and Meta specifically, continues to decrease.
Open web: Pros and cons
On the other hand, the open web allows for more transparency, scale, and constant diversification. Yet, this has not led to increased spending. As a result, the open web continues to lag behind walled gardens. With a heavy reliance on third-party data and growing concerns over signal loss, the open web faces significant challenges. Under these circumstances, advertisers turn to easy activation channels like walled gardens, even as they become less effective to marketers.
Consumers are increasingly focused on privacy, pushing the industry toward alternatives to third-party cookies. As Google rethinks its cookie deprecation plans, channels like connected TV (CTV) and mobile apps, which don’t rely on cookies, are gaining traction.
“A significant portion of web traffic does not support cookies today — and that number will grow as Google rolls out [its] new solution. This means that the industry shouldn’t slow down investments in cookieless solutions, including alternative IDs, first-party data and data-driven contextual targeting.”
kimberly gilberti, general manager, experian
This shift emphasizes first-party data and user choice as a potential solution that balances privacy with effective advertising sources.
Enter the hedged garden
So, what is a hedged garden? The “hedged garden” is a new industry concept where a network of publishers works together to activate first-party data sets in a privacy-compliant way across many partners at scale. These publishers run their businesses with large amounts of first-party consumer data. But they are not big enough on their own.
What does a hedged garden look like? Hedges are more permeable and not as tall as walls. This idea is key to the success of the hedged garden.
Data protection and privacy regulations
As hedged gardens grow, staying compliant with privacy laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is vital. These rules focus on protecting user data by requiring clear consent and transparency. Hedged gardens help publishers share first-party data in a safe, privacy-compliant way.
By working together, they ensure data is used responsibly, aligning with strict privacy regulations. This not only keeps marketers compliant but also builds trust with consumers at a time when data protection is more important than ever.
Opportunities for marketers in hedged gardens
Hedged gardens offer unique opportunities for marketers to enhance their strategies. Unlike walled gardens, hedged gardens offer the ability to work with a wider array of data sources and provide more diverse insights into audience behavior. This flexibility lets marketers develop more tailored, cross-platform campaigns that reach users in different ways.
Additionally, hedge gardens encourage collaboration with multiple partners, allowing for new partnerships and innovative strategies. With data from several sources, marketers can create more precise and privacy-compliant targeting methods to deliver better results. With the right approach, hedged gardens give marketers the freedom to break away from restrictive ecosystems and drive creative and impactful growth.
How Experian navigates through hedged gardens
As our ecosystem moves toward a hedged garden solution, how do we get involved? We are already a key ingredient for this type of solution within the TV landscape. Below, we walk through how we partner with one of our current TV media clients.
Organize our client’s data and provide a Living Unit ID (LUID)
First, we work with our client to clean and enhance their data, matching individual personal identifiable information (PII), such as an email address, to a household through a LUID. Our Digital Graph, which includes hashed emails (HEMs), cookies, mobile ad IDs (MAIDs), IPs, universal IDs, and CTV IDs, is rebuilt weekly to create accurate, refreshed connections. This consistent linkage creates precise targeting and measurement over time.
Our interconnected Offline and Digital Graphs organize identity into households and devices, enriched with marketing data for deeper insights and better addressability. With partnerships across major platforms, we improve match rates, helping you activate audiences seamlessly for optimal reach and measurement.
Enrich data through Experian Marketing Data
Next, our TV media client licenses our Marketing Attributes. This data is the most comprehensive resource for both traditional and digital marketing campaigns. With its multi-channel availability and addressable capabilities, our Marketing Attributes allow our clients to develop insights and build audiences based on a wide range of attributes within their segment set, ensuring they reach relevant audiences across all channels.
Activate audiences across the ecosystem
Finally, we help our client execute their audiences across the full digital and TV ecosystem. We enable the connection that allows these audiences to be activated by matching partner LUIDs (example: LUID123 = LUIDABC). By using client-specific LUIDs to match up data in a privacy-first manner, we can continue to build strong partnerships within the fast-growing ecosystem.
Are hedged gardens the future of advertising?
Have we found the perfect bridge between walled gardens and the open web? We’re hedging our bets. Our vote is yes, but only time will tell.
The future of advertising is shifting, and hedged gardens appear to be a promising model that balances the scale of walled gardens with the flexibility of the open web. We’re using what we learned from the TV industry to support other hedged garden verticals (retail media networks, audio, and gaming).
