In our Ask the Expert Series, we interview leaders from our partner organizations who are helping lead their brands to new heights in AdTech. Today’s interview is with Brian Chisholm, SVP of Strategic Partnerships at OpenX.   About OpenX OpenX is an independent omni-channel supply-side platform (SSP) and a global leader in supply-side curation, transparency, and sustainability. Through its 100% cloud-based tech stack, OpenX powers advertising across CTV, app, mobile web, and desktop, enabling publishers to deliver marketers with improved performance and dynamic future-proofed solutions. With a 17-year track record of programmatic innovation, OpenX is a direct and trusted partner of the world’s largest publishers, working with more than 130,000 premium publisher domains and over 100,000 advertisers. As the market leader in sustainability, OpenX was the first AdTech company to be certified as CarbonNeutral™ and third-party verified for achieving its SBTi Net-Zero targets. Learn more at www.openx.com.  Collaboration solves programmatic challenges Could you share the story behind the partnership between OpenX and Experian and how this collaboration differs from typical data-provider/DSP or SSP relationships in the market? What unique challenges in programmatic advertising does this partnership solve?   OpenX first partnered with Experian in 2019 when we were building the industry’s first data-driven supply-side curation platform. Being the only SSP with a proprietary people-based identity graph (further enriched by Experian) gives OpenX a unique set of capabilities that are only growing in value in the market. We are seeing retail media networks, large agency planning platforms, and indie and specialty shops lean into OpenX’s tools to match, activate, and measure people-based audiences through our robust curation platform and premium supply.   Enhancing campaigns with data enrichment How does combining Experian's marketing data with OpenX's technology create tangible benefits for advertisers, agencies, and publishers?    Last year, we expanded our partnership with Experian to enrich our digital IDs with Experian’s Digital Audiences, essentially making Experian data available directly to marketers across all OpenX supply and formats, including CTV. For marketers, this direct integration increases both match and activation rates. Meaning, not only do we match more of the starting audience universe to our system, we then provide more opportunities to identify and transact on those users in the bidstream. The result is greater reach for buyers even in previously unaddressable environments like Safari or mobile web – and publishers benefit from the increased addressability OpenX provides their supply.   Delivering impactful inventory solutions OpenX has been enhancing its curation offerings beyond just providing curated marketplaces. Could you describe the strategic shift you’re making in how you package and deliver inventory?    At OpenX, we have a broader and more dynamic view of curation. It’s not just about gathering data or bundling inventory; it’s about layering on identity-based precision, enabling the targeting of the right audiences with premium, brand-safe inventory for our clients.  We saw the value of curating inventory and audiences on the supply side early on.  We started by building capabilities for our own exchange and then found that our approach created tremendous value for data owners and marketers alike. Over the past five years, we’ve been continuously investing our curation platform capabilities to super serve those partners. As a result, we have what we think is by far the most robust and flexible platform in the market.  We can match and integrate with any kind of data, curate supply at a granular level, activate audiences and help measure outcomes in multiple ways. We also provide turnkey integrations to third-party platforms.  Balancing customization with scalability in deals There's often tension between customization and scalability when it comes to curated deals. How does OpenX strike the right balance to meet varied advertiser objectives while ensuring operational efficiency for publishers?   Truthfully, we’re not finding that scale suffers with curation. We currently have 237 million monthly active users in our exchange that we can match and activate curated deals against. That’s a unique claim for an SSP, and we back it up with our identity graph. This directly benefits our publishers who see a 20% increase in overall bid density and a 118%+ increase in win rate for curated deals vs. open market.    Data-driven curation done on the supply side offers efficiency and drives results for buyers, while publishers are able to activate their own first-party data programmatically, increase their monetization, and maximize the value of their inventory.  As the industry continues to adapt to a privacy-first, consent-based ecosystem, data-driven curation will play a key part in ensuring both sides of the marketplace continue to thrive.   Driving results with CTV curation Connected TV is arguably the most dynamic channel in programmatic right now. How do curation improvements accelerate more precise or outcome-based targeting in CTV environments?    I want to take this a step further and say that biddable is the future of CTV. Not only does biddable enable advertisers to purchase closer to campaign activation, it gives buyers the option to curate deals, flexibility, addressability and ease of transacting at will. No minimums, no commitments.    Our CTV strategy has been centered around combining flexibility, efficiency, and real-time optimization capabilities with access to premium, direct, glass-on-wall inventory. TV by OpenX, powers the direct activation of curated audiences at scale through data-driven, contextual, attention, and sustainability offerings.    What does this mean for buyers?  Advertisers can choose from any one of OpenX’s 250+ data partners, including Experian, to target an audience via CTV inventory using OpenX’s cross-platform identity graph. This setup allows buyers to increase scale and optimize toward their desired campaign outcomes via their preferred DSP. The focus on inventory quality and scale combined with advanced targeting curation provides a key driver of performance in CTV.  Identity resolution for better CTV measurement In a channel as fragmented as CTV, measuring performance can be complex. What role does identity resolution play in better measurement and attribution? How do Experian's identity capabilities integrate within your platform to drive measurable outcomes?   We talked about the value of audience targeting via curation above. Another critical driver is our ability to power true closed-loop measurement for advertisers or partners like retail media networks. OpenX is able to provide automated log-level reporting via BIDS, which includes exposed IDs from our proprietary ID graph back to our partners in near real time.    This closed-loop attribution enables partners to measure real-world outcomes like ROAS, conversion rates and incrementality. Insights and learnings from data can then be used to make optimizations mid-campaign, to further improve performance. Measurement starts with having a strong foundation to identity resolution – which Experian helps us achieve.   Tailoring audience strategies in the auto sector The automotive vertical demands highly specific audience insights—everything from in-market signals to lifestyle and aftermarket service and parts data. How does the Experian–OpenX partnership enhance audience strategies in auto?   