In this article…
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.
Latest posts
NEW YORK, Sept. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Tapad, the leader in cross-device marketing technology, today announced a new metric for cross-device marketers, Viewable Exposure Time (VET). Viewable Exposure Time measures across screens and ad formats, identifying the optimal amount of time a consumer spends with an ad before they take action. The announcement coincides with Unify Tech '16, Tapad's third-annual cross-device summit during Advertising Week NY. Frequency caps are currently used to ensure that dollars aren't wasted on redundant ads. Viewable Exposure Time evolves the frequency capping approach to include accelerating a consumer's ad exposure rate up to the optimal time spent with the brand. VET is used in affinity, digital transaction and offline purchase models as a key indicator of marketing budget well-spent. Beta users of VET span every vertical, though interest is especially high from CPG, Automotive, Telecommunications and Retail. Viewable Exposure Time unifies and upgrades marketers' predictors of advertising success by leveraging cross-screen engagement across digital and television, with vendor-agnostic viewability scores for video, rich media and display. "Today's current measurement options, like click-through rate (CTR) and TV gross ratings points (GRP) tell an incomplete story," said Tapad GM of Media Kate O'Loughlin. "Tapad is focused on measuring what really matters to marketers – building an efficient connection with a customer. Innovation in metrics was long overdue." More than just a measurement tool, Tapad also provides clients with VET activation. Factoring in time spent with ads in viewable seconds and minutes, these analytics inform marketers about which audiences are underexposed, enabling them to adjust campaigns and deliver according to optimal viewable exposure time. This effectively increases conversion rates at the lowest cost. Contact us today
Strong Revenue Performance and Thriving Culture Contribute to Industry Recognition NEW YORK, Sept. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Tapad, the leader in cross-device marketing technology and now a part of Experian, was named a top company on Inc. Magazine’s list of the 5000 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. In addition, Tapad won the TMCnet 2016 Tech Culture Award. The exclusive Inc. 5000 ranking highlights the fastest-growing privately-held* companies in America. These distinguished companies have achieved success in strategy, service and innovation. TMCnet recognizes talented tech professionals who are committed to building a culture that prioritizes employee growth, collaboration and engagement. Tapad continues to broaden their presence into new markets, having launched in APAC earlier this year, as well as continuing their European expansion. Tapad’s proprietary technology, The Device Graph™ is leveraged by more marketers and brands to understand digital engagement across devices. The company’s rapidly expanding client base includes numerous Fortune 500 company brands as well as all four major advertising holding companies in the U.S. “We have an exceptional team of innovative people who are all working very hard to achieve the kind of results these publications are recognizing,” said Tapad CEO and Founder, Are Traasdahl. “Given that, we have an even greater responsibility to our talent to create an environment that fosters innovation and nurtures open communication. Ultimately, this is how we will continue to reach our very ambitious goals of becoming the world’s leading unified marketing technology provider.” Tapad’s award-winning work culture is defined by its gold-standard benefits which include a six-month parental leave policy, unlimited vacation time, company-sponsored meals and office space designed to facilitate collaboration and open communication. Tapad’s highly talented team has also received multiple customer service awards in 2016. These awards include the iMedia ASPY awards for Best Customer Service and Best Mobile Partner as well as recognition from The Communicator Awards of Excellence in Interactive Media. *Prior to Tapad’s acquisition by Telenor in February 2016. Contact us today!
The Tapad Device GraphTM Had Twice the Precision and Three Times the Scale as Next Competitor New York, September 14, 2016 – Just-released findings of a Hotels.com® study revealed that Tapad’s (part of Experian) cross-screen marketing technology achieved the highest levels of precision and scale among competitors. According to the leading online accommodation booking website, after a rigorous, three-and-a-half month vendor analysis, Tapad achieved twice the precision of the next highest-scoring cross-screen offering and three times greater scale. The two other companies evaluated were not named. Said Helene Cameron-Heslop, Senior Manager of Analytics of the Hotels.com brand, “Our team implemented an extremely rigorous vetting of open, cross-screen technology vendors. At the outset, we assumed we would have to compromise on either scale or accuracy – particularly given the importance to our brand of operating in a privacy-safe setting. We were surprised to find a complete package, but Tapad’s Device Graph won out on scale, accuracy and privacy; making our choice of partners very clear.” In another metric critical to the Hotels.com brand, The Tapad Device GraphTM was eight times more “unique” than the next closest offering, meaning Tapad’s graph was found to have a much greater number of connections not seen in any of the other graphs. In addition to precision, uniqueness and scale, the Tapad Device GraphTM was found to have: ● 100% higher recall● 47% more incremental matches● 53% higher North American market coverage● 101% higher F-Score* “A valuable cross-device solution should enable partners to get everything they’re looking for from a single vendor,” said Tapad Founder and CEO, Are Traasdahl. “We are deeply impressed with how thorough Hotels.com was in their vetting, and we confidently tackle the complex challenges of the martech industry thanks to our superior technology. Everyone loves a bake-off, and Tapad is no exception – delivering best-in-class results in areas that really count.” *F-score is a statistical measurement that takes precision and recall together. The calculation is 2*(precision*recall)/precision + recall). It gives you one number instead of two numbers to look at and judge performance. Contact us today