Now that we know what a hedged garden is, we should consider what the future holds for both walled and hedged gardens.
What’s next for walled gardens
- Increased privacy regulations: Walled gardens will face stricter regulations on data use, pushing them to adapt for compliance and trust.
- Reduced market dominance: As advertisers want more control, reliance on walled gardens could decline, shifting focus to hedged gardens.
- Diversified ad spend: Brands may spread their budgets across multiple platforms instead of being locked into walled gardens.
The future of hedged gardens
- Greater industry collaboration: Expect more publishers and platforms to join forces in hedged gardens for better data activation.
- Expansion into new channels: Hedged gardens will expand into emerging channels like gaming and connected devices.
- Improved data integration: Privacy-first data sharing in hedged gardens will lead to smoother, more secure ad targeting.
Data collaboration in a post-cookie world
As signal loss becomes a growing concern, the need for secure, privacy-first data collaboration will rise. Hedged gardens offer a pathway forward, allowing advertisers to activate first-party data across multiple partners while complying with data regulations.
This is where Experian Collaboration shines. By enabling data sharing without exposing raw consumer data, clients and partners can collaborate at Experian in their own environment or in clean rooms. Each of these environments allows partners to exchange data and gain insights without compromising privacy.
Maximize your advertising reach with Experian
As the advertising landscape changes, one thing remains clear: successful campaigns will require flexible, privacy-first solutions. At Experian, we are at the forefront of this shift. With our data expertise and advanced collaboration solutions, we’re here to help you navigate through both walled and hedged gardens to maximize your advertising reach.
Together, we can navigate across the walled and hedged garden ecosystems. Contact us to learn how.
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With the 82nd Academy Awards® just around the corner and only days before final voting ballots are due back to accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, Experian Simmons is taking a close look at the American movie-going population. In any given month, over 56 million adults (26% of the adult population) make a trip to the cinema to take in a film. Movie-going typically reaches its peak in mid-summer, and 2009 was no exception. Experian Simmons DataStreamSM reports that in July of last year, 32% of adults went to movies, the highest level observed at any point in the year. In October of the same year, the percentage of past-month adult cinema-goers had dropped to just 19%, the lowest point observed in all of 2009. In this month’s Consumer Insights report, Experian Simmons sizes the movie-going audience, examines their receptivity to cinema ads—including pre-show commercials and product placement within films—online movie searches as well as Americans’ penchant for tuning into the Academy Awards. All data comes from the Simmons Summer 2009 National Consumer Study. Two-thirds of the adult population have gone to the movies at least once in the last 6 months. Nearly half (46%) have been in the last 90 days and a quarter (26%) have been in the last month. Young adults are, as expected, more likely to go to the movies than older adults, but adults over 50 outnumber young adults when it comes to raw number of movie-goers as you will see in the following chart. Over 147 million individuals have gone to the movies at least once in the last 6 months. With 20.8 million adults ages 18 to 24 going to the movies in the last 6 months, this age group accounts for only 14% of the movie-going population. Adults ages 50 and over, on the other hand, account for 37% of the movie-going population with over 55 million adults in this age group going to the theater at least once in the last 6 months. Among all adults who had been to the movies at least once in the last 6 months, 68% have been at least once in the last 30 days. Many movie-goers (39%) have been only once in the last month and only 7% have been four or more times. Young adults ages 18 to 24 are much more likely than the average movie-goer to have been to the theater in the last month with 75% reporting having been at least once and 10% having been 4 times or more. Experian Simmons DataStreamSM reports similar trends in past 30 day movie-going for 2008 and 2009 with the peak for this behavior occurring in both years on almost the exact same date. During the week of July 22, 2009 32% of adults reported having been to the theater during the last 30 days and during the week of July 21, 2008, 29% reported going. Cinema Blockbusters that month in ’09 included Bruno and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. In July of ’08, Mama Mia and The Dark Knight were released. When it comes to product placement in movies, frequent cinema-goers are most likely to respond. In fact, 41% of adults who went to the movies 4 or more times in the last 90 days are classified by the Simmons Movie Product Placement segmentation system as “Emulators,” those consumers who notice, remember and are driven to buy products placed into the context of a film. By comparison, only 28% of consumers who went to a movie only once in the last 90 days are Emulators. Forty-eight percent of Horror film fans say they often pay attention to commercials that show along with movie previews in movie theaters making them the most receptive to cinema advertisements followed by Romantic Comedy fans and Family movie fans. Only 39% of Foreign Language or Independent film fans say they pay attention to such ads. Nearly a quarter of all movie-goers get movie information, reviews or show times online in any given month. Aside from the obvious movie sites, you are likely to find movie information seekers on these sites: Californians like foreign language and independent films, whereas New Englanders have more of a penchant for Comedies and Southerners are among the most likely to see Horror films. Below are the top 5 metro areas for finding adults who say they usually see the three selected movie genres when they go to the theater. One-in-seven American adults tuned into the last Academy Awards® ceremony on ABC, including many non-movie-goers. Nine percent of adults who had not been to the movies even once in the past six months tuned into the last awards show and ultimately comprised 19% of all 2009 Oscar® viewers. Still, the more frequently a consumer goes to the movies, the more likely he or she is to watch the annual Academy Awards® ceremony.