Experian’s deterministic data, combined with the OpenX identity graph, empowers buyers with identity tools to create targeted audience segments of likely auto intenders. For verticals that have high customer acquisition costs like auto, these insights are particularly valuable, as buyers often struggle to identify their audiences at scale in environments that drive campaign performance.   Experian’s automotive data is one of our most requested audiences from buyers. We match Experian’s high-quality data directly to our platform, often leveraging Experian’s IDs, which leads to greater scale and fidelity. In addition, our platform can curate supply to a granular level to drive results for buyers.  Complying with evolving privacy regulations With data privacy regulations multiplying—like GDPR, CCPA, and others—how does OpenX’s direct connection with Experian ensure responsible data usage and compliance?    At OpenX, we don’t see privacy regulations as a challenge but rather an opportunity. Instead, it’s a key differentiator for us. We’ve had a strong focus on data and identity since 2017, and we believe that if you’re talking about these topics but not talking about privacy, you’re missing an important piece of the equation.   Regardless of the environment — CTV, mobile, app, or web — in today’s privacy-focused world, success in data and identity is inseparable from a commitment to privacy. We support this obligation with dedicated leadership that helps our partners navigate evolving global regulations, including critical areas like child-directed content under new laws from Australia to Maryland.  Thanks for the interview. Any recommendations for our readers if they want to learn more? To learn more about our solutions and partnership opportunities, visit the OpenX website or contact your Experian account representative to schedule your free match test.  Contact us About our expert Brian Chisholm, Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, OpenX  Brian Chisholm is the Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at OpenX, where he spearheads the curation, data, and identity efforts. He and his team have been instrumental in building out OpenX’s industry-leading curation platform and partnerships.   With more than two decades of experience in digital media, Brian has developed partnerships that leverage and expand OpenX’s core technology assets and deliver material value for the company’s buyer, publisher, and platform partners. Before joining OpenX, Brian held senior roles at innovative startups and digital stalwarts, including Overture/Yahoo, SpotRunner, and Apptera.  Latest posts

Advertising today is more complex than ever. Consumers demand personalized, relevant experiences from brands, making it increasingly challenging to meet expectations without external support. Businesses must work with publishers, retailers, and platforms to thrive, using these partnerships for data insights that refine their strategies and fuel growth. We spoke with industry leaders from Ampersand, AppsFlyer, Audigent, Comcast Advertising, Fox, ID5, and Snowflake to gather insights on how strategic collaboration can expand audience reach, improve targeting precision, and drive measurable advertising success. 1. Expand your reach with strategic collaborations Gone are the days when brands relied solely on third-party data. By linking their first-party insights with equally valuable data from partners, brands develop a far more comprehensive understanding of their audiences. This collaborative approach creates richer audience profiles, improves targeting, and enhances campaign performance. Partnerships also create opportunities for operational efficiencies. For instance, brands that share data and expertise with collaborators can expand their audience reach without overhauling existing systems. These collaborations allow marketers to work smarter, turning shared knowledge into strategic wins. "Partnerships are everything. We can't fulfill our goals on the sale side, marketers can't fulfill their goals of finding their audience where they need to reach them and with the right level of outcomes without partnering together. Why? Because each of them has their own line of sight to the data that they have access to and the data that they know best."Justin Rosen, Ampersand 2. Identify the right partnership model Choosing the right partnership model is key to achieving your business objectives. For some, pairing first-party data with publishers' insights creates better targeting. For others, aligning with complementary brands allows them to engage shared audiences. For large-scale efforts, agencies can unify collaboration frameworks, making onboarding and activation seamless. Meanwhile, emerging categories like FinTech, hospitality, and commerce media provide brands new avenues for impactful partnerships. Evaluating these options thoroughly will ensure your collaboration aligns with long-term marketing goals. "With first-party data being really the central point of signal today, we see more and more of our advertisers identifying partnerships with maybe potentially historical competitors or partners they would've never considered."Tami Harrigan, AppsFlyer 3. Utilize the power of pooled insights Combining various data sources, like CRM records, browsing behavior, and shopping receipts, creates an in-depth view of your customers. By understanding what motivates consumers at every stage of their journey, brands can better tailor messaging and funnel marketing spend to where it matters most. This approach also enables data-driven agility. Real-time insights help brands make informed adjustments, whether it’s shifting strategies mid-campaign or identifying new growth opportunities. When brands share data responsibly, the results are campaigns that resonate and deliver measurable improvements. "A lot of advertisers have gotten smarter about their data than they were just two, three years ago. They’re now doing that segmentation on their side with their data and bringing that to Fox and saying, ‘Look, match this segment against your entire user base.’ In order to do that, we can work with providers like Experian, or with data clean rooms to really bring that data and do a direct match without going through a third party."Darren Sherriff, Fox 4. Adopt the right tools and technology The right tools empower a collaborative data ecosystem. Solutions like data clean rooms ensure privacy-first data matching and measurement. Identity frameworks, such as Unified ID 2.0 (UID2) or ID5, enable secure data alignment across platforms, simplifying audience targeting while safeguarding sensitive information. Shared dashboards are another crucial tool, providing all collaborators with clear, co-owned performance metrics. Yet, while technology is an enabler, success ultimately depends on how well tools align with each partner’s goals and build trust within the collaboration. “You have to make it accessible to non-technical personas and you have to have the ability to have it stood up and pay dividends in a short amount of time. The other thing is interoperability. We very much think as an industry we need to have interoperability with clean rooms, ones that operate on different frameworks.” David Wells, Snowflake 5. Overcome barriers to collaboration Collaboration often faces obstacles, like differing goals, fragmented data, or resource gaps. Brands can tackle these issues by aligning stakeholders on clear KPIs, standardizing data-sharing practices, and selecting tools that integrate smoothly with existing systems. Breaking down barriers early fosters fluid cooperation and improves outcomes for everyone involved. When goals, tools, and resources are in sync, these partnerships deliver lasting value and stronger results. “The key is to bring together data assets and work collaboratively to address fragmentation. The way to solve that is with more interoperability and connect the data in very privacy-safe ways, offering more opportunity to reach high fidelity audiences and incorporate better measurement methodologies.”Carmela Fournier, Comcast Advertising The path to growth through partnership Those who prioritize collaboration will outrun the competition and drive sustainable growth through smarter, more connected advertising. By choosing the right models, using powerful technology, and addressing potential obstacles, brands can co-create campaigns that resonate deeply with their audiences. Connect with our experts Latest posts

