
In a perfect world, we’d all have a single, go-to grocery store that carried everything on our shopping list – fresh produce, gourmet coffee beans, rare spices, and maybe even that special-grade olive oil, right alongside our wholesale bulk purchases at unbeatable prices. It would be convenient and efficient, and it’d save a lot of driving around town.
The changing data marketplace: From one-stop shop to specialized selection
For a long time, data buyers enjoyed something similar in their world: a small set of large-scale data marketplaces that offered a wide array of audiences, making it easy to load up on whatever you needed in one place. Not only are there fewer places to pick everything up, but new factors like privacy and signal deprecation are placing a spotlight on quality and addressability.
Just as our dinner plans are growing more ambitious insofar as we want health, flavor, value, and convenience all in one place – so are our data strategies. Instead of a single steak-and-potatoes meal, today’s data marketplace operators might be cooking up a complex menu of campaigns.
“Experian has been a longstanding partner of DISH Media, and we’re excited to be an early adopter of their marketplace which leverages the foundation of their identity solutions to ensure maximum cross-channel reach as we look to expand the breadth and depth of data we use for addressable TV.”
Kemal Bokhari, Head of Data, Measurement & Analytics, DISH Media
As a result, data buyers are beginning to shop around. Some still rely on large-scale marketplaces for familiar staples, but now they have reasons to explore other options. Some are turning to providers known for offering top-tier, transparently sourced segments. Others are focusing on specialty providers that excel in one area.
A more selective approach to data buying
In this environment, choosing where to “shop” for data is becoming more deliberate and selective. Data buyers aren’t just thinking about broad scale; they’re looking to prioritize quality, durability, data privacy, and differentiation. They need to place higher value on data marketplaces that can maintain audience addressability over time, despite signal loss. Sometimes, that means accepting a smaller assortment in exchange for tighter vetting and more reliable targeting. Other times it means mixing and matching – stopping by one marketplace for premium segments and another for cost-friendly, wide-reaching data sets. Either way, they can benefit from having more choices.
“Experian has been a longstanding partner of DISH Media, and we’re excited to be an early adopter of their marketplace which leverages the foundation of their identity solutions to ensure maximum cross-channel reach as we look to expand the breadth and depth of data we use for addressable TV.”
Kemal Bokhari, Head of Data, Measurement & Analytics, DISH Media
Experian’s marketplace: A trusted source for high-quality data
Experian’s vetted and curated blend of data partners and vertically-aligned audiences offers a trusted specialty store for data buyers. Experian’s marketplace, powered by identity graphs that include 126 million households, 250 million individuals, and 4 billion active digital IDs, enables partner audiences to be easily activated and maintain high addressability across display, mobile, and connected TV (CTV) channels. In particular, Experian’s marketplace provides:


The future of data marketplaces: Precision and flexibility matter
The evolution of data marketplaces reflects the industry’s shifting priorities. Data buyers seek specificity, reliability, and adaptability to align with their diverse campaign needs. The best data strategy, much like the best grocery run, isn’t about grabbing everything in one place – it’s about carefully selecting the right ingredients to create the perfect recipe for success. This shift underscores the importance of flexibility and precision as data buyers navigate a landscape shaped by privacy regulations, signal loss, and evolving consumer expectations.