The Simmons Multi-Media Engagement Study is a unique syndicated research program that measures – across multiple dimensions – the relationship between media vehicles and their audiences. This strategic tool provides measures of the cognitive and emotional engagement consumers have with major media properties, which includes broadcast, cable, and syndicated television, major magazines, and Internet sites. The Fall 2009 release of the Simmons Multi-Media Engagement Study utilizes a patented behavioral integration model to map the engagement levels of nearly 800 media vehicle users back to the respondents in the Experian Simmons National Consumer Study, allowing the analysis of media engagement to be filtered by consumer behaviors including users of over 8,000 brands in over 460 product categories. The following slides will demonstrate some powerful examples leveraging the Spring 2009 MME study. Among all U.S. adults, Consumer Reports magazine is the most Trustworthy media vehicle. In fact, 6 of the top 10 Trustworthy media vehicles are print magazines. The other top vehicles include 3 websites and 1 cable television network. When broken down by gender, there are 4 vehicles that remain consistent across the gender breaks, although their rank orders do change. Among media properties that index at 110 or higher for new car intenders*, we can determine which are best for communicating a message of trust. Below are the top vehicles ranked by the percent of new car intenders saying “I trust this to tell the truth.” When ranking print magazines by Ad Attention/Receptivity – the dimension that measures how likely consumers are to notice and pay attention to ads as well as buy advertised products – we find that the top of the list is dominated by niche publications, whose audiences are focused and whose ads are typically targeted. In a similar vein, those magazines that focus on a mass-market audience tend to have the lowest Ad Attention/Receptivity scores. Looking at the statement, “I get valuable information from the ads in this magazine,” we can see some interesting differences between consumers by region. For instance, while American Baby is tops in 3 of the 4 census regions, it is fourth in the Midwest. Smart Money magazine makes the list only in the Northeast and House Beautiful only in the West. Likewise, Family Handyman appears in both the Midwest and South, but not in the Northeast or West. Among print magazines that index at 110 or higher for readers planning to retire in the next year, we can determine which magazines would be ideal for placing ads promoting plans and hobbies for their future free time. The following magazines rank top for future retirees who say “This magazine has ads for things I care about.” The Personal Time Out dimension helps identify vehicles that people like to relax with and to spend their free time using. While there are similarities across users of all ages, these top websites for each age group show that younger users prefer social media and entertainment-oriented sites, while more mature users lean towards lifestyle sites when they just want to kick back. Of the Facebook.com users who say, “I like to kick back and wind down with Facebook.com,” we can look at what retailers they are most likely to shop compared to other online adults. Facebook.com users who like to kick back and wind down on the site are 172% more likely to shop at Express and 130% more likely to shop at Victoria’s Secret or Banana Republic. Should these retailers advertise on Facebook, they could benefit by including messages of escape and time-out. When it comes to word of mouth, synergy is a powerful tool. While 69% of all viewers of The Oprah Winfrey Show say, “This program gives me something to talk about,” this number increases to 81% among those viewers who either read O, The Oprah Magazine or visit Oprah.com. Incredibly, when looking at Oprah viewers who visit her website and also read her magazine, fully 96% say The Oprah Winfrey Show gives them something to talk about, an increase of 39% over all program viewers.