Delivering personalized customer experiences is essential, with 81% of customers preferring a personalized approach to their relationships with brands. However, 80% of consumers are concerned about how their data is used, presenting businesses with the challenge of balancing data collection and privacy with personalization. Despite consumer appetite for personalization, many organizations lack the data to make data-driven decisions: 68% of businesses don't understand how their customers think, and 82% don't confidently know their customers' pain points.  Without this critical data, businesses cannot effectively create personalized consumer connections. Experian offers businesses robust and unique data through our Marketing Attributes to empower businesses with the insights required to derive accurate insights into consumers and drive personalized experiences.  How Experian can help businesses with their data acquisition needs through Marketing Attributes Experian's Marketing Attributes allow businesses to license Experian's data attributes in part or full to provide reliable and accurate data solutions. These solutions assist companies in finding, reaching, and influencing their customers. They are supported by rigorous quality and privacy controls which has earned Experian a #1 data accuracy ranking by Truthset helping our clients reach people based on who they are, where they live, and what they do. Download our Marketing Attributes one sheet Experian has built a strong foundation of consumer behavioral and demographic data with over 5,000 attributes available across over 15 categories and verticals, helping our clients gain deep insights into their consumers. Below we go through five common use cases we have seen using Experian’s data to power various business initiatives. Exploring everyday use cases for Experian's Marketing Attributes 1. Understand areas of the country where your products or services are underserved For instance, a brand offers a diverse range of products that cater to various market segments and audience personas. They seek to gain a deeper understanding of geographic distribution to refine their marketing strategies. Specifically, they aim to identify which market areas are currently underserved, presenting a valuable opportunity for targeted marketing campaigns to boost product adoption in regions that have not fully embraced their offerings.  Utilizing Marketing Attributes from Experian, the brand can access detailed data aggregated at the geographic level. This data provides crucial insights into markets where their products have seen limited adoption yet show a strong potential for success based on the preferences of their target audiences. This approach will help the brand strategically direct its marketing efforts to areas with high growth potential. Learn how Swiss Sense drove market-specific growth strategies with Experian 2. Better understand consumers who purchase within a category Brands frequently operate based on assumptions regarding their customers' preferences and interests, yet they may lack the comprehensive data necessary to substantiate these beliefs.  Experian's Marketing Attributes provides brands with access to extensive data across 15 diverse verticals and categories. This wealth of information allows businesses to develop a holistic understanding of their customer base, enabling them to validate their assumptions and uncover valuable insights into customer behaviors. By utilizing this data, brands can significantly enhance their marketing strategies, refine their product offerings, and implement personalized tactics that resonate with their audiences on a deeper level.  3. Reach a new segment of the market for a new product offering Introducing a new product to a new segment of the market presents unique brand challenges. Without any historical customer data to draw upon, companies lack vital insights that could help them identify and reach their target audience. This absence of foundational knowledge makes it challenging to understand consumer preferences, craft suitable messaging, or determine the most effective channels for connecting with potential customers. To navigate these hurdles, brands frequently turn to Marketing Attributes for consumer research within the new segment. Analyzing demographics, common behaviors within a geographic region, or previous purchase behaviors can uncover patterns and preferences among potential customers. This deeper understanding enables them to create tailored audience models, allowing brands to develop and activate customized messaging based on common interests, identify channels consumers are most likely to engage by using TrueTouch data from Experian. 4. Create custom lookalike models based on your current customers We have found brands trying to launch an acquisition campaign to look at consumers whose behaviors and interests closely mirror those of their highest-converting customers. However, they often lack the necessary data to find new customers that look like their most loyal base.   To address this gap, they turn to Marketing Attributes in combination with Experian’s Offline Graph or Digital Graph, which allow them to pinpoint and analyze the key characteristics and behaviors that define their top customers and reach these consumers on digital or offline channels. Marketing Attributes power the insights into their client’s behaviors and Experian’s Offline or Digital Graph create the linkage to their customer base. Using these insights, the brand can develop a distinct audience model tailored to reflect their most successful customers' unique traits and preferences. This customized approach will help them reach potential new customers who will likely engage and convert. 5. Develop unique audience products We have seen clients use their own first-party data alongside Experian Marketing Attributes and other data sets they own or lease. With Experian's Offline Graph or Digital Graph, they can connect the different data sources together to create a tailored audience solution that meets the specific needs of the brand's clients and the requirements of their market segment. Exploring joint solutions Combining Experian’s Offline Graph with Marketing Attributes Many customers use Experian’s Offline Graph with Marketing Attributes to connect Experian’s data to the brand’s offline marketing strategy. Experian’s Offline Graph offers companies a license of stable offline data points, like name, address, phone number, email, geographic, date of birth, and more that provide a complete view of household and individual identities. Powering use cases like: Regional consumer insights for marketing strategy, media activation, product and location planning Offline media activation, including direct mail, telemarketing, out-of-home, and more Client-driven enrichment The combination of Offline Graph and Marketing Attributes