As data marketplaces adapt to meet these demands, they are redefining what it means to deliver value. Experian’s marketplace enables buyers to strike the perfect balance between reach and quality by offering enhanced match rates, precise audience planning, and seamless distribution. In this new era, data buyers have the tools and options to craft campaigns that are impactful and aligned with the increasingly selective and privacy-conscious digital landscape. The key is recognizing that today’s data strategy is about utilizing the strengths of many to create a cohesive and effective whole.
If you’re interested in learning more about Experian’s marketplace or becoming an active buyer or seller in our marketplace, please contact us.
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Twenty years ago this week, the first mobile text message, or SMS, was sent by British engineer Neil Papworth. Today, Americans are texting more than ever and among young adults, many of whom were not yet born when the first message was sent, texting is almost as common a mobile activity as talking. And why wouldn’t it be? According to the latest Simmons National Consumer Study, 48% of adults ages 18-to-24 say that a conversation via text message is just as meaningful as a telephone call. A similar share of adults ages 25-to-34 feel the same way. Regardless of age, texting is still, technically, the second most common activity that Americans engage in on their cell phone after talking. During a typical week, 95% of mobile adults talk on their mobile phone, while 59% text. Among adults ages 18-to-24, however, 89% talk on their phone and 85% text. Despite the increasing availability of mobile chat or instant message applications, texting remains the dominant means for exchanging short messages. Only 8% of all mobile adults use their phone to IM or chat. The fastest thumbs To get a more in-depth understanding of the texting habits of adults today, we leveraged data from the Simmons Connect mobile panel of 1,485 U.S. smartphone owners. Hands down, young adults text more than any age other age group. During a typical month, in fact, smartphone-owners ages 18-to-24 send 2,022 mobile text messages and receive another 1,831 for a combined total of 3,852 texts sent and received. With every age bracket we move up, the number of mobile texts drops by roughly 40%. For instance, smartphone owners ages 25-to-34 send, on average, 1,110 text messages a month and receive another 1,130 for a combined total of 2,240 messages. We are also able to leverage the Simmons Connect smartphone panel to understand mobile calling behaviors. The data shows that while young adults hold the record for the most text messages sent and received, they actually make and receive few calls, by comparison. During a typical month, smartphone owners ages 18-to-24 make 119 calls on their mobile phone and answer another 64 calls. Adults ages 35-to-44 make and receive the most calls on their mobile phones in a given month. (Call counts do not include inbound and outbound calls that go unanswered.) Text around the clock Unlike television and radio, which have peak hours for reaching consumers, mobile text messages reach Americans throughout the day, providing advertisers with a medium to connect with consumers any time they want or need. No surprise, young adults are the most likely to send and receive mobile text messages throughout the day. The smartphone panel data shows that during every hour between 8:00 A.M. and midnight, more than half of young smartphone owners are both sending and receiving mobile text messages. Even when most of us are asleep, young adults’ smartphones continue buzzing from inbound texts. In fact, 37% of 18-to-24 year-old smartphone owners receive texts at 4:00 in the morning. By comparison, just 20% of smartphone-owners ages 25-to-34 years-old receive texts at this late (or early) hour as do 17% of those 35-to-44, 15% of those 45-to-54 and 10% of those ages 55 and older. Better to send or to receive? During overnight hours, the share of young smartphone owners who send texts surpasses the share who receives them. However, by 8:00 A.M., the difference between those two figures narrows to the point that they are nearly equal. In fact, from noon until 11:00 P.M., young adults are more likely to send mobile text messages than they are to receive them. Call or text? While texting is still a secondary use of mobile phones after calling, that’s not the case all day, especially among young adults. In fact, while smartphone owners ages 18-to-24 are more likely to make an outbound call than they are to send a text from their phone between 7:00 A.M. and 10:00 P.M., they are more likely to send a text between 11:00 P.M. and 6:00 A.M., during hours when they might understandably wake the recipient. That should help us all sleep a little better.

Black Friday online traffic increased 7% in 2012 versus 2011 as the top 500 retail sites received more than 193.8 million total US visits. So far this Holiday week of online traffic to the top retail sites is up 10% on average. Online retail traffic was up 1% on Black Friday compared to Thanksgiving Day 2012 traffic this year. Amazon.com remained the top visited retail site on Black Friday while Walmart was the second most visited retail site. BestBuy moved up to the 3rd most visited site while Target was the 4th most visited site. JC Penney moved up from being the 8th most visited retail site on Thanksgiving Day to the 5th most visited on Black Friday. Among the top 5 sites, JC Penney saw the biggest day-over-day growth at 26%. Looking at the top 20 retail sites on Black Friday, the Apple Store site saw the biggest day-over-day growth at 99%. Check back for CyberMonday insight and a weekly recap of this week. Learn more about the author, Matt Tatham

A few months ago, during a conversation with the Simmons team at Experian Marketing Services, we started talking about how Hispanics are influencing the mainstream. Someone threw out the “salsa outsells ketchup” anecdote we’ve all heard, and we realized that it was time to stop reusing the same examples and start trying to really prove whether or not this influence is happening. Not long after, the Latino Influence Project was born. The study leverages a custom analysis of data from the Simmons National Hispanic Consumer Study, which measures over 48,000 respondents across 60,000 variables, including language, demographics, brand preferences, attitudes, lifestyles and even political outlook. Not surprisingly, the data showed that non-Hispanics who live in high-density Hispanic neighborhoods behave, buy and believe more similarly to Hispanics than non-Hispanics living in low-density Hispanic neighborhoods, even after controlling variables such as geography, education, income, age and other factors. Some of our findings reinforced what we expected to see. For example, the data shows that non-Latinos living among Latinos: Consume and enjoy more Hispanic products, including food, music and sports. They are 5.5 times more likely to eat jalapeños and are 6 times as likely to listen to and enjoy salsa and merengue. Enjoy standing out in the crowd and being fashionable. They are twice as likely to say they like to stand out from the crowd and 70% more likely to experiment with new clothing styles. However, we were surprised to see that the Latino influence on the mainstream extends far beyond just food, sports and fashion. Non-Latinos living among Latinos also: Lead the way in technology. They are twice as likely to use their cell phones and the Internet for information and entertainment. Eat less processed food. They are twice as likely to look for organic and natural when shopping for food. Are environmentally conscious. They are twice as likely to buy recycled products. The growing Hispanic population together with the influence they are exerting on non-Hispanics that live around them means that our whole notion of “general market” is changing, and will continue to evolve. We think that’s pretty cool. To find out more about the Latino Influence Project and learn more about what we found (and what we think it all means), please join the Webinar being hosted by Wing and Experian Marketing Services on Thursday November 29th, 2012 at 2:00 EST. You can also download the Latino Influence Project report. Holly McGavock is Wing's Director of Planning, where she helps brands like Olay, Downy, Red Lobster and Radio Shack, among many others, connect with Latino consumers.