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Digital marketers face an ongoing challenge in the form of “walled gardens,” closed online ecosystems where it is difficult to access user data. As we get ready for 2024, it’s more important than ever for marketers to evaluate the current challenges and opportunities surrounding walled gardens and to take stock of the impact of walled gardens in marketing as an industry.
What is a walled garden?
A walled garden is a closed online ecosystem controlled entirely by one tech company. Advertising on these ecosystems is fairly locked down, as major tech companies with walled gardens tend to tightly control access to the user data, content, and advertising that appears within the ecosystems.
Some examples of walled garden ecosystems include Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple. These walled gardens have particular advantages, like access to massive user bases and precise targeting within the individual ecosystems. It can also be difficult to reach said audiences outside of the ecosystems, reducing the amount of control you have over your advertising strategies.
Learn more about walled gardens.
Learn the differences between walled gardens and hedged gardens.
Integrated marketing is more important than ever
Today, it’s become more crucial to connect with consumers over multiple touchpoints, which can be done from tech like connected TV (CTV) to websites, mobile devices, and even shopping in a physical store. However, as integrated marketing gains utility, many platforms with walled garden ecosystems have increased, making a truly integrated and personalized marketing strategy more difficult in many situations. As a result, many marketers have realized the value of a more streamlined marketing approach, emphasizing the importance of fully integrated advertising strategies.
Though there are surely marketing advantages to gain from walled garden ecosystems, especially in audience size, the challenges they pose will require you to innovate and find more creative ways to engage with your audience from platform to platform.
Perspectives on walled gardens from Cannes Lions 2023
Offering a poignant view of industry trends and ideas, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity of 2023 had much to say about the significance of walled gardens in the marketing world. Let’s look at two key takeaways from this year’s festival.
Retail media
In recent years, many retail companies have started selling ad space within their own walled garden shopping platforms, dubbed “retail media.” Platforms like Amazon and Walmart have developed their own particular advertising ecosystems where they sell ads to marketers within the shopping environment itself.
Navigating the sell-side of retail media’s walled gardens
While retail media offers marketers unique opportunities, it’s not without its challenges. For one, ad space in these environments is limited, so the competition can be difficult on the sell-side, leading to higher ad costs. Additionally, this shift in dynamic also forces marketers to change how they prioritize their marketing channels, looking closer at the results of their efforts rather than focusing on particular channels within the platforms themselves.
Opportunities in the buy-side of retail media’s walled gardens
Brands on the buy-side see various benefits from advertising within retail media channels and walled gardens. By browsing in an online shopping environment, the users in these ecosystems are likely high-intent shoppers, people who are further down the sales funnel and who are ready to make a purchase soon. Shoppers can also be precisely targeted within these environments, as marketers are given the ability to access very specific audience segments based on details like shopping behavior, preferences, and even purchase history.
Omnichannel marketing
To more effectively engage audiences even among an abundance of walled garden ecosystems, speakers at the 2023 Cannes Lions Festival discussed the importance of omnichannel marketing. By emphasizing strategies that reach the consumer through multiple touchpoints, marketers can deliver a unified brand experience across channels. This allows marketers to focus more on results than specific advertising channels, including walled garden platforms.
Walled gardens aren’t going away in the near future
Though various challenges are associated with walled gardens in advertising, they aren’t going anywhere. So, what’s the current state of these environments throughout the industry?
Efforts are being made to break down walled gardens in tech
In a handful of countries, regulatory actions have been put forward to address how dominant many major tech companies are in their respective markets. One major example of this is Meta and Google’s entanglements in Canada. Currently, neither company can display news on their websites in the Canadian market. This decision was reached to give Canadian news agencies more control over their advertising revenue since, previously, the tech giants received more views and, therefore, gained the ad revenue. Though relatively small, this does indicate a certain shift in dynamic.
Why companies are resisting
Despite their challenges, walled gardens in 2023 persisted, mainly because they are particularly adept at generating revenue for the tech companies that control them. In 2022, 78 percent of global digital advertising revenue came from these closed ecosystems, and projections expect that figure to rise to 83 percent by 2027. From the viewpoint of a company that operates in a walled garden, the idea of releasing their control over their environment represents losing out on a stream of vast revenue, making letting go of a walled garden ecosystem an unattractive prospect.
The future of walled gardens
As time progresses, what can digital marketers like you expect from walled garden ecosystems in the near future?
A cookieless future
A huge element to consider is the transition to a cookieless future. Many major browsers have begun phasing out the use of third-party cookies. In the wake of this decision, many are looking for reasonable alternatives that allow for behavior tracking and more personalized advertising experiences. Solutions like Experian’s identity resolution can provide a strong alternative option, allowing marketing strategies to adapt to the current landscape.