provides unmatched consumer connectivity, enabling clients to generate custom insights, inform product strategy, and activate marketing campaigns. Offline Graph acts as the link between consumers insights and activation. Download our Offline Graph + Marketing Attributes one sheet Combining Experian's Digital Graph with Marketing Attributes The uncertainty around third-party cookies in Chrome and the overall decline in signal complicates the industry’s ability to reach the right consumer. Omnichannel media consumption results in scattered data, making it harder for marketers and platforms to understand consumer behavior and reach them across channels. These challenges call for a comprehensive solution. Our Digital Graph and Marketing Attributes solution addresses these challenges by providing identifiers for seamless cross-channel engagement. By adding Marketing Attributes, like demographic and behavioral data, marketers and platforms also gain a better understanding of their customers. This solution uses Experian’s Living Unit ID (LUID) to combine offline and digital data, giving customers deeper insights into consumer behavior, greater audience reach, and improved cross-channel visibility. Transform insights into loyalty with Experian’s Marketing Attributes Experian's Marketing Attributes enable businesses to gain valuable insight into their prospects and customers. Through this deeper understanding, they can deliver personalized experiences while successfully navigating the complexities of data acquisition and privacy. This helpful information allows brands to make strategic, informed decisions that enhance their marketing efforts. Ultimately, these insights foster more substantial, meaningful connections between businesses and their customers, leading to enhanced customer satisfaction. Get started today Latest posts

Setting sail For hospitality and travel marketers, understanding which marketing efforts lead to actual bookings can be a tidal shift. Windstar Cruises—renowned for its intimate yachts and off-the-beaten-path itineraries—wanted data-driven visibility into how digital media placements translated into confirmed reservations. Windstar turned to the strategic media expertise of MMGY, a leading integrated marketing company dedicated to the travel, tourism, and hospitality industries and Experian's marketing data and identity solutions to bridge this gap. Together, they developed a closed-loop attribution system that directly tied digital campaigns to offline passenger bookings. The challenge: Blind spots in the booking journey Windstar Cruises had plenty of top-of-funnel metrics—impressions, clicks, website sessions, cruise quote requests—but struggled to connect these indicators to confirmed reservations. Without that link, it wasn't easy to pinpoint which audience segments were most valuable in their marketing campaigns or accurately measure return on ad spend (ROAS). Traditional attribution methods and limited booking system data painted an incomplete picture, leaving Windstar to wonder which media channels and audience strategies were truly driving revenue.  MMGY and Experian: Bridging data gaps to power attribution   Comprehensive pixel tag MMGY designed an online-offline measurement strategy and coordinated with Experian to deploy pixels across Windstar's digital media placements. These pixels captured valuable event-level data—ad exposures, clicks, site visits, and more—so that every interaction could be matched back to a future booking if it occurred. Identity resolution and data enrichment Using the Experian identity graph, Experian matched Windstar’s reservation data with its extensive consumer database. This approach provided a precise, individual-level view of how digital interactions translated into real-world sales. By combining pixel data (which identifies who viewed specific ads) with reservation data (which shows who ultimately made a booking), the solution delivered a comprehensive, end-to-end, multi-touch perspective on the customer journey.  Advanced audience segmentation Utilizing MMGY’s powerful Terminal audience modeling platform—which integrates MMGY Travel Intelligence performance and intent data, Experian’s consumer intent data, and the client’s first-party data— MMGY in conjunction with Experian’s marketing analytics team developed custom audiences designed to drive incremental traveler growth. These audience segments identified travelers most likely to engage in the unique travel experiences Windstar offers. The insights revealed not only who these travelers are, but also where they consume media, how they make travel decisions, and what influences their purchasing behavior. This data guided the development of hyper-targeted media buys, ensuring Windstar’s messaging reached the right people on the right platforms at the right time—maximizing engagement and driving qualified leads. The results: Mapping spend to bookings By utilizing data connectivity and measurement, Windstar gained the insights needed to optimize every aspect of its marketing—audiences, media placements, channels, and more. This data-driven approach revealed which tactics were most effective and enabled Windstar to refine campaigns in real-time for maximum impact. 6,500+ bookings attributed to digital efforts: Over 6,500 bookings—valued at over $20 million—were tied to specific MMGY-managed placements, demonstrating which data-driven tactics led passengers to book. This level of attribution was only possible because we helped Windstar measure and connect the right data points. 13:1 ROAS: By investing $1.48 million in highly trackable, data-informed media, Windstar achieved an impressive 13:1 return on ad spend. Data connectivity gave Windstar the clarity needed to target the right audiences and channels—turning every $1 of spend into $13 of bookings. Actionable cost per booking benchmark: Armed with the ability to map ad spend to individual bookings, Windstar’s average cost per booking settled at $236. With insight into which audiences and placements performed best, Windstar adjusted its strategy in real-time, lowering acquisition costs across the board. High-value reservations: Attributed bookings were, on average, $500 higher in value than non-attributed bookings. By focusing on the right customer segments and messages—determined through precise measurement and segmentation—Windstar secured more bookings and maximized revenue per guest. Terminal Audiences outperformed: For Terminal-targeted segments, the ROAS soared to 28:1 with nearly half the cost per booking compared to non-Terminal audiences. This outcome illustrates how advanced data segmentation and connectivity deliver more profitable guests at lower acquisition costs—further proof that continuous optimization grounded in real data pays off. What this means for travel and hospitality Windstar's success story illuminates a bigger truth for the travel and hospitality industry: closing the attribution loop is no longer optional. In a fiercely competitive marketplace, brands need concrete proof that their marketing investments drive awareness and translates into real revenue. By marrying MMGY's travel-specific marketing acumen with Experian's marketing data and identity solutions, travel brands can: Invest with confidence: Marketing investment flows to the most effective channels and placements based on actual bookings, not superficial metrics. Refine strategies: Real-time attribution data creates a feedback loop marketers can use to iterate on messaging, creativity, and targeting for even stronger results. Capture higher-value guests: Pinpointing and appealing to likely travelers allows marketers to increase booking volume and total revenue per booking. Charting a course for data-driven success By seamlessly linking digital exposure to confirmed reservations, Experian and MMGY gave Windstar Cruises the compass they needed to navigate the complexities of digital marketing confidently. This new level of insight is empowering Windstar to double down on the campaigns, creatives, and segments that move the needle the most. For travel and hospitality brands worldwide, data-driven attribution goes beyond simply understanding what happened—it’s about shaping what comes next. When marketing decisions are guided by real customer journeys and precise ROI metrics, brands can make more innovative investments, foster stronger guest relationships, and chart a course toward sustainable growth. Ready to embark on your own data-driven journey? Contact us to learn how Experian and MMGY can help you create impactful, measurable marketing strategies. Contact us About MMGY MMGY is a leading integrated marketing company dedicated to the travel, tourism, and hospitality industries. With deep expertise spanning research, brand strategy, media planning, and creative execution, MMGY helps global travel brands forge meaningful connections with consumers. By utilizing data-driven insights, cutting-edge technology, and decades of experience, MMGY delivers strategic programs that capture attention and drive measurable results for its clients—ensuring that every marketing investment is tied to clear business outcomes.   Latest posts

Swiss Sense’s mission is to provide exceptional sleep comfort for all. The European retailer analyzed their customer data in one market to better understand their ideal customer profile and scale these learnings to other markets. To achieve this, Swiss Sense used Experian’s Mosaic® data, a profiling tool that segments households into categories based on their lifestyle, interests, and demographics. Using Mosaic data, Swiss Sense identified key customer personas and tailored their communications to match. Partnering with Experian, they created personalized product recommendations and delivered targeted messaging through direct mail, out-of-home (OOH) advertising, and leafleting campaigns. What is Mosiac? Experian’s Mosaic data helps businesses understand their customers better by grouping households into segments based on their lifestyles, interests, and financial situations. It gives marketers a clear picture of who their customers are, so they can create more targeted campaigns. Challenge: Utilize data-driven insights to drive market-specific growth strategies Swiss Sense wanted to expand its presence across all of its markets. To achieve this, they analyzed customer data in the Netherlands to identify their ideal customer profiles and replicate their success in other regions. Their objectives included: Develop regional strategies Integrate data-driven insights into their local and international marketing strategy The solution to achieve data-driven marketing Swiss Sense saw that Experian could provide a data-driven view of customers in other countries using both Global and local Mosaic profiles. They chose Experian as their partner to ensure a persona-based segmentation across multiple countries. This partnership allowed Swiss Sense to: Gain consistent customer insights across all operational markets.  Equip marketing and operational teams with precise data for targeting and personalization. Drive adoption of the segmentation strategy by giving end users access to a bespoke dashboard with the data. Results: Driving targeted marketing and personalized experiences with Mosiac By partnering with Experian, Swiss Sense was able to seamlessly implement a solution tailored to their unique needs. Swiss Sense gained an overview of its customer base while using the more granular Mosaic data in each country to gain the optimal understanding of each region’s customers.  These insights helped Swiss Sense’s marketing team, allowing them to craft targeted customer content, suggest relevant imagery, and adopt the right tone of voice. Identifying key Mosaic growth segments further enabled Swiss Sense to focus marketing efforts on regions and cities over-indexing for their ideal customer types. This led to the execution of highly targeted offline campaigns, including: Direct mail flyers delivered to target audiences’ homes OOH advertising in cities where key segments over-index Distributing leaflets in public places such as target town centers Download our case study for the full details of Swiss Sense’s journey to international growth.  Download the full case study now About Swiss Sense Founded by the Diks family in 2006, Swiss Sense is a Dutch family-owned retailer specializing in high-quality beds, mattresses, and bedroom accessories. With over 2,000 employees and stores across multiple European countries, Swiss Sense is dedicated to providing exceptional sleep comfort for all. To learn more, please visit www.SwissSense.nl. Latest posts

Every year, the Experian team attends the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas to study the latest technological advancements and innovations that shape the AdTech industry. The energy at CES 2025 was palpable, with a whirlwind of conversations around artificial intelligence (AI), connected TV (CTV), privacy-first solutions, and sustainability in advertising. Here are four standout themes from this year’s event. 1. The AI evolution: More buzzwords, but growing potential AI dominated discussions this year, but the gap between hype and practical application was still evident. While some vendors showcased innovative tools for campaign optimization and audience creation, much of the buzz felt aspirational.  The use of AI to generate audiences based on new types of data is a promising sign of things to come. Data providers, including those collaborating with Experian, are beginning to test AI tools to enhance audience accuracy and scale. The AI space still feels frenetic, but the potential for transformative change is undeniable. "AI was a hot topic, with discussions ranging from campaign optimization tools to audience selection. While many leaned on buzzwords, there were glimpses of legitimate use cases."Brooke Logan, VP of Data Strategy and Partnerships 2. CTV: A race for quality and curation CTV remained a popular topic at CES, particularly around the challenges of fragmentation and scale. Sellers are grappling with an oversupply of inventory, leading to a renewed focus on curation. Conversations highlighted the importance of premium audiences, brand safety, and identity resolution. In the fragmented CTV landscape, advertisers want to be able to define an audience once, have that audience be highly addressable, and then activate everywhere. One standout theme was the shift in CTV monetization strategies. With linear TV revenues declining, major publishers are exploring ways to maximize yields on streaming platforms. Direct-sold premium inventory still reigns, but programmatic is gaining traction—a trend we’re seeing driven by publishers seeking scalable solutions. "CTV remains fragmented. While premium inventory is largely direct-sold, big publishers are exploring ways to boost yield on streaming as linear revenue declines."Lauren Portell, Sr. Account Executive, Advanced TV 3. Privacy-first solutions The regulatory landscape continues to evolve, and advertisers are responding with innovative, privacy-centric methodologies. For industries like healthcare, privacy-first solutions are being developed from the ground up to comply with current and future regulations. The emphasis on cookieless and contextual advertising remains strong, with data providers utilizing first-party data to enrich audience targeting strategies. "Providers across verticals that are typically more sensitive are developing methodologies from the ground up based on current and future potential privacy regulations."Adam Kobus, Director of Data Partnerships 4. Eco-conscious advertising: Building a sustainable future Sustainability emerged as a growing focus, as indicated by initiatives like Scope3 and Experian’s own carbon reduction goals. Companies are exploring ways to reduce the environmental impact of ad serving and data management. For example, platforms like AdGood are transforming unused CTV inventory into opportunities for non-profit initiatives. While not strictly eco-focused, these efforts signal a shift toward more conscientious advertising practices. "Sustainability is gaining attention, with efforts to reduce the carbon footprint through eco-conscious advertising, data management practices, and ad serving."Erin Wolf, Sr. Account Executive, Demand Partnerships The buzz around Experian The launch of the Experian marketplace and the Audigent acquisition were major talking points, underscoring Experian’s commitment to innovation in AdTech. Together, Experian and Audigent will be an end-to-end solution where publishers big and small can empower marketers to better understand their customers, create precise audience segments, and activate those audiences across the best inventory. Likewise, Experian’s new data marketplace connects TV operators, programmers, supply partners, and demand platforms with top-tier third-party audiences across retail, CPG, health, B2B, and location intelligence. All audiences delivered from our marketplace benefit from our best-in-class offline and digital identity graphs, which ensure addressability across all channels like display, mobile, and CTV.  An exciting year ahead CES 2025 underscored the rapid evolution of the advertising ecosystem. From AI to CTV and privacy-first solutions, the industry is adapting to new challenges and opportunities. As Experian continues to lean into these trends, our role in powering data-driven advertising through connectivity remains more focused than ever. We’re excited to see how these themes will evolve throughout the year and look forward to collaborating with our partners to shape the future of digital advertising. 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

The stakes are high when it comes to advertising during football’s biggest games as the cost of advertising continues to rise, with the average 30-second TV ad during the 2023-24 Sunday Night Football season priced at $882K. With record viewership at the College Football Playoff and the Super Bowl drawing in 123.7 million average viewers, the largest TV audience on record, it's no surprise that brands are willing to pay those prices since football games are prime time for reaching engaged audiences. In fact, an estimated 51% of viewers search for an ad they saw during the game, underscoring the potential of second-screen engagement to amplify campaign impact. Whether you advertise on TV during these games or not, brands are exploring how they can use football season to drive a deeper connection to their audience. To do this, brands need data driven strategies. In this blog post, we’ll reveal audience segments designed for you to craft tailored marketing strategies that resonate with football fans in the stands and on the couch. You can find the complete audience segment name in the appendix. Make a game-winning play with Experian Audiences With playoff season fast approaching, it’s the perfect time to go on the offensive and target football fans. Utilize Experian’s syndicated audiences to ensure your marketing messages resonate with fans when they're the most engaged. Experian's 2,400+ syndicated audiences are available directly on over 30 leading television, social, and programmatic advertising platforms. Reach consumers based on who they are, where they live, and what they do using data ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset. Run omnichannel campaigns based on a reliable understanding of households, people, digital identifiers, and marketing attributes. Four football audience categories to add to your advertising lineup Football fans come in all shapes, sizes, and viewing habits. From dedicated supporters to casual viewers, targeting the right audience can make or break your campaign. Here are four football audience categories you can target: Sports enthusiasts College football fans  21+ audiences TV viewers Let’s huddle up and break down the audience segments within each category. Whether it’s tailgating, tuning in, or cheering from the stands, these insights will get your campaign into the end zone. Sports enthusiasts Whether they’re following their favorite teams, attending games in person, or watching professional sports events on TV, football fans are deeply engaged, making them an ideal target for advertisers looking to score big. Here are five audiences to target: NFL Enthusiasts Football (FLA/Fair Lending Friendly)1 Sports Enthusiasts NFL Stadium Visitors Professionals Sports Event College football fans College football fans bring unmatched passion and loyalty, with bowl games during the 2023 season drawing on average of 4.6 million viewers across 40 total games—a 5% increase year-over-year. From students to alumni, these fans represent an invaluable opportunity for advertisers to connect with a deeply invested audience. Here are four audiences to target to connect with passionate college football fans: College Football Stadium Visitors College Football Bowls College Students College Sports Venues 21+ audiences With 84% of U.S adults reporting that they drink alcohol while watching football on TV, targeting 21+ audiences during game season is a winning play. Whether they’re cracking open a cold one at a tailgate, hosting a game-day party, or relaxing on the couch, these audiences represent a key audience for brands looking to tap into football culture. Here are four audiences that you can target this post season: Imported Light Beer Enthusiasts  Domestic/Imported Beer  High-end Spirit Drinkers Discretionary spend: Alcohol and wine $331 - $726 These audiences can help you serve up campaigns that pour directly into the heart of football fandom. TV viewers Football games attract some of the most engaged and diverse TV audiences, with 85% of sports fans preferring to watch live sports on TV rather than in-person. Notably, for the first time, viewers aged 18 to 49 spent the majority of their sports viewing time (54%) via streaming. This shift highlights the immense opportunity for advertisers to connect with highly attentive viewers tuned into every play. Here are seven audiences that you can use to create a game-winning strategy to reach engaged TV watching football fans:   Cable Satellite or Streaming Network Subscribers  Streaming Video: High Spenders Cord Cutters  Cable and Streaming TV Service Subscribers  Paid TV High Spenders  Screen Size – Large  Co-Watchers Whether they're catching the action on a large TV screen or streaming from their phone, these audiences will help you craft campaigns that deliver results with highly engaged viewers. Score big with Experian this postseason As some of football’s biggest games approach, it’s time to huddle up and connect with consumers who live for the thrill of the game. Whether they’re tuning in to cheer for their favorite teams, tailgating with friends, or enjoying the game-day experience from home, Experian Marketing Data provides the playbook to score big with targeting, enrichment, and activation. With Experian’s data-driven insights, you can turn every opportunity into a game-winning play! Connect with our audience team You can activate our syndicated audiences on-the-shelf of most major platforms. For a full list of Experian’s syndicated audiences and activation destinations, download our syndicated audiences guide. Explore our other seasonal audiences that you can activate today. View now 1 “Fair Lending Friendly” indicates data fields that Experian has made available without use of certain demographic attributes that may increase the likelihood of discriminatory practices prohibited by the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) and Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”). These excluded attributes include, but may not be limited to, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, disability, handicap, family status, ancestry, sexual orientation, unfavorable military discharge, and gender. Experian’s provision of Fair Lending Friendly indicators does not constitute legal advice or otherwise assures your compliance with the FHA, ECOA, or any other applicable laws. Clients should seek legal advice with respect to your use of data in connection with lending decisions or application and compliance with applicable laws. Appendix Sports enthusiasts Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Activities and Entertainment > NFL Enthusiasts  Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Sports and Recreation > Sports Enthusiast   Mobile Location Models > Visits > NFL Stadium Visitors   Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Sports > Football (FLA / Fair Lending Friendly)2 Travel Intent > Activities > Professional Sports Event College sports fans Mobile Location Models > Visits > University Stadium College Football Visitor  Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Sports > College Football Bowls  Mobile Location Models > Visits > College Students  Mobile Location Models > Visits > College Sport Venues   21+ audiences Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Activities and Entertainment > Imported Light Beer Enthusiasts  Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > In-Market > Domestic/Imported Beer  Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Retail > High-end Spirit Drinkers Financial - Analytics IQ > Discretionary Spend > Alcohol and Wine: $331-$726 TV viewers Television (TV) > Household/Family Viewing > Cable Satellite or Streaming Network Subscribers Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Entertainment > Streaming/Video/Audio/CTV/Cable TV: Streaming Video: High Spenders Television (TV) > Household/Family Viewing > Cord Cutters Television (TV) > Household/Family Viewing > Cable and Streaming Service Subscribers Television (TV) > TV Enthusiasts > Paid TV High Spenders  Television (TV) > Viewing Device Type > Screen Size – Large  Television (TV) > Household/Family Viewing > Co-Watchers Latest posts

Following the success of our recent launch of Third-Party Onboarding, we are excited to introduce the Experian marketplace, a new addition to our portfolio of data-driven activation solutions. Experian’s marketplace bridges TV operators, programmers, supply partners, and demand platforms with top-tier third-party audiences across retail, CPG, health, B2B, and location intelligence. Easily activate premium audiences from leaders like Attain, Alliant, Circana, and Dun & Bradstreet - driving precise, efficient consumer reach. "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 privacy regulations evolve and traditional identity signals shift, many activation platforms face declining addressability. This impacts their ability to effectively reach consumers, which is critical to staying competitive. Experian’s marketplace, powered by our identity graphs which include 126 million households, 250 million individuals, and 4 billion active digital IDs, enables audiences to be easily activated and maintain high addressability across display, mobile, and connected TV (CTV) channels. Benefits of Experian's marketplace Enhanced addressability and match rates: All audiences delivered from our marketplace benefit from our best-in-class offline and digital identity graphs, which ensure addressability across all channels like display, mobile, and CTV. Unlike other data marketplaces, Experian ensures all identifiers associated with an audience have been active and are targetable, improving the accuracy of audience planning.  Simplified audience planning and distribution for TV Operators: TV operators can build custom audiences matched directly to their subscriber footprint and distribute them across all advanced TV channels (data-driven linear, addressable, digital, and CTV) for maximum impact. Diversification within the data marketplace ecosystem: With the recent departure of Oracle’s advertising business, the optionality for buyers and sellers to connect with third-party data has become increasingly limited. With Experian marketplace, we’re excited to offer a new solution to the market that ensures data-driven targeting can continue to take place at scale. Lower activation costs: Experian’s marketplace offers transparent, pass-through pricing with no additional access fees, enabling partners to maximize their earnings while reducing costs. Audience diversity and scale: Platforms can access a broad range of audiences across top verticals from our partner audiences, which can be combined with 2,400+ Experian Audiences. This offers the flexibility, reach, and scale necessary to effectively execute advertising campaigns. Remove compliance concerns: Experian’s rigorous data partner review ensures available audiences comply to all federal, state and local consumer privacy regulations. “Circana and Experian have enjoyed a deep partnership for over a decade. We are exceedingly excited to extend our partnership and be an early adopter and launch partner of the Experian data marketplace. This additional capability will enable the ecosystem to more easily access Circana’s purchase-based CPG and General Merchandise (for example Consumer Electronics, Toys, Beauty, Apparel etc.) audience segments to drive performance outcomes across all media channels.”Patty Altman, President, Global Solutions, Circana “Capturing the attention of target audiences across channels is critical for marketers navigating an increasingly connected digital world. We are excited to be an exclusive provider of B2B solutions within Experian’s marketplace, helping brands and media agencies to accelerate their reach, addressability and targeting capabilities across TV, mobile and connected TV channels.” Georgina Bankier, VP of Platform Partnerships at Dun & Bradstreet Better connections start here: Experian's marketplace Experian’s marketplace, easily accessible from our Audience Engine platform, brings unparalleled addressability, enabling our clients to reach more relevant consumers and increase revenue.  If you’re interested in learning more about Experian’s marketplace or becoming an active buyer or seller in our marketplace, please contact us. Contact us Latest posts

2024 marked a significant year. AI became integral to our workflows, commerce and retail media networks soared, and Google did not deprecate cookies. Amidst these changes, ID bridging emerged as a hot topic, raising questions around identity reliability and transparency, which necessitated industry-wide standards. We believe the latest IAB OpenRTB specifications, produced in conjunction with supply and demand-side partners, set up the advertising industry for more transparent and effective practices. So, what exactly is ID bridging? As signals, like third-party cookies, fade, ID bridging emerged as a way for the supply-side to offer addressability to the demand-side. ID bridging is the supply-side practice of connecting the dots between available signals, that were generated in a way that is not the expected default behavior, to understand a user’s identity and communicate it to prospective buyers. It enables the supply-side to extend user identification beyond the scope of one browser or device. Imagine you visit a popular sports website on your laptop using Chrome. Later, you use the same device to visit the same sports website, but this time, on Safari. By using identity resolution tools, a supply-side partner can infer that both visits are likely from the same user and communicate with them as such. ID bridging is not inherently a bad thing. However, the practice has sparked debate, as buyers want full transparency into the use of a deterministic identifier versus an inferred one. This complicates measurement and frequency capping for the demand-side. Before OpenRTB 2.6, ID bridging led to misattribution as the demand-side could not attribute ad exposures, which had been served to a bridged ID, to a conversion, which had an ID different from the ad exposure. OpenRTB 2.6 sets us up for a more transparent future In 2010, the IAB, along with supply and demand-side partners, formed a consortium known as the Real-Time Bidding Project for companies interested in an open protocol for the automated trading of digital media. The OpenRTB specifications they produced became that protocol, adapting with the evolution of the industry. The latest evolution, OpenRTB 2.6, sets out standards that strive to ensure transparency in real-time bidding, mandating how the supply-side should use certain fields to more transparently provide data when inferring users’ identities. What's new in OpenRTB 2.6? Here are the technical specifications for the industry to be more transparent when inferring users’ identities: Primary ID field: This existing field now can only contain the “buyeruid,” an identifier mutually recognized and agreed upon by both buyer and seller for a given environment. For web environments, the default is a cookie ID, while for app activity, it is a mobile advertising ID (MAID), passed directly from an application downloaded on a device. This approach ensures demand-side partners understand the ID’s source.  Enhanced identifier (EID) field: The EID field, designated for alternative IDs, now accommodates all other IDs. The EID field now has additional parameters that provide buyers transparency into how the ID was created and sourced, which you can see in the visual below:  Using the above framework, a publisher who wants to send a cross-environment identifier that likely belongs to the same user would declare the ID as “mm=5,” while listing the potential third-party identity resolution partner under the “matcher” field, which the visual below depicts. This additional metadata gives the demand-side the insights they need to evaluate the reliability of each ID. "These updates to OpenRTB add essential clarity about where user and device IDs come from, helping buyers see exactly how an ID was created and who put it into the bidstream. It’s a big step toward greater transparency and trust in the ecosystem. We’re excited to see companies already adopting these updates and can’t wait to see the industry fully embrace them by 2025."Hillary Slattery, Sr. Director, Programmatic, Product Management, IAB Tech Lab Experian will continue supporting transparency As authenticated signals decrease due to cookie deprecation and other consumer privacy measures, we will continue to see a rise in inferred identifiers. Experian’s industry-leading Digital Graph has long supported both authenticated and inferred identifiers, providing the ecosystem with connections that are accurate, scalable, and addressable. Experian will continue to support the industry with its identity resolution products and is supportive of the IAB’s efforts to bring transparency to the industry around the usage of identity signals. Supply and demand-side benefits of adopting the new parameters in OpenRTB 2.6 Partner collaboration: Clarity between what can be in the Primary ID field versus the EID field provides clear standards and transparency between buyers and sellers. Identity resolution: The supply side has an industry-approved way to bring in inferred IDs while the demand side can evaluate these IDs, expanding addressability. Reducing risk: With accurate metadata available in the EID field, demand-side partners can evaluate who is doing the match and make informed decisions on whether they want to act on that ID. Next steps for the supply and demand-sides to consider For supply-side and demand-side partners looking to utilize OpenRTB 2.6 to its full potential, here are some recommended steps: For the supply-side: Follow IAB Specs and provide feedback: Ensure you understand and are following transparent practices. Ask questions on how to correctly implement the specifications. Vet identity partners: Choose partners who deliver the most trusted and accurate identifiers in the market. Be proactive: Have conversations with your partners to discuss how you plan to follow the latest specs, which identity partners you work with, and explain how you plan to provide additional signals to help buyers make better decisions. We are beginning to see SSPs adopt this new protocol, including Sonobi and Yieldmo.  “The OpenRTB 2.6 specifications are a critical step forward in ensuring transparency and trust in programmatic advertising. By aligning with these standards, we empower our partners with the tools needed to navigate a cookieless future and drive measurable results.” Michael Connolly, CEO, Sonobi These additions to the OpenRTB protocol further imbue bidding transactions with transparency which will foster greater trust between partners. Moreover, the data now available is not only actionable, but auditable should a problem arise. Buyers can choose, or not, to trust an identifier based on the inserter, the provider and the method used to derive the ID. While debates within the IAB Tech Lab were spirited at times, they ultimately drove a collaborative process that shaped a solution designed to work effectively across the ecosystem.”Mark McEachran, SVP of Product Management, Yieldmo For the demand side: Evaluation: Use the EID metadata to assess all the IDs in the EID field, looking closely at the identity vendors’ reliability. Select partners who meet high standards of data clarity and accuracy. Collaboration: Establish open communication with supply-side partners and tech partners to ensure they follow the best practices in line with OpenRTB 2.6 guidelines and that there’s a shared understanding of the mutually agreed upon identifiers. Provide feedback: As OpenRTB 2.6 adoption grows, consistent feedback from demand-side partners will help the IAB refine these standards. Moving forward with reliable data and data transparency As the AdTech industry moves toward a cookieless reality, OpenRTB 2.6 signifies a substantial step toward a sustainable, transparent programmatic ecosystem. With proactive adoption by supply- and demand-side partners, the future of programmatic advertising will be driven by trust and transparency. Experian, our partners, and our clients know the benefits of our Digital Graph and its support of both authenticated and inferred signals. We believe that if the supply-side abides by the OpenRTB 2.6 specifications and the demand-side uses and analyzes this data, the programmatic exchange will operate more fairly and deliver more reach. Latest posts