An influx of mini gardens
You should also anticipate the proliferation of various smaller, specialized walled garden ecosystems in the future. These so-called “mini gardens” specialize in more niche audiences and industries, and they can present their own challenges and opportunities.
Alternative IDs
As you search for new identification methods outside cookies, various alternatives have presented themselves, requiring further exploration and experimentation. Among these are privacy-compliant solutions like Unified ID 2.0, which allow you to serve more personalized ads without compromising the consumer’s privacy.
Navigating the evolving landscape of walled gardens in 2024
As we begin 2024, you will continue facing opportunities and challenges regarding walled gardens. The 2023 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity re-emphasized how important it is for marketers to stress omnichannel marketing within walled garden environments and become well acquainted with identity resolution solutions as we move into a cookie-less future. All of this requires you to become comfortable with walled gardens being here to stay and innovate to navigate an evolving and developing landscape.
We’re here to help you navigate the evolving landscape of walled gardens in 2024. Contact us today.
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Ditch the cookie, not the data with the next evolution of contextual targeting Today, we're excited to announce Contextually-Indexed Audiences, a game-changer in contextual targeting. Experian’s new solution offers advertisers a powerful, privacy-safe solution that combines the precision of deterministic audience targeting with the flexibility of contextual targeting. Powered by real-time analysis from two million websites, access to 1,400 trusted audience segments, and easy activation through the top demand-side platform’s contextual marketplace or Audigent private marketplaces (PMPs), this solution offers advertisers a scalable way to reach their target consumers. With this solution, advertisers can reach consumers on websites that over-index for visitors with the demographics, behaviors, or interests, they are looking to target. For example, an automotive brand can select Experian’s “Contextually-indexed in-market for a luxury electric car” audience segment and reach consumers when they are browsing websites that often attract that exact segment. Best of all, this is done in a privacy-safe way since it’s not reliant on cookies, mobile ad IDs (MAIDs) or other user identifiers. How Contextually-Indexed Audiences work Contextually-Indexed Audiences harness advanced machine learning technology to move beyond traditional keyword-based strategies. The solution works in three steps: First, it analyzes traffic from over two million websites and mobile apps to identify the types of frequent visitors to those platforms. Next, using Experian’s Digital Graph, it resolves the identities of those visitors and maps them to more than 1,400 of Experian’s Syndicated Audiences, determining which audiences are most overrepresented on each site. Finally, the relevant audiences are assigned to those sites, allowing advertisers to deliver ads to people in those audiences while they are actively browsing the websites — without relying on user identifiers. Customer success story A leading auto manufacturer was among the first clients to activate this new solution while we were in beta. The goal was to identify new contextual targeting solutions that focus on privacy while maintaining scale and performance. The client identified two key target audiences: first-time vehicle buyers and experienced buyers. The initial campaigns using this new solution were highly successful. Even as the campaign scaled to twice the original volume, it continued to deliver three times the targeted click-through rate (CTR) goal. “Partnering with industry leaders like Experian, we're pushing the boundaries of contextual targeting with innovative data strategies that offer buyers greater flexibility and improved performance. These advanced contextual solutions are exciting as they not only drive results but also have the same privacy safeguards as traditional contextual targeting.”Matt Griffith, CTO & Co-Founder, Audigent Benefits of Contextually-Indexed Audiences Accurate consumer reach: Real-time integrations with over two million websites and apps coupled with machine-learning indexing technology ensure audience segments are constantly refreshed, which means advertisers reach consumers based on their latest habits. Privacy-safe audience targeting: These audiences are not reliant on cookies or any other user identifiers for targeting. Audience customization: Create the right audience segment for your campaign by using a combination of over 1,400 audiences across 12 data categories like demographics, politics, health, travel, finance, and TV. Flexible activation: Activate these audiences instantly in the top demand-side platform’s contextual marketplace or utilize our partnership with Audigent to create a custom private marketplace (PMP), where they can be activated across any media buying platform. When using a PMP, advertisers benefit from additional performance optimization capabilities. Experian’s Contextually-Indexed Audiences offer advertisers a powerful solution that combines the precision of audience targeting with the flexibility of contextual targeting. With real-time analysis of over two million sites and access to 1,400 trusted audience segments, advertisers can reach consumers based on their exact behaviors and interests. This is done in a privacy-safe, yet scalable way since it’s not reliant on cookies or other user identifiers. Whether activating instantly through the top demand-side platform or customizing through Audigent PMPs, this is the future of audience targeting. Ditch the cookie, not the data, and elevate your strategy today. See how these audiences can work